Wayne State University plans to award Viola Gregg Liuzzo an honorary doctor of laws degree on April 10. It's the first posthumous honorary degree in the 145-year-old school's history. Liuzzo was fatally shot by Klansmen while shuttling demonstrators after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Wayne State also will dedicate a tree or green space for Liuzzo. Kim Trent, a member of Wayne State's Board of Governors, initially broached the idea a decade ago as president of Wayne State's black alumni organization. The school declined, citing its policy of not awarding posthumous degrees, Trent said. "The truth of the matter is that Viola is worthy because she is deceased," Trent said. "She is a civil rights martyr. I understood there was something more important at stake." Trent was elected to the same board in 2012, and recently took another run at recognition for Liuzzo. They passed the recommendation in February. Liuzzo was a nursing student at Wayne State when she joined the civil rights movement. At the time of her death, the white, 39-year-old mother also was a member of Detroit's branch of the NAACP.

Former U.S. Senator Carl Levin and Wayne State University Law School Dean Jocelyn Benson joined "Detroit Today" host Stephen Henderson for a discussion about the recently named Levin Center. Levin said that this is an opportunity for him to pass on his own experiences in legislative oversight and teach future legislators lessons about accountability in private, public and government activities. Benson said, "These centers work together to give our students hands-on experiences while in school, working with these great icons in Michigan, to think about their place in service."

The Detroit Institute of Arts will install more than 90 art reproductions in 10 Metro Detroit communities beginning April 6, including on Wayne State's campus. The reproductions are of masterpieces from the DIA's collection and placed in outdoor venues throughout the metropolitan Detroit area as part of the museum's "Inside|Out" program. The pieces will be on view through July. The program is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Students, professional investors and industry CEOs will come together on March 26 and 27 for ENGAGE 2015 International Investment Education Symposium. Scheduled to take place at Wayne State University, the conference is poised to be the can't-miss event of the year. It's the Largest event of Its kind, a professional event and students can show off their skills.

Civil rights activist and Wayne State University student Viola Gregg Liuzzo will be posthumously honored at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, in the Spencer Partrich Auditorium at Wayne State with an honorary doctor of laws degree for her contributions to society. It will be the first honorary degree awarded posthumously in the university's history. The honor comes 50 years after Liuzzo, a mother of five, was killed in Selma, Alabama, after answering the call from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for volunteers to assist with voting rights demonstrations. At the time of her death, Liuzzo was studying nursing at Wayne State. Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson and Wayne State University Board of Governors member Kim Trent discussed recognizing Viola Gregg Liuzzo's contribution to the civil rights movement.

A large new study using data from the Women's Health Initiative has found that women whose fathers, brothers and sons had prostate cancer may also have a higher risk for breast cancer. In one of the largest - if not the largest - study to examine the association between prostate and breast cancer, researchers at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University showed that if a woman's first-degree relative - her father, brother or son - had prostate cancer, then she has a 14 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer. What's more, the study found a family history of both prostate and breast cancer among first-degree relatives was associated with a 78 percent increase in a woman's breast cancer risk. Wayne State University researchers looked at the family histories of these women and determined the risks associated with both prostate and breast cancer.

Last week, Governor Rick Snyder unveiled his much-anticipated energy plan for Michigan, which includes finding and utilizing more renewable and energy efficient power sources for the state over the next 10 years. Detroit Today Host Stephen Henderson was joined by Wayne State University Transnational Environmental Law Clinic Director Nick Schroeck to examine Snyder's address and discuss the future of energy in Michigan. "For a long time, our utilities have been able to externalize costs for things like asthma because of poor air quality," and Schroeck says that the governor's acknowledgement of the negative health impacts of outdated energy sources was refreshing. "That's a huge step forward for our energy policy," Schroeck says. Snyder also touched on methods to tackle waste reduction and increase wind and solar energy in Michigan. However if the state is going to get to Snyder's proposed energy goal (30 to 40 percent renewable by 2025), Schroeck says that partnerships between environmental organizations and the Legislature are crucial. "We have to look at better ways and better strategies… we need to look at retiring some of these old, dirty coal plants and go in new directions," says Schroeck.

Tavis Smiley, the king of late night television on PBS, is coming to Detroit on March 23, 24, and 25. Smiley, will tape five episodes of his show in front of live audiences at the Community Arts Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State University. Each episode will focus on the city and its rebirth, including examinations of the city's Downtown resurgence, the challenges facing long-time residents of the city, the Arab American community in Dearborn, the arts community, and education. The week will conclude with a Detroit town hall meeting. Detroit Public Television will provide the crew and facilities to help produce the shows in conjunction with Wayne State University.

ENGAGE 2015 International Investment Education Symposium is coming to Wayne State University on March 26 and 27. The two-day event is a unique opportunity for students to mingle with and hear from the best and brightest minds in the financial sector. "[ENGAGE 2015] is in-line with the school's commitment to providing hands-on learning opportunities for our students," Dr. M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State University, told Benzinga. "We also like to engage with our community. It's in-line with both of those commitments that our school has." Wayne State also made an announcement regarding its law school. "There's a lot of high-profile things we've been able to do," Wilson continued. "For example, just within this week we announced the Levin Center in [Wayne Law] in honor of Carl Levin. That's another big name exposure kind of thing where Wayne State will be favorably looked at. There's not too many people in the country that could do that. That'll give Wayne State's law school a big advantage."

Just months after retiring from office, former Senator Carl Levin has joined the faculty of Wayne State University Law School, where he will chair the new Levin Center - a training and research initiative dedicated to legislative oversight. He also will help teach courses including tax policy and the legislative process. "I am honored to be a part of Wayne State University and its law school, which are both doing so much to promote community service and public interest." The new center at Wayne State will conduct training and workshops for local, state and national leaders and their staff in overseeing their institutions. It will host national forums on topics including CIA oversight and tax loopholes. Research on how to increase the oversight of lawmakers - particularly those in the Midwest - will be another priority. "When Sen. Levin retired from the U.S. Senate, his colleagues called him 'the best lawyer in the entire Senate,' 'a senator's senator,' and 'Mr. Integrity,'" university president M. Roy Wilson said. "Sen. Levin will be an inspiration to our students and faculty."

A community education program is underway in Detroit called CitizenDetroit. The goal of CitizenDetroit is to help residents think critically about candidates and emerging political issues - budget, safety, transportation and other city challenges - so they can engage more broadly in the political process and participate in elections. The program, a project of Wayne State's Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society, uses community-based gatherings, dialogue sessions, town hall meetings, social media and other resources to heighten residents' knowledge of critical issues, co-founder and former City Council member Shelia Cockrel said. This year the program is expanding to reach more citizens with a $750,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. CitizenDetroit was created in 2012 by Cockrel and Irvin D. Reid, WSU's president emeritus, when the city was in extreme financial distress and facing a number of municipal woes, leading up to its filing for bankruptcy in 2013. Since Cockrel and Reid established CitizenDetroit in 2012, the project has worked to educate and mobilize residents of all ages. Through the additional funding, more citizens - including youth and older adults residing in Detroit - will benefit from CitizenDetroit dialogue sessions leading up to the 2017 elections. Reid said the future of Detroit will be shaped by the choices that engaged citizens make on issues ranging from the city's bankruptcy to the future of public transportation. "CitizenDetroit challenges the tendency of individuals to sit on the sidelines and oppose the actions of city leaders based solely on media coverage and urban legends," said Reid. "Access to better information means citizens will better understand how difficult it is for elected and appointed leaders to make tough decisions that affect other people's lives."

Xconomy reported last month that Leslie Smith is departing her position leading the TechTown incubator in Detroit and heading to Memphis, Tenn., to run the Entrepreneurship Powered Innovation Center, a public-private initiative to create and support 1,000 entrepreneurs and 500 companies by 2025. As for TechTown, she's confident Ned Staebler, her former colleague at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, is the right person to take over her responsibilities. Along with the new TechTown gig, Staebler will keep his current job overseeing economic development at Wayne State University, and, in turn, TechTown will now enjoy cabinet-level representation among the university's leadership team. "Without a long-term commitment from some of our partners, Wayne State has really stepped up to support TechTown financially and strategically in really creative ways," Smith said. "Through Ned's leadership, TechTown will be able to connect to other campus entrepreneurship programs. I think Ned is perfectly positioned to take this work to the next level."

Wayne State University will host a 100-mile cycling event through Detroit this summer as part of a scholarship fundraising campaign for the school. Called The Baroudeur, French for "fighter," it is scheduled for Aug. 22; the course will begin and end on campus and include Belle Isle, Lakeshore Drive, Palmer Park and Grosse Isle. In addition to the 100-mile course, there will be 20, 55 and 62 mile courses. "Baroudeur means fighter or warrior in French and is a term used in cycling for riders not afraid to break away from the peloton and do things on their own, even if they might be an underdog," said Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson, himself an avid cyclist, in a statement Wednesday. Training for the event is advised, the statement said. Registration is $36, and $1 from each entry will support the League of Michigan Bicyclists to promote bicycling and bike safety.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin will chair a new center named after him at the Wayne State University Law School. The university announced the formation of the Levin Center at Wayne Law on Tuesday. Levin, whose 36 years in the Senate ended in January, will also join the faculty at Wayne Law and co-teach his first class this fall on tax policy. School officials say the center will have an initial focus on the legislative process and oversight authority. The center will host workshops for public officials in addition to coursework and research functions. In the Senate, Levin served as the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Probes included ones on former energy firm Enron and the 2008 financial crisis.

Tavis Smiley is bringing his popular PBS late-night show to the Motor City. Smiley is scheduled to tape five episodes in Detroit on March, 23, 24 and 25 before a live audience at the Community Arts Auditorium at Wayne State University. Detroit Public Television and Wayne State are partnering with Smiley on the visit. The shows will cover topics like downtown Detroit's rebirth, the problems facing Detroit's neighborhoods, Dearborn's Arab-American community, the arts and education. The visit will end with a town hall meeting for the city. A broadcaster, author and advocate, Smiley is seen across the country on PBS stations.

With a faculty vote this afternoon, the Wayne State University Law School created a new center named for Senator Carl Levin, which school officials say will educate future attorneys, business leaders, legislators and public servants on "their role in overseeing public and private institutions." Levin himself will take over as chairman of the new Levin Center at Wayne Law, step in as "distinguished legislator in residence" at the university and teach classes, beginning this fall with a course on tax policy, its effects on society and, as Levin put it, "how tax avoidance activities have punched a hole in our income tax system." "They called me, they suggested there be this center that would focus on the oversight authority of government and the difference it can make," Levin, Michigan's longest-serving U.S. senator ever, told the Free Press. "I'm very much committed to the city, so it had a great attraction to me." There were other offers, he said. But Wayne Law succeeded in luring Levin in by proposing a center that will train legislators and business leaders "to embrace the same ideals of integrity and transparency and accountability that he has built his life around," said the law school's dean, Jocelyn Benson. Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson said Levin, who won praise from colleagues as a "senator's senator" for his intellect, integrity and work ethic as he prepared to depart Congress late last year, will be a draw for the law school. "Given his stature, to have a senator like that at Wayne State means a lot," Wilson told the Free Press. "I think there are very few people who could do something like this. We're very pleased."

Late last year, Wayne State University launched the Detroit Equity Action Lab at the university's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. The focus of the lab is to address structural racism in the city. Peter Hammer, professor of Law and director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, spoke with WDET's Martina Guzman about the Detroit Equity Action Lab and how it plans to push racial equity into the forefront.

Phillip D. Levy, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Wayne State University, has often treated black patients from the Detroit area who didn't even know they had heart disease. His concerns led him to team up with experts outside his field, including behavioral scientists, since a disease like high blood pressure can make it tougher for some people to remember to take their medicine. Levy's recent accomplishments include a study confirming unexpectedly high rates of cardiac damage among blacks with high blood pressure, and a $1.9-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of vitamin D in reducing the problem. The multidisciplinary approach, Levy says, is helping to improve overall patient health. The strategy is also helping Wayne State. Research universities nationwide have been coping with a decade of little or no increases in federal support for their scientific work, according to figures compiled by the National Science Foundation. Wayne State is one of the hardest hit, with its federal research allocation falling 3 percent from 2004 to 2013. When adjusted for inflation, that's a decline of nearly 20 percent. Besides emphasizing interdisciplinary work by its own faculty, Wayne State is making a concerted effort to find research partners at other institutions, says Stephen M. Lanier, vice president for research. Teamed with other universities, he says, Wayne State can compete for large-dollar programmatic grants offered by federal agencies. Thanks to such approaches, the slide in federal research support at Wayne State "looks like it may be flattening out," Lanier says.

The Wayne State women's basketball team earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Division II Women's Tournament, it was announced Sunday night. Wayne State (22-5) will play Drury (26-3) 1 p.m. Friday in the Midwest regional at Michigan Tech. The winner advances to Saturday's regional semifinal at 7:30 p.m. against the winner between Lewis (Illinois) (28-2) and Wisconsin-Parkside (22-7). It is Wayne State's third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the regional finals the past two seasons.

Michael Wright, WSU vice president for marketing and communications and chief of staff, was a guest on "Viewpoints" hosted by CTV News Channel anchor Todd van der Heyden talking about the influence of Wayne State's police department (WSUPD) on safety in Midtown. Wright pointed out that the WSUPD, consisting of 60 police officers, works closely with other law enforcement agencies including the Detroit Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Michigan State Police and federal agencies. Since 2008 serious crimes in the Midtown area such as homicides and assaults are down 52 percent, attributed, in part, to prevention techniques. Wayne State implemented a data-driven, collaborative crime reduction strategy known as CompStat. CompStat is a strategic management process that uses information technology, operational strategy, and managerial accountability to guide police operations.