Wayne State University is holding its annual e-waste collection, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 24, in Parking Lot 11 on Cass Ave. between Antoinette and York, Detroit. The Office of Environmental Health and Safety has teamed with Apple Inc. for the electronic collection, which is on track to reach a major milestone this year: 1 million pounds of electronic waste collected since the partnership began. The event is open to Wayne State and its surrounding community. This is an opportunity to get rid of unwanted electronic items including computers, monitors, printers, televisions, radios, fax machines, scanners, cellphones and more. Virtually anything with an electrical plug that does not contain oil or Freon will be accepted. E-waste collections at WSU have made a significant difference and earned recognition from the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities, which cited Wayne State's reduction of lead, cadmium and mercury entering landfills.

For much of its long history, the Cranbrook Educational Community was a closed enclave that had little contact with the world outside its 300-plus acres in Bloomfield Hills. "Some neighbors had never even been here," said Dominic DiMarco, Cranbrook president. That's changed. Cranbrook has opened its doors in a number of ways, from adding an inviting gull-wing entranceway on Woodward and the implementation of a variety of outreach programs aimed at students across the state. Prior to coming to Cranbrook to serve as the chief financial officer in 2008, he worked for Ford Motor Co. for 35 years, where he was president of Ford in South America and served as executive director of the business units in Canada and Mexico. He joined Cranbrook last July after retiring from Ford. He rejoined the work force at the urging of his mentor, Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour. "He said I was too young to retire," DiMarco said.

Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin featured a story on National Pi Day (March 14), and Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Wayne Raskind. To commemorate the event, Wayne State crafted a funny video that as of Thursday morning had been viewed by nearly 380 people. It starts with university employee Mario Chaney asking his waitress at the campus diner what she has in the way of pie. Seated to his right, "Raskind looks up and begins reciting: "3.14159 26535 89793 23846," and then to Chaney's left, Wayne State chemistry student Stephanie Godden takes over. She can recite pi to 2,300 places, and before long, a chorus of customers is making Chaney wish he'd ordered cake. At the age of 14, Raskind could recite from memory the first 1,220 digits of pi. Rolling out numbers until classmates' eyes glazed over "was not exactly a ticket to social respectability," he says. The important thing for Raskind, he says, was to realize "I could do something at a world-class level. That helped me when I went into mathematics and was competing against some of the smartest people in the world." Wayne State's pi video is located at:

The Journal of Law in Society, in partnership with the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School, will present its 2013 symposium, "Debunking the Post-Racial Myth: The Profiling of Detroit's Most Vulnerable Populations," on Friday, March 22 at Wayne Law's Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. The symposium will explore issues surrounding race relations in Detroit and nearby suburbs, including racial profiling, the war on terror and the challenges faced by immigrant communities. Craig Fahle spoke with Professor Peter Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights and adviser to the Journal of Law in Society, and Kanika Suri, symposium director for the Journal of Law in Society, about the symposium and the state of race relations in Detroit.

An association representing Michigan's 15 public universities has honored professors from Wayne State University, Michigan Technological University and the University of Michigan-Flint. The Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan this week announced three faculty members at the schools received its annual Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year: Wayne State's Tamara Bray, Michigan Tech's Will Cantrell, and the University of Michigan-Flint's Mojtaba Vaziri. Bray teaches anthropology and directs Wayne State's anthropology museum. The award, in its seventh year, recognizes outstanding contributions of faculty members at the 15 schools. The association says each university nominated a professor who has had a significant impact on student learning through research, advising and mentoring.

A Wayne State University researcher said cancer doctors need to recognize the "sudden exhaustion syndrome" of patients undergoing cancer treatments and help them deal with it. Horng-Shiuann Wu, assistant professor of nursing in the College of Nursing, is researching why some patients suffer from the exhaustion more than others. This type of exhaustion "goes far beyond just being tired," said Wu, of Troy. "It's more draining, more intense, lasts longer than typical fatigue and is often unexpected. "Patients can suddenly become so exhausted they cannot move at all," Wu said. One participant experienced an onset while being surveyed, causing her eyelids to droop and rendering her unable to form words. For now, Wu said oncology professionals need to recognize the syndrome and educate patients to enhance a sense of control and prevent harm. "Cancer is not going away anytime soon," she said. "...we can manage a symptom, even if we can't cure the illness yet." Wu's study, "Definition, Prevalence and Characteristics of Sudden Exhaustion: A Possible Syndrome of Fatigue in Cancer," was recently published in the journal Support Care Cancer.

This week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded Wayne State University two exploratory/developmental grants totaling more than $272,000 for cancer detection and diagnosis research, as well as cancer treatment research. This funding was awarded through the National Cancer Institute, an organization within the National Institute of Health under HHS. One grant award of $123,976 went towards a Guiding Ca2+ Channel-Based Cancer Treatment Using Mn2+-Enhanced MRI. A second grant award of $148,770 went towards a Differential Network Interrogations of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition Program.

Wayne State University students are working this semester to preserve the historic Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac. Anthropology lecturer Teddi Setzer's class is evaluating the cemetery's condition and checking whether its records match information on graves. The National Register of Historic Places placed the cemetery on its registry in 1989. Among those buried at the cemetery are 25 people who died in the Civil War. In another section are the remains of Pontiac's founders. Still another has 10 to 15 infant burials and is nicknamed "Babyland."

The University of Michigan Law School ranked ninth nationally and four other Michigan law schools made the list of the 2014 Best Law Schools by U.S. News & World Report. Wayne State University Law School rose from No. 110 last year to No. 105. The report, released Tuesday, ranks the top 142 law schools in the country and also releases an alphabetical list of 52 unranked second-tier schools. Rankings are based on a weighted average of 12 measures of quality such as Law School Admission Test scores for admitted students, grade point averages, acceptance rates and passage of the state bar exam. Data were collected between fall 2012 and early 2013.

Republican legislators are angry about the recent eight year contract agreement between Wayne State University and their faculty union. They claim that the contract was set at an unusually long length to circumvent the right-to-work law set to take effect at the end of the month. Craig Fahle spoke with Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour about the contract.(Cue to 19:45 for interview)

Wayne State University Law School Dean Jocelyn Benson joined Channel 7 co-anchor Carolyn Clifford during the Channel 7 nightly newscast talking about the Kwame Kilpatrick trial and his conviction of corruption charges. Benson said we should be confident of the jury's decision and that it's a victory for the city and people of the city.

In the aftermath of the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption trial, Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley dedicates her column to those individuals and organizations that have stepped up to make a positive difference in the community. Among those Riley mentioned is Dr. Herb Smitherman, assistant dean "who helps ensure the reputation of the Wayne State University Medical School while also seeing patients and advocating for better health care for poor people."

Robin Boyle, professor of urban planning at Wayne State University, opined about the placement of an emergency financial manager (EFM) into the administration of the City of Detroit writing that this event should also be viewed as an opportunity for truly innovative urban reform. "As the city awaits the announcement of the EFM, and as the candidates for the November 2013 mayoral race and City Council jostle for position, I believe this situation presents a clear and potentially advantageous separation of roles." He added, "The EFM means real and painful change for Detroit. But this is a crisis that should not be wasted. Short-run change can also yield long-term and lasting improvement."

Bradford Frost, a member of the Detroit Revitalization Program at Wayne State University, contributed a letter to the editor in response to the New York Times March 5 front page article "A Private Boom Amid Detroit's Public Blight." Frost writes: " Detroit's opportunity to transform itself into an inclusive, viable city remains ripe. That process is being led by a band of visionaries, entrepreneurs and community leaders in spite of broken civic infrastructure. It's not sustainable, though. Detroit can't leave public safety and fundamental services in such an abysmal state. State-led emergency management is undesirable, but it may be essential to resetting the public sector's trajectory."

Wayne State University basketball coaches David Greer and Carrie Lohr were named GLIAC coaches of the year for the men's and women's teams.

A federal judge said Thursday that he wants to wait for guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court before deciding whether or not Michigan's gay marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard arguments at Wayne State University Law School from two Detroit area nurses who filed a lawsuit last year against a Michigan law that prohibits them from jointly adopting children because they're not married. At Friedman's suggestion, they expanded their challenge to the gay marriage ban approved by 58 percent of Michigan voters in 2004. But Friedman said Thursday he would benefit from seeing how the U.S. Supreme Court handles cases involving a gay marriage ban in California as well as the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Crain's Detroit Business spoke with Peter Hammer, professor at Wayne State's Law School and director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, about the potential implications of the case. In an extensive Q&A, Hammer said, "Well, it was interesting, at the end of the day, the judge punted. He held any further decision or opinion until he's going to get guidance from the Supreme Court this summer, which is a little bit anticlimactic, but a reasonable position for a judge to take.

A Wayne State University team scored high points in a recent progress report for "EcoCar 2: Plugging In to the Future," an engineering competition in which 15 North American university teams compete over three years to convert a gasoline-powered production car into a fully functional hybrid vehicle. The WSU Hybrid Warriors earned 93 out of 100 points, higher than the average of 83.9 earned among the 15 competing schools. EcoCar 2 provides students with real-world, eco-friendly automotive engineering experience while striving to further improve the energy efficiency of an already highly efficient vehicle. "The EcoCar 2 organizers were so impressed with our team's work and overall progress that they complimented us repeatedly," says Jerry Ku, associate professor, EcoCar 2 faculty advisor and director of WSU's electric-drive vehicle engineering program. "They said that we had turned in some of the best electrical component schematics in our report. As the only Michigan school (in the competition), we're looking forward to making the College of Engineering proud and showing that we can compete toe-to-toe against schools that have been participating in Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions much longer."

The Harlem Shake is a "dancing" sensation that has swept across the internet and has become very popular for You Tube. At more than 40,000 views, the Wayne State Harlem shake has been one of the more successful local varieties. "The idea came from one of our web developers the Thursday before we recorded. We tried to pull it off on the same day, but we weren't sure if we would have enough people. So, we created the Facebook event and let it build over the weekend while, we got the correct permissions," said Jessica Archer, information officer at Wayne State University. They pulled more than 300 people together via Facebook, and it all came together in the WSU Student Center Building food court. What about the idea that the Harlem Shake was overdone? After all, there have been a lot of versions. Archer said she "was a little reticent to do it at first, but it was a total blast."

In response to the March 1 article "Three teachers sue over Taylor pact that guarantees paid union fee," Wayne State University professor Anca Vlasopolos wrote a letter to the editor pointing out how unions are obligated by law to protect and represent all the members of the bargaining unit as defined by law. She wrote: "I also need to correct your report, which erroneously stated that Wayne State University is a closed shop. We have an agency shop, which allows people to be union members for full dues, or fair-share members at reduced dues, or even to opt out altogether and pay into a scholarship and research fund for students." Vlasopolos also addresses the Legislature's request to know what good comes of a lengthy contract: "The university can make budgetary decisions for eight years with certainty about its workforce expenses. There is stability in clear rules governing relations between the administration and faculty and academic staff. There is no threat of labor-management strife for oncoming presidents, provosts and deans, so recruitment at every level will be easier and more advantageous."

Over the past several years there has been significant progress in cleaning up lead contamination in old homes in the state, and lead poisoning in kids in Detroit has dropped more than 70 percent since 2004. There are a couple of reasons for the dramatic drop in the number of kids with elevated lead levels. "The first reason is the work of a coalition of non-profit and public actors that goes under the title of Green & Healthy Homes Initiative that has worked tirelessly to try to make sure that action on this issue is very coordinated and very carefully implemented in the city of Detroit," says Lyke Thompson, director of Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies. Thompson says the second reason is the profound number of homes that are going vacant and that are being demolished in Detroit. "As we get rid of this older housing stock, then there's fewer places that are likely to lead poison children."