Gov. Rick Snyder today will call for a 6.1 percent boost in state support for universities, the largest percentage increase of taxpayer support for higher education since 2001, The Detroit News has learned. Snyder will ask lawmakers to increase state university spending $80.3 million and give Michigan's 28 community colleges a 3 percent hike in funding of $8.9 million more in the 2015 fiscal year, the governor's office told The News exclusively. The proposal, coupled with smaller increases in 2012 and 2013, represents the biggest increase in higher education funding the Republican governor has pursued since slashing state support for universities by 15 percent or nearly $150 million in 2011, his first year in office. To qualify for the additional funding, universities would have to contain tuition increases to no more than 3.2 percent and meet certain performance criteria, Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said. In addition to the tuition cap, universities would have to meet a certain number of performance criteria based on six-year graduation rates, total degree completion and percentage of administrative costs to overall operating budgets to qualify for additional funding, Wurfel said. Wayne State University, which has a higher percentage of lower-income students than other state schools, would benefit from the funding formula giving additional weight to schools with a higher number of students receiving Pell grants, he said. Snyder has proposed the Pell Grant requirement the past two years, but lawmakers have stripped it from the performance funding criteria.

At least three Michigan lawmakers say Metro Detroit is well-positioned to earn one of four high-tech advanced manufacturing hubs that are up for grabs in a national competition - an effort backed by the state's economic development agency. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he wanted to expand beyond the existing hubs in Youngstown, Ohio, and Raleigh, N.C., and add several more to the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation that aims to connect research universities to businesses and accelerate cutting-edge advanced manufacturing technologies. Detroit - hometown of the American auto industry and Wayne State University, and in need of an economic revival - is uniquely qualified to host a manufacturing research and development center, some of Michigan's congressional delegation members argue. "I'm going to go figure out how we go after one at Wayne State," said Debbie Dingell, who was in Washington to hear Obama's speech. She noted WSU's relationships with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, which together formed a consortium known as the University Research Corridor that aims to translate research into economic development. "You will be seeing people get together in Michigan and figuring how to do it," said Dingell, who also is one of Michigan's members of the Democratic National Committee.

Dean Carolyn M. Shields and Ingrid J. Guerra-López, associate professor and director of the Institute for Learning and Performance Improvement, at Wayne State University's College of Education spoke to Craig Fahle about the issues of poverty and the impact on learning. The two will present at Wayne State's third annual conference on "Understanding the Impact of Poverty on Education" Feb. 5-7. Shields, coming from a social justice perspective, will present how "America's Longest War Can Be Won" and Guerra-Lopez will share her personal experiences with poverty - particularly as an immigrant and daughter of a single mother struggling to learn a new culture and language - and the impact it has had on her life and career.

During a segment of "Making a Difference," host Rhonda Walker featured the "Stick" program developed to stimulate character development for inner-city children through music education. Co-Founded by Wayne State University fourth-year student Joshua McTerry, "Stick" is an after-school program offered five days a week at three different elementary, middle and high schools in Detroit.

A young power couple in Detroit, Ken and Kim Coleman, are both journalists. Ken is a historian and author of the book; "This Day in African American Life in Detroit." Kim wears many hats in the community; among them the youngest Wayne State University Regent to be elected. Ken's influence in Black History: "It was the election of Coleman Alexander Young as the Mayor of Detroit, the first African American mayor of Detroit." Kim worked and studied in Cape Town South Africa and has been inspired by the work of the late South African president Nelson Mandela: "I think the thing in modern history that inspired me a lot was the end of apartheid," said Kim. "Because … that was something that happened during my lifetime and that I got to see and I got to feel, I was very emotional about it. I spent a year in South Africa going to graduate school."

In March, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will roll out a massive campaign to attack infant mortality in the city, he told The Detroit News Friday. Duggan's announcement follows a Detroit News study, published Thursday and Friday, that found a greater percentage of children 18 and younger die in Detroit than in any city in America its size or larger. The vast majority of those deaths occur before a child's first birthday. His initiative will focus on prevention of preterm birth, which accounts for the vast majority of infant deaths in the city. He has named Wayne State University Assistant Dean Dr. Sonia Hassan to lead the effort. Hassan is director of advanced obstetrical care and research for the National Institutes of Health's Perinatology Research Branch. "We have been working on it for three months and are excited to launch it," Hassan said Friday. A major cause of preterm birth is shortness of the cervix, the narrow passage at the base of the uterus through which a baby passes to be born. Hassan and other researchers from Wayne State University and the Perinatology Research Branch discovered that treating affected women with vaginal progesterone can reduce their chances of a preterm birth by as much as 45 percent. They are recommending universal cervical screening, and progesterone treatment where it's called for.

Wayne State University's School of Business Administration plans to launch an executive education arm in the coming months to help local companies train employees to move into managerial and executive ranks or enhance their skills. Marcus Dickson, the business school's director of education, said he has been working with an executive education task force of faculty members since November to identify what courses would best match the expertise of the school's faculty with the desires of the Detroit business community. Because many other business schools already have executive education programs, Margaret Williams, interim dean of Wayne State's business school said, the new arm will keep the university competitive with those schools as well as be relevant in the Detroit community - where, she said, a void exists in executive education offerings. "It's critical for us as a business school in Detroit to meet the needs of the businesses here and continue to meet the needs of those businesses for years to come," said Williams, who appointed the executive education task force. She said the executive education unit also will help spread the word about the expertise of the business school's faculty and help them stay up to date on what is happening in the world of business.

King Yang is director of the Wayne State University Bioengineering Center, which marks its 75-year anniversary this summer and conducts auto collision research using human cadavers and 3-D digital simulations, as well as military and sports injury research. He spoke in a Q&A with Crain's reporter Chad Halcom about educational resources for professionals. Among the questions asked was: Do many major employers in Southeast Michigan send their executives to Wayne State to get training through the center? "Many industries send their engineers here for training, or research, that helps them build toward a promotion or new job duties. Right now, taking a snapshot, we have one person here from General Motors Co., two from Ford Motor Co., one from Toyota North America and four from TARDEC (the Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren)."

Some Detroit parents struggle to understand doctors' instructions, read prescription labels or measure the correct dosage of medication for their children, because an estimated 47 percent of adults are functionally illiterate. It's impossible to say how much of a health risk illiteracy poses for Detroit children. Though studies have linked illiteracy to infant mortality in Third World countries, few such studies have been undertaken in the United States, where people are expected to be able to read and write. Wayne State University professor Daphne Ntiri, who is director of the WSU Literacy Outreach project and the Detroit Literacy Coalition, published a scholarly article on health illiteracy and the need for nurses and other medical professionals to be aware that not all of their patients can read. According to Ntiri, research has shown that patients with poor literacy skills often wait until they are very sick before seeking medical care, are less likely to participate in health promotion or disease prevention activities and have little knowledge of their health conditions or illnesses. "This behavior contributes to increased health care costs," Ntiri said, adding that such patients often have trouble managing conditions like diabetes.

Lyke Thompson, professor of political science at Wayne State University and director of Wayne State's Center for Urban Studies, and Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, political science professor at Wayne State who teaches public policy, opined about Michigan's projected $1.3-billion budget surplus and a proposal to implement a tax cut. The tax cut proposal, instead of reinvesting it to produce jobs, passed a Senate committee this week. "Even if you turn the entire surplus into an income tax cut, it would be worth less than 50 cents a day to the average Michigander - much less than a cup of coffee or a gallon of gasoline. Only the rich would see a substantial benefit from such a tax cut - more than $8 per day for the average earner in the top 1 percent. And the poor? The average worker in the bottom 20 percent would save a mere 8 cents a day." The writers suggest that it would be "far better for the vast majority of Michiganders for the Legislature to create more jobs by building better roads, improving schools and reducing crime. Not to mention some of the windfall so we can avoid drastic cuts the next time Michigan's highly cyclical economy turns south."

Global research overseen by and conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine will immediately change the treatment regimen of millions of multiple sclerosis patients around the world. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Tuesday approved a new drug application that calls for the injection of Copaxone at a higher dose, but fewer times per week for patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. "The availability of three-times-a-week Copaxone 40 mg/mL is a significant advancement for patients as they now have the option of effective and safe treatment with the drug, while reducing the number of injections by 60 percent," said Omar Khan, M.D., professor and chair of neurology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "Patients in the United States can now benefit from an improved dosing regimen without compromising the known benefits of Copaxone." The study was published in the Annals of Neurology, a leading clinical neuroscience journal and the official publication of the American Neurological Association. The Wayne State University MS Center is considered amongst the five largest MS centers in the country, with more than 4,000 patients. Dr. Khan said Wayne State University is now poised to submit a multi-center study to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke later this year to take the concept a step further, even beyond the current dosing regimen.

Wayne State's women's basketball team defeated Ferris State 88-83. Shareta Brown led 18th-ranked Wayne State (15-2, 12-1 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) with 22 points and 16 rebounds, while Des Lavita-Stephens, Ondrea Hughes and Imari Redfield scored 15 apiece. Jackie Jones had seven assists. In men's action, the Warriors beat Ferris State 70-62. Bryan Coleman scored 20 points to pace Wayne State (9-7, 7-6 GLIAC), while Jamar Ragland added 16. Chene Phillips had 10 points and 12 assists for Wayne State, while Gerald Williams-Taylor added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Today's front page story discusses groundbreaking discoveries by researchers at the Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University that are helping explain why so many Detroit babies are born too early, and could position the city to lead global efforts to prevent prematurity and save babies' lives. So many babies die in Detroit that the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, in collaboration with Wayne State University, located its Perinatology Research Branch at the Detroit Medical Center in 2002. Its mission is to discover why some pregnancies don't go well, and to find tests to predict preterm births and treatments to prevent them. The primary cause of infant mortality, in Detroit and elsewhere, is preterm birth - babies born too soon to survive. According to Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the Perinatology Research Branch, about two-thirds of preterm births happen because the mother spontaneously goes into labor. The other third occur when health conditions, such as a woman's high blood pressure or the fetus' failure to grow, require doctors to deliver the baby early by Caesarian section. In a study that spanned 44 countries, Romero and Wayne State University Associate Dean Dr. Sonia S. Hassan, director of advanced obstetrical care and research with the Perinatology Research Branch, found that vaginal progesterone can significantly reduce the risk of early labor in women diagnosed with short cervixes. Daily use of vaginal progesterone gel reduced by 45 percent the number of preterm births that occurred before 33 weeks among study participants with short cervixes. Preterm deliveries between 28 and 33 weeks of gestation were reduced by about half, and those between 28 and 38 weeks were reduced by more than a third.

A feature story focuses on Jacqueline Wilson, wife of Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson, and her efforts to tackle student homelessness. According to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, about 58,158 college applicants said they were homeless, on federal financial aid, with paperwork they filled out for the 2012-13 academic year. Wilson has established the program HIGH (Helping Individuals Go Higher) that would, among other things, engage potential sponsor families about housing homeless students and providing financial support for text books as well as transportation resources. President Wilson, who said he and his wife are a team, has also established a HIGH fund to support the venture. "We've notified all of the deans and professors," Wilson said, underscoring the overwhelming response the program has received. "People are so interested in helping and enthusiastic about the idea of giving back. So we want to organize a more formal structure of receiving donations and support."

Author, musician and Wayne State University English professor M.L. Liebler joined Craig Fahle in-studio to discuss the upcoming: "The Motown Sound: How Music Shaped the Motor City." This event launches Wayne State's new Knowledge on Tap series bringing renowned professors and scientists face-to-face with the public in Midtown's restaurants and cafes. The events will feature a live - and lively - discussion with some of Detroit's greatest minds. Liebler will present "The Motown Sound: How Music Shaped the Motor City" at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30 at Lefty's Lounge, located at 5440 Cass Avenue, Detroit. All Knowledge on Tap events are free and open to the public.

People with spinal cord injuries should be assessed for sleep apnea, researchers suggest. In a study that looked at 26 people with cervical (neck) and thoracic (upper mid-back) spinal cord injuries, investigators found that 77 percent of them had breathing problems during sleep and 92 percent had poor sleep quality. The nature of the breathing problems experienced by these patients during sleep is complex, and many of them had both obstructive and central sleep apnea. "The majority of spinal cord injury survivors have symptomatic sleep-disordered breathing and poor sleep that may be missed if not carefully assessed," lead author Dr. Abdulghani Sankari, physician scientist at John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine, said in a journal news release. "Our findings help in identifying the mechanism of sleep-disordered breathing in spinal cord injury and may provide potential targets for new treatment," he added.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) gained U.S. approval for a longer-acting version of the Copaxone multiple-sclerosis drug, bolstering the company's effort to defend its best-selling product as competitors seek to introduce cheaper copies this year. Teva can now market Copaxone for use as a 40-milligram shot three times a week, the Petach Tikva, Israel-based company said yesterday in a statement. The approval "is a significant advancement for patients as they now have the option of effective and safe treatment with Copaxone, while reducing the number of injections by 60 percent," Omar Khan, chair of the Department of Neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, said in the statement. "Patients in the U.S. can now benefit from an improved dosing regimen without compromising the known benefits of Copaxone."

The Government is failing to prevent rape and sexual violence and is ignoring the role alcohol plays in sexual aggression, according to the Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI). The RCNI launched two reports on Tuesday, highlighting the role of alcohol in sexual violence, and the lack of information about sexual behavior among "older children" - those over the age of 12. According to Antonia Abbey, an expert in sexual assault perpetration from Wayne State University, alcohol is involved in about 50 percent of incidences of sexual violence, although it's not the sole cause. "There are a lot of other risk factors involved including hostility towards women, sexual dominance, and childhood sexual, physical and emotion abuse," she said.

Anthony Holt, Wayne State University chief of police, talked about safety procedures in place on campus such as the blue light phones, text alert system and video surveillance cameras located throughout the university. Holt emphasized that although the various tools in place are important, the most effective tool in maintaining a safe campus is education and communication of public awareness.

In an editorial, the Michigan's three major research universities - Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Michigan State University - are praised for their contributions to the state's economy and its future prospects. Through the University Research Corridor alliance, the universities generated $16.6 billion in economic activity in 2012, according to the report by Anderson Economic Group of East Lansing. They helped support 66,000 direct and in-direct jobs. The report benchmarks the URC against other university clusters across the country, including the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and Massachusetts' Route 128 Corridor. The URC schools ranked second in an innovation power ranking compared to the seven other research clusters. They were first in the number of graduate and undergraduate degrees conferred in 2012, at 32,483. The URC ranked first in talent, fourth in research and seventh in commercialization of its research.