Conversations with Wayne State University 10/17/18

Mildred Gaddis spoke with Mark A. Jackson, director of the Academic Pathways to Excellence program at Wayne State, and Darrell Dawsey, associate director of community communications at Wayne State. The three talked about how APEX Scholars provides effective, supportive services to students to ensure a successful transition from high school to undergraduate studies at Wayne State University.

October 17, 2018

The big data disruption: How big data analytics can impact health care

In health care, big data is being used to predict epidemics, improve care, prevent unnecessary diseases and deaths, motivate patient fitness and lower costs. As assistant vice president of Translational Science and Clinical Research Innovation at Wayne State University and associate chair of Clinical Research for WSU’s Department of Emergency Medicine, Phillip Levy and his team develop, design and conduct studies on the determinants of health and diseases in the Detroit area based on massive sets of data.

October 15, 2018

An Hour with ... Dr. M. Roy Wilson

Wayne State University has always been a cornerstone of Detroit’s giving spirit, and since appointing Dr. M. Roy Wilson as president in 2013, the university has revved up its efforts to rehabilitate the urban community that surrounds it. Wilson brings years of experience in both university and health care administration. In 2016, President Wilson introduced Wayne Med-Direct, a program that guarantees tuition-free, direct admission to Wayne State School of Medicine to 10 talented high school students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds across the city.  

October 12, 2018

Motor City Match winner Rebel Cycle Studio opens in Detroit

A 35-year-old Wayne State University writing instructor is offering more classes outside of her day job. Amy Latawiec invested $40,000 to launch Rebel Cycle Studio LLC in the Detroit City Fieldhouse in Detroit's lower east side. The new fitness center's mission is to "shatter perceptions of what healthy 'looks' like" by promoting a supportive, body-positive environment in cycling classes for beginners to experts. The indoor cycle studio won a $5,000 grant from Motor City Match in August to get the off the ground. Latawiec, a former triathlete who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2012, was inspired to open the studio as a graduate student at Wayne State University. She earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the Detroit college.

October 12, 2018

The Greater Detroit Philanthropy Awards are back with eight new recipients

Donors, fundraising professionals, and volunteers will shine at the 2018 Philanthropy Day Awards. Hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Detroit Chapter, the awards recognize the works of local philanthropists. Among the Wayne State University recipients are: Allan Gilmour, former Wayne State University president and former CFO of Ford Motor Co., George W. Romney Award for Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism; Tracy Utech, associate vice president for principal gifts, Dr. John S. Lore Award for Outstanding Fundraising Executive; and Detroit Feedback Loop, founded in 2017 by Wayne State University students Nicholas Ang and Camilla Cascardo, Sparky Anderson Award for Youth in Philanthropy.

October 11, 2018

Being smart is about more than an IQ test

A  documentary released earlier this fall challenges the concept of intelligence – and how it’s determined – as it follows three intellectually disabled young adults navigating school, work and life. One of those young adults is a Micah Fialka-Feldman, who went to Berkley High School and is from Huntington Woods. “Intelligent Lives,” directed by award-winning documentarian Dan Habib who has a teenage son with an intellectual disability, will be screened Thursday at Wayne State University’s Community Arts Auditorium.

October 11, 2018

Detroit schools to expand computer science curriculum by 2021

More of Detroit's students could be in line to fill technology jobs in Michigan as the public school district gradually introduces computer science education to K-12 classrooms through 2021. Detroit Public Schools Community District is teaming with Quicken Loans Inc. of Detroit to create a curriculum that could build a pipeline to 14,000 IT vacancies and growing demand for tech skills in Michigan. The plan was announced Tuesday at the CSforAll Summit being hosted this week at Wayne State University.

October 10, 2018

Five universities are finalists for degree completion award

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has named five universities as finalists for its 2018 Degree Completion Award. Wayne State University, the University of Nevada-Reno, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Memphis and Arizona State University were selected by a panel of eight reviewers, according to APLU officials.

October 10, 2018

Sears facing bankruptcy: Here's what consumers need to know

Sears may be days away from bankruptcy. The long-troubled retailer has reportedly started making the moves for a filing, leaving nearly 1,000 Sears and Kmart locations on the chopping block. The company is $134 million in debt and hasn't turned a profit since 2010. Laura Bartel, professor of bankruptcy law at Wayne State University, has been watching it decline as the retail industry as a whole goes under, and online shopping takes over. Over the past decade, Sears has closed a lot of stores to downsize but hasn't been able to get its finances under control. In Michigan alone, in May, consumers learned four traditional Sears stores were closing. Then in July, it was announced the Sears at Oakland Mall and eight other locations would buckle by September.

October 10, 2018

WSU president: Let's listen to students, businesses

Asked to describe Detroit in one word Tuesday, the president of Wayne State University said, “Gritty.” A second later he added, “in a good way,” drawing laughter from the audience at Cobo Center for a Detroit Economic Club luncheon. That same grit applies to the university's students, who deserve to be heard, said M. Roy Wilson, who discussed a wide range of topics as WSU celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. “I think we need to do a better job of responding to what students want, and what businesses want, as opposed to saying we know best and sticking to what you’re used to doing,” he told The Detroit News.

October 9, 2018

Donations to WSU's medical school surpasses $190M campaign goal

Wayne State’s School of Medicine Monday announced it surpassed its $190-million goal in the university’s Pivotal Moments Campaign, which concluded Sept. 30. The campus-wide campaign was launched in 2014 to raise $750 million. It was the most ambitious comprehensive fundraising effort in WSU’s history.

October 9, 2018

“As You Like It” announced at the Hilberry Theatre

William Shakespeare's “As You Like It” treads the boards at the Hilberry Theatre beginning Friday, Oct.26 and running through Nov. 11. Directed by Lavinia Hart and set in present day Appalachia, this comedy allows audiences to view a classic story through a creative lens that transports you to the hills of Tennessee. "Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' is universal in theme and characters, easily translating to any century in any city or countryside, revealing surprising cultural connections to the here and now," says Hart.

October 9, 2018

The summer melt: Why some college-bound kids don’t go

Think your job’s done when your child gets accepted to college? Think again. College plans can get the kibosh between acceptance and attendance. It’s called “summer melt,” and it thwarts some students’ post-secondary plans. It can happen for a variety of reasons, too. Sometimes focus shifts. Other times things can crop up that complicate matters. Wayne State offers a chance to participate, free of charge, in a program called APEX Scholars, short for Academic Pathways to Excellence. 

October 9, 2018

U.S. Supreme Court status after Justice Kavanaugh confirmation

Robert Sedler, Wayne State law professor and constitutional law expert, was a guest on the Craig Fahle Show discussing the state of the U.S. Supreme Court following the addition of Justice Kavanaugh. Sedler suggested that the public should ignore the media hype and the political statements from both sides. He said the Supreme Court acts as an institution and only about a third or less of its 70 or so cases each year are constitutional cases adding that the greater part of the Court's work is interpreting and applying federal laws and deciding questions involving the workings of the federal government. 

October 8, 2018

Mobility Week to show off Detroit innovation

Detroit's vision of trading in its moniker of the Motor City for the Mobility City is buoyed by several coordinated events through this week. The four-day CSforAll Summit, a national computer science education symposium, kicks off Monday at Wayne State University.

October 7, 2018

Rolling the dice with Enbridge, Line 5 and the Great Lakes

It's hard to look at a deal announced this week between the State of Michigan and Canadian oil giant Enbridge and not feel like Gov. Rick Snyder is really rolling the dice: Gambling that aging, damaged Line 5, an oil pipeline running through the Straits of Mackinac, won't have a significant breach or rupture in the 7 to 10 years. "This is a state and a department of environmental quality that have an absolutely horrendous record of everything from technical judgement to oversight, to, frankly, fundamentally protecting people’s water and people themselves. It’s like a bad deal between the two worst actors," says Noah Hall, a professor at Wayne State University Law School and founder of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center.

October 7, 2018

No-spanking zones? In one Detroit suburb, they're a thing

Better than either spankings or time-outs is just patiently talking to children after their instances of bad behavior, said a veteran therapist and researcher in child behavior at Wayne State University. Douglas Barnett, a professor of psychology, said many parents "feel passionately" that spanking is effective. So just telling them not to do it is rarely successful, Barnett said. People often say, "If they hadn’t been spanked, they’d be in prison," he said. Yet, numerous academic studies — including some conducted by Barnett at WSU — have linked spanking to "negative outcomes for kids," he said.

October 5, 2018

Peter Hammer named inaugural Taubman chair at Wayne Law

Professor Peter J. Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School, has been named the Law School’s inaugural A. Alfred Taubman Endowed Chair. Hammer, who joined the Law School faculty in 2003, is a leading voice on economic and social issues impacting Detroit and the nation. He has spent more than 25 years engaging in matters of human rights law and development in Cambodia. Hammer is an expert on domestic health law and policy, as well as international public health and economic development. The $1.5 million endowed chair is part of a $3 million gift from the late A. Alfred Taubman in 2006 that led to the construction of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights building at Wayne Law.

October 4, 2018

Selfies are killing us: How they become a worldwide danger

Selfies have become a matter of life and death. New research identified 259 other deaths worldwide in the past six years related to selfies, of which more than a million are taken a day. In addition to dangerous selfie poses, experts also warn that posting selfies also may inadvertently expose people to other dangers: identity theft, cyber bullying and, for the selfies in bad taste, potential disqualification from school and work opportunities. Dr. David Rosenberg, the chair of the Wayne State University psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, said this technology certainly can be "a good servant" by enhancing quality of life, but it also tends to be a "cruel and crippling master." Still, not all news about selfies is bad, and the new selfie study offered a potential solution.

October 4, 2018

President Wilson guest on Paul W. Smith show

President M. Roy Wilson joined WJR host Paul W. Smith for a discussion about various topics and updates at Wayne State. President Wilson also will be speaking at the Detroit Economic Club Oct. 9 on the occasion of the university’s sesquicentennial. His topic is: Reintroducing Wayne State University: Transformation after 150 Years in the Heart of Detroit.

October 2, 2018