Belinsky gifts $500k to WSU to create lab for student entrepreneurs

In August, Wayne State University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Mike Ilitch School of Business, a $40 million, state-of-the-art facility in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood. The business school announced another piece of good news this summer when alumnus Russ Belinsky donated $500,000 to establish the Belinsky Entrepreneurial Learning Library, which aims to kick-start student and faculty entrepreneurship. Belinsky’s funding is meant to provide resources, training, and mentorship to students and faculty in order to help them launch investment-ready startups or startups based on the university’s intellectual property.

September 17, 2018

WSU hosts naturalization as 25 people sworn in as U.S. citizens

September 17 is also known as Citizenship Day and Constitution Day. And on the campus of Wayne State University as part of their Civic Festival, there was a swearing in ceremony Monday for new U.S. citizens. "This is the first time we're doing a naturalization ceremony. It has been part of a dream to host a naturalization ceremony at the festival," said Marc Kruman, director of the Center for the Study of Citizenship. Twenty-six people were sworn in during the emotional ceremony. "It is amazingly cool and it is an extraordinary emotional moment not just for the new citizens, their families and friends, but for anyone looking on," Kruman said. Professor Kruman said he hopes this becomes an annual event at the festival, and that it captures exactly what they hope to accomplish at the Center for the Study of Citizenship.  

September 17, 2018

25 in Metro Detroit mark Constitution Day as new citizens

A dream came true Monday for 25 people who were sworn in as U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Wayne State University to mark Constitution Day. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith was the keynote speaker at the event and administered the Oath of Allegiance to the new citizens.

September 17, 2018

8 universities leveraging community partnerships to boost student outcomes

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) recently announced grants to eight public universities that are forging community partnerships to improve students' access to and overall success in college. Supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Collaborative Opportunity Grants provide each institution with $50,000 to "collaborate, accelerate and improve implementation efforts," as well as additional support and resources from APLU and USU. Four of the grantees, including Wayne State University, are receiving funding for the first, time. 

September 17, 2018

Med students get lesson in senior care at Chesterfield Township facility

A Chesterfield Township senior living community is welcoming medical students from Wayne State University as part of a pilot program aimed at offering educational opportunities for both residents and physicians in training. The Village of East Harbor is one of four Presbyterian Villages of Michigan sites selected to take part in the program. Physicians in training from the Wayne State University School of Medicine are invited to the facilities for an overnight stay to learn about the challenges of aging and experience the qualities exhibited by elderly patients. Students provide educational opportunities on fall prevention, strength and balance exercises, properly managing medications, regular vision checks and how to make their living environments safer.

September 16, 2018

Harvard University president looks at ways to engage in Southeast Michigan

Wayne State has a strong focus on identifying health disparities, said President M. Roy Wilson, a Harvard alumnus who joined Bacow on the panel Friday morning. "I would love for Larry to come back out and take a tour of our bio building, which focuses on urban issues related to health, and we'll have a conversation and see what might be of interest," Wilson said. Those types of relationships typically are forged by faculty, however, Wilson said. "It's hard to do it from top down."

September 14, 2018

WSU’s graduate supply chain program ranked among top 25 in the country

Wayne State University’s graduate global supply chain management program is among the nation’s top 25, according to Gartner, a leading industry research company that releases rankings every other year. Ranked No. 17, WSU is a new entrant alongside the University of Minnesota, the University of Southern California and the University of Washington. Offered through the Mike Ilitch School of Business, Wayne State’s global supply chain management program prepares students with in-depth knowledge about global challenges and the critical links in the value chain of goods.

September 14, 2018

APLU, USU provides grants to 8 schools to promote community-university partnerships

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) have announced grants to eight public universities, including Wayne State University, supporting the piloting and scaling of university-community partnerships focused on advancing student success. 

September 14, 2018

Wilson addresses faculty, students at annual university keynote

During his university address, Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson spoke about the 2016–2021 strategic plan, which includes increasing the six-year graduation rate, increasing total enrollment to 30,000 and eliminating gaps in graduation and retention. “This fall, we are welcoming the largest group of full-time freshman in our 150-year history,” Wilson said. The increase is 15 percent more than last year’s freshman class.

September 13, 2018

Wayne State to host Opioid Awareness Day Sept. 18

The opioid epidemic has devastated families across the nation, prompting Wayne State University to host an informative day on Tuesday, Sept. 18 from noon to 5:30 p.m. to educate others about the misuse, abuse and consequences of opioids. Through this day-long event, the university aims to better understand the scope of this crisis and how it impacts the local community. All students, faculty, staff and community members who are interested in gaining insight on opioids are welcome.

September 12, 2018

Michigan colleges rank, according to U.S. News' annual ranking

Michigan's universities and colleges fared well in the latest edition of the U.S. News' annual rankings of the nation's four-year schools. Most Michigan schools stayed stable, landing around the same spot on the lists they have for the last couple of years. The rankings are among the most-watched rankings every year by colleges, which use them to market themselves. The rankings changed this year, with more weight given to student outcomes, including graduation. Wayne State University ranked 205 overall in the national universities ranking tied with Central and Western Michigan Universities.

September 10, 2018

Editorial: Treat higher ed as critical infrastructure

Last week, the presidents of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University made their case in front of the Detroit Economic Club that a new, comprehensive higher education strategy for the state is long overdue. They couldn't be more correct. Healthy universities are part of the infrastructure of a successful state as much as roads are. And Michigan is lagging.

September 9, 2018

Michigan’s research universities pump $18.7 billion into state economy

The net economic output by the University Research Corridor — consisting of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University — equates to more than 20 times the $890 million that the state Legislature appropriated for the three schools, according to an annual economic impact study conducted by East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group LLC.

September 9, 2018

Avenue Q brings the laughs to the Hilberry

The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, a program within the College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts at Wayne State University, is launching the 2018-2019 season with the three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "Avenue Q," an adult parody of children's puppet shows like "Sesame Street", "The Muppets", and "Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood".

September 7, 2018

Debra Williams connects Wayne State students

The associate vice president and chief human resources officer of WSU and Detroit native seeks to engage 'top talent' to serve students at the university.

September 7, 2018

University leaders want higher ed on Schuette, Whitmer's agenda

M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State, said he wants the next governor and Legislature to scale back the performance-based funding model created under Gov. Rick Snyder that rewarded universities with more money for a higher percentage of undergraduate degrees and penalized more research-focused universities. It's one reason why Wayne State has not recovered nearly as much funding as UM and MSU, its counterparts in the University Research Corridor.  With medical, law and other graduate schools, Wayne State gets penalized for having too many graduate degrees and too few bachelor's degrees awarded each year, Wilson said. "If we weren't a research institution, we'd be getting much more (state funding)," Wilson said in an interview. "That doesn't make much sense.

September 5, 2018

Big 3 university leaders call on state to be bigger partner

The presidents of the state's Big Three universities lamented a drop in financial support from the Michigan Legislature, but no one is talking about the issue in the gubernatorial race.

September 5, 2018

Dr. M. Roy Wilson’s excellent adventure

Wayne State University president — and AAMC board chair — cycles 515 miles and visits four Michigan cities to talk about the value of a higher education.

September 4, 2018

President Wilson discusses the new Mike Ilitch School of Business on Conversations with WSU

Mildred Gaddis sat down with Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson, and Darrell Dawsey, director of community communications. Earlier this week, President Wilson joined with some of Detroit’s most important business leaders to announce the opening of the Mike Ilitch School of Business, which promises to be an incubator for some of Detroit’s sharpest minds and a boom for our local workforce. 

August 28, 2018

Wayne State University opens new student apartment complex

When many people think of a college dorm room, they think of small twin-sized beds and not much space. But Wayne State University's new Anthony Wayne Apartment complex aims to change that idea.

August 25, 2018