The 40th Anniversary Celebration Choir was specially assembled by Norah Duncan IV, Professor, and Chair of the Wayne State University Department of Music.

Businesswoman and philanthropist Gretchen Valade, of Grosse Pointe Farms, is increasing her efforts to make sure that Detroit’s rich jazz legacy continues to grow and flourish. Valade, the chair of the nonprofit Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation, recently committed another $2 million to Wayne State University.

As the Winter Olympics kicked off in PyeongChang, South Korea, this weekend, the media turned their attention to one notable nonathlete attendee: Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Stine Eckert, chair of the feminist scholarship division of the International Communication Association and an assistant professor of communications at Wayne State University, notes that there is one particularly notable comparison that should be made between the two women in question. “They are both blueprints for whatever at the time their society and current administration needs in terms of a tool to advance their political agendas,” Eckert says.

Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University has “The Underpants” by Steve Martin running Sept. 29-Oct. 15 at the Hillberry Theatre. The actor/comedian/novelist/playwright adapted the play from a 1915 German farce, “Die Hose,” by Carl Sternheim, involving a wardrobe malfunction that leads to a bored wife attracting a fleet of suitors. The company also has Shakespeare (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) and Tennessee Williams (“A Streetcar Named Desire”) on tap.