The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and Coalition of Urban Serving Universities recently released a report and implementation guide detailing how universities can use micro-grants to ensure such students complete their degree. Foiling the Drop-Out Trap, Completion Grant Practices for Retaining and Graduating Students details the success of these micro-grant student aid programs at 10 public urban research institutions. A key element of the report is a how-to manual designed to help campuses and stakeholders explore, replicate, or scale similar retention and completion grant programs on campuses across the country. For many students facing modest financial shortfalls, micro-grants can make the difference between students staying on the path toward graduation and dropping out. Micro-grants are aimed at low-income students who are on track for graduation, but at risk of dropping out due to small financial shortfalls. These targeted aid programs have proven highly effective at ensuring these students stay enrolled in class and make progress toward their degree, ultimately helping them graduate. Ten schools and programs are profiled in the report, including Wayne State University.  

Black Studies has a long and storied history at Wayne State University that spans 45 years. A student demonstration in 1970 spurred the creation of the Center for Black Studies at WSU. In 1989, yet another student rally resulted in its transformation into the Department of Africana Studies. In 2015, the WSU Board of Governors approved a name change to the Department of African American Studies. In recognition and appreciation of the valiant efforts of WSU alumni, and to acknowledge the department’s progress and ongoing challenges, this year’s Black History Month program is aptly titled “45/25: Celebrating the Legacy of Black Studies at Wayne State University.” “The history of Black Studies is intricately tied to the African American struggle for equality in general, and to representation in academia in particular,” said Melba Boyd, chair of WSU’s Department of African American Studies. “Concurrently, it also is the consequence of political demonstrations on campuses and advocacy across disciplines. This event acknowledges the bravery of persons who assumed that struggle on WSU’s campus, and to present the achievements and challenges that persist.” The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, in Wayne Law’s Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium.   http://www.realtimesmedia.com/index.php/detroit/64110-department-of-african-american-studies-celebrates-anniversary-with-event-honoring-the-legacy-of-black-studies-at-wayne-state  

Wayne State University says its student-athletes scored the highest grade point average (3.15) in the athletic department’s history in Fall 2015. The department says two out of three Warriors carried a GPA above 3.0, and 21 had a 4.0 GPA in the fall semester. Athletic Director Rob Fournier told WDET’s Pat Batcheller WSU strives for excellence on and off the field.    

The First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. It was published in 1623, seven years after the playwright’s death. It is coming to Wayne State next month. In advance of its arrival, Wayne State is holding another Knowledge on Tap event and this one will take a look at Shakespeare’s First Folio. It’s scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25, at HopCat in Detroit. Ken Jackson, chair of Wayne State University’s English Department, will be the featured speaker. He joined WDET’s Laura Weber Davis with some background on the folio and the event  

Michigan's rapid entrepreneurial growth rate in the past five years is waning slightly but remains ahead of other Midwestern states, according to the Michigan Entrepreneurship Score Card released Monday by MiQuest. A look at the report's primary entrepreneurial metrics — climate, change and vitality — reflects the slowdown. Michigan ranked in the top 10 states nationally in metrics including five-year business survival (ninth), university R&D performance (sixth), high-tech manufacturing employment (first) and business taxes (fifth). Ned Staebler, Wayne State University's vice president for economic development, and president and CEO of TechTown, said he thinks the state may be better off now than when the study was completed. "We have more than a dozen venture capital firms that are very active. In 1999, there were two or three," he said. The report is sponsored by Clark Hill PLC, Crain's Detroit Business, Consumers Energy, DTE Energy Foundation, MiBiz, Michigan Association of State Universities, Michigan Municipal League, Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the Small Business Association of Michigan.  

Betsy Creedon, Wayne State University TechTown’s Director of Entrepreneurial Services, talked about WSU’s DTX Launch program, a 10-week technology startup accelerator for college students and recent graduates. DTX is accepting applications for summer 2016. An information session was scheduled for Feb. 24 at Wayne State.  

Heading toward Michigan’s March 8 primary, WDET’s Sandra Svoboda explored the topic of how many U.S. presidents or presidential candidates have had Michigan connections. As part of the Detroit By The Numbers series, Svoboda talked with Liette Gidlow, associate professor of history at Wayne State University, and Amy Elliott Bragg, president of Preservation Detroit. “Most of the presidential candidates from Michigan have been Republicans. Only Lewis Cass was a Democrat, and James G. Birney was a third-party candidate,” Gidlow said. George Romney, who was governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968, and his son, Mitt Romney, a Detroit native and later governor of Massachusetts, was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. He lost to Democrat Barack Obama. “They represent different wings of the Republican Party, the older Romney, George, represented the more liberal wing of the party that now is nowhere to be found,” Gidlow says. “Mitt Romney himself, likewise, seems to have reembraced some more moderate views earlier in his career but in 2012 he had very definitely made a shift to the conservative right.” Gerald Ford, who grew up in Grand Rapids and represented the area in Congress, was both the nation’s vice president and president but was never elected to either office. He became the former by appointment following the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew and the latter with Richard Nixon’s resignation. He lost the 1976 election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.    

Wayne State’s business school hopes to finalize additional naming rights deals with businesses and individuals in the next four months or so for facilities within its new building in The District Detroit – and some proposals have been fairly creative, business school Dean Robert Forsythe said. So far the university has reached at least two verbal agreements that may be finalized soon to help cover the balance of an estimated $50 million project cost for a new four-story, 120,000 square foot building. One naming rights deal under discussion will likely have a multimillion dollar value, with a corporate sponsor, Forsythe said. Another, for about $150,000, would be an individual naming deal for a single classroom overlooking Woodward Avenue on the new building’s eastern face – with a condition that the sponsor’s family be able to use the facility every year on Thanksgiving Day to overlook the America's Thanksgiving Parade, held by The Parade Co. “We’re not actually holding any classes on Thanksgiving Day, so we’d have no schedule conflict with something like that,” Forsythe said. “I hadn’t thought about doing anything like that, but as you get into looking for naming opportunities, sometimes ideas like this come up.” Other naming opportunities range from $5 million for a two-story atrium in the center of the U-shaped building and $3 million for an auditorium to $10,000 for a “sticky space” or student seating and lounging area, or $25,000 for a group meeting room.   Other media mentionshttp://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=999&DateTime=2%2F18%2F2016+4%3A36%3A01+AM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=999&playclip=True&RefPage=http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20160217/NEWS/160219850/wayne-states-new-ilitch-business-school-offers-naming-rights-for

Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson wrote a guest column about Michigan’s funding formula for its public universities. “We were pleased to see that the governor’s fiscal year 2017 budget proposal includes reinvestment in higher education. This is good news for Michigan, and the proposal is described as fulfillment of the governor’s commitment to restore funding to prior levels before its massive cut in 2011. However, the proposal will not restore all universities to pre-2011 levels. Wayne State, in particular, remains at 7.5 percent, or $16.6 million below its 2011 budget level, and for the fifth year in a row will receive the lowest percentage increase of all of Michigan’s universities. How can that be? Half of the increase in new funding to the universities will be through what is known as “performance metrics” and Michigan’s current metrics model disadvantages Wayne State. Metrics models used by states across the nation range from fairly rudimentary to highly sophisticated. The best consider the unique missions of the various universities, and ensure that the final allocation is fair and reasonable, passing the commonsense test while taking into account the workforce and knowledge needs of the state. Michigan’s performance metrics model can be improved to better align it with the state’s workforce needs and economic development. First, the value of research should be given more than only 5 percent weight in the metrics. Second, graduate degrees are not included in the “critical degrees” metric, yet they are certainly critical to Michigan’s success. Third, the model should incorporate instructional costs as a percent of expenditures, rather than an overall administrative cost, since this is most relevant to the student experience. Most importantly, each university’s performance should be evaluated in relation to the other Michigan public universities as well as in comparison to its own historical performance.”  

Over several tense days in the fall of 1982, seven people in the Chicago area were killed by cyanide, a poison it was later determined had been delivered in adulterated capsules of a trusted over-the-counter pain medicine each victim had taken – Tylenol. It was the sort of catastrophe that could easily drive a product off store shelves forever. But more than 30 years later, Tylenol remains as trusted a brand as ever. And the way the management at Tylenol’s manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, handled the events of October 1982 is today regarded as a model of a new kind of public relations now known as crisis communications. Crisis communications encompasses strategies for organizations to cope when bad news is overtaking their best efforts. As when Flint finds itself with a neurotoxin in its water and its people, a flood of bad publicity and a population that’s angry and mistrustful of official authority. Can Flint be saved the way Tylenol was? Matthew Seeger, dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University and author of nine books on crisis communication, said most residents will follow the government’s water and health advisories, even as they doubt officials can be trusted to save the city. But to rebuild public trust, local and state officials need to seek communications help from empathetic and trusted figures in the community. “People’s lives are at stake,” Seeger said. “What needs to happen right now is (officials) need to partner, working together to create a consistent message. And another thing that’s important is transparency. There hasn’t been a lot of that.”  

Do you have a teacher who changed your life for the better? The Wayne State University College of Education is asking people to publicly recognize your favorite teachers by sharing their stories online. It’s part of a campaign called “Because of You, I…” — aimed at reminding people of the difference teachers make, and to inspire people to consider a career in education. “Teaching is not the most glamorous or financially rewarding profession, but there’s a reason why polls consistently find it is one of the most satisfying professions in the world,” said R. Doug Whitman, dean of the College of Education. “Teachers make a difference in students’ lives and improve society as a whole, and that’s very fulfilling.” The opportunity to publicly thank a teacher is open to everyone by sharing their story at coe.wayne.edu/because-of-you.  

The Wayne State University women's swimming and diving program won its seventh consecutive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) title Saturday evening and its 10th league championship in the last 11 seasons. The Warriors totaled 840.5 points to finish ahead of second place Grand Valley State, who had 763 points. WSU head coach Sean Peters was voted GLIAC Women's Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. Peters, a 10-time GLIAC Men's Coach of the Year, has won one or both awards each of the last 15 years. Warrior newcomer, Montes Urales, was selected as the GLIAC Female Freshman of the Year. It marks the fourth time in the last 11 years WSU has had the GLIAC Female Newcomer of the Year. WSU will now await the official NCAA Selections which will be announced on Wednesday, Feb. 24.  

The traditional college experience is having a renaissance in Southeast Michigan, so much so that public universities are planning major investments in new and improved campus housing this year to accommodate the trend. Wayne State University hosted a mandatory pre-proposal meeting last week for developers, student housing real estate investment trust executives and others interested in an estimated $100 million new student housing development project. The university is seeking proposals to build two apartment buildings along Anthony Wayne Drive by 2019 on the campus's northwest side and demolish the nearby Helen DeRoy Apartments — a net gain of more than 430 beds for university students. Proposals are due by March 16. If all goes well, the university hopes to have a final development plan ready for its board of governors to review in September, and open the first phase of new apartments by fall 2018, said Tim Michael, associate vice president of business and auxiliary operations and chief housing officer at Wayne State. Wayne State is also converting the former Thompson Home that once housed its School of Social Work and will offer housing for up to 65 students, and plans a renovation that will add more than 150 new beds to the current Chatsworth Apartments. All told, the university expects to expand housing capacity from about 3,100 today to 3,760 by 2022, Michael said.   

Douglas Ruden, Wayne State University professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and director of epigenomics, led a study that has discovered that mothers with high levels of lead in their blood not only affect the fetal cells of their unborn children, but also their grandchildren. Ruden will be working with doctors at Hurley Hospital system to capture results from newborns in Flint during 2015 who were most at risk during the Flint water crisis.    

Wayne State’s Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center is cited among the best indoor rock climbing sites in the metro Detroit area. The facility at Wayne State University houses a 30 foot climbing wall. Climbers can boulder, rope and lead climb. There is an array of routes to choose from, designated by color to keep climbers on the right track. The wall itself is designed to mimic the outdoor experience of a real rock formation found in nature. Paths are suited for all skill levels. Climbers must pass a belay check prior to using the indoor climbing wall.  

In connection with Detroit's history of impact from race relations, urban renewal, and gentrification and in honor of Black History Month, Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University announces its presentation of “The Raisin Cycle,” a series including and stemming from Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in the Sun.” The play will run from Feb. 12-21 at the Bonstelle Theatre. The two subsequent pieces in “The Raisin Cycle” -- Kwame Kwei-Armah's “Beneatha’s Place” and Bruce Norris' “Clybourne Park” -- act as a response to Hansberry. Together, they create a dynamic conversation around how our society looks at race and class. “Clybourne Park” runs from Feb. 26-April 2 at The Hilberry Theatre, and “Beneatha’s Place” runs from Feb. 19-28 at the Studio Theatre.  

TRImaran Pharma aims to take on a group of neurological diseases, like depression, by developing drugs that impact three different types of neurotransmitters in the brain. Those drug prospects come from Wayne State University, which licensed a group of molecules to the company this week for an undisclosed sum. Aloke Dutta, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at WSU and the head of the company’s scientific advisory board, led the research on the experimental drugs, which are known as “triple reuptake inhibitors,” because they simultaneously target three key neurotransmitters—serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine—in the brain. TRImaran aims to use these drugs to treat neurological diseases from depression to ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder.     Other media mentionshttp://techtransfercentral.com/2016/02/10/wayne-state-licenses-novel-treatment-for-neurological-disorders/

Wayne State University has announced it will continue a 30-percent tuition discount for 2016 spring and summer courses. To be eligible for the tuition break, students must have registered and be on track to complete 24 credits between fall 2015 and winter 2016, and must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 at the end of fall 2015. This year, the discount extends to post-bachelor students. Students are also allowed to repeat a course they’ve already taken. Campus housing also will be discounted 30 percent for those who want to live on campus for the spring or summer terms. Students are encouraged to meet with their advisers and can schedule an appointment throughwams.wayne.edu. http://www.theoaklandpress.com/social-affairs/20160210/wayne-state-discounts-tuition-for-spring-summer-courses     Other media mentionshttp://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1014&DateTime=2%2F10%2F2016+4%3A18%3A24+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=1014&playclip=True&RefPage=

WDET’s Jerome Vaughn spoke with Peter Hammer, director of Wayne State’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, about “Detroiters Speak,” a free, eight-week collaborative community course held in McCallister Hall at the Cass Corridor Commons. The program, launched by Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, is open to the public, and participants can attend as many of the eight sessions as they wish. “Detroiters Speak” is a unique classroom environment for every kind of student – young and old, from high school to graduate school, from community experts to university experts. The course will focus on the historical (how did we get here?) and the contemporary (where are we going?), posing important questions each week that will challenge students to reflect on the city that Detroit is becoming. Each week will feature formal remarks and public discussion with a wide range of Detroit activists, scholars and community members.    

In 2002 Wayne State opened the university's first modern residence hall. They would go on to open a second in 2003 and a third in 2005. Wayne State was deeply invested in transforming itself from a commuter school into what it is today, a campus that functions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After the three residence halls were built, occupancy was well short of capacity and the idea of a waiting list for student housing seemed overly ambitious. "The residence halls struggled a bit in the beginning," says Timothy Michael, associate vice president for business and auxiliary operations and chief housing officer. "It took some time to get students to think of Wayne as more than a commuter school. We had to build the fitness center and other amenities to make students think of us as more than what we were." This past December, Wayne State completed a 10-year housing facilities master plan that calls for a possible $230 million in development in the form of both new construction and renovations. Wayne State issued a request for proposals in January to build new residence halls with 800 beds' worth of furnished apartment-style housing. The two buildings will be built on Anthony Wayne Drive. The 15-story Deroy Apartments, built in 1972, will be demolished to make way for the new construction. Wayne State is also close to a deal that would lease a renovated off-campus apartment complex for graduate and professional student housing. Jeri Stroupe is a senior project administrator in Wayne State's Office of Economic Development, which was created both with the intent to make the university a better neighbor within the Midtown community and to encourage students and faculty to spend more time and money in the neighborhood. The idea is that a more porous border between the university and the surrounding communities, the more all parties will benefit. "We don't want to be the ivory tower that sits in the center of Midtown that people go and circle around," says Stroupe. "We want people to come through and be around [campus]."