In a story examining a decline in African Americans' involvement in STEM education and careers, Joseph Francisco, a black chemistry professor at Purdue and past president of the American Chemical Society, spoke about his positive experiences at Wayne State University. After receiving his PhD, Francisco had several job offers, but he chose WSU. "I saw an opportunity at Wayne State to do good science in a supportive place that gave me the flexibility to make a contribution to the community," he said. "To give something back, to a black community."

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour was the keynote speaker at the 19th Annual American Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) Build Economic Bridges Banquet held Friday at The Henry Hotel. AACC Executive Director Fay Beydoun said in The Arab American News story, that the organization chose to invite President Gilmour based on his status within Michigan's economy. "Mr. Gilmour is a major player in Michigan's economy, specifically southeast Michigan," she said. "His accomplishments regionally as a top executive with Ford Motor Company as the Chairman of the Community Foundation and an effective board member of the new economic initiative (are noteworthy), and his experience and role complement the mission of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce." In response to his scheduled appearance, some members of the Arab Student Union demonstrated outside the chamber\'s banquet to protest because of Wayne State's decision last year to pull the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award. According to Matt Lockwood, WSU's director of communications, a task force has been formed and will begin meeting early next month. It will be comprised of people from WSU and the surrounding community and focus on how the university can expand and build upon its lineages with the Arab American community.

Sally Roberts, Wayne State University assistant professor of mathematics education, was awarded a $1.7 million grant to help prepare high school girls for success in math, science, technology and engineering, and boost the number of female students studying those disciplines in college. The National Institute of Health awarded the five-year grant to Roberts, who is planning programming in Metro Detroit targeting high school girls for science and math disciplines, including a summer academy, events for parents and students during the academic year and mentoring from WSU students.

Fox 2 reporter Deena Centofanti's local "Health Works" segment exploring research on premature births being conducted at Wayne State University's Perinatology Research Branch, ran nationally on other Fox network outlets. A discovery made by researchers could save hundreds of thousands of babies from being born too soon across the country. Doctors know that women who have what is known as a \"short\" cervix are at higher risk for delivering a premature birth. A new gel containing progesterone can be rubbed on the cervix and help lower the risk. Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the program in Perinatal Research and Obstetrics and Professor of Molecular Obstetrics and Genetics at Wayne State; and Dr. Sonia Hassan, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Wayne State University School of Medicine and associate dean for Maternal, Perinatal and Child Health, were featured in the story.

Gerry E. Conti, assistant professor and director of the Human Movement Laboratory, Occupational Therapy, Department of Health Care Sciences for Wayne State University, commented about the benefits when children learn to print and then write in cursive. "When you are doing writing cursively ... what happens is that hand is leaving a very distinct memory of letters in the sensory motor cortex in the brain," Conti said. When typing, Conti said fingers do not know an L from an F, but when the hand is writing individual letters, the physical action sends a message to the brain's cortex. "So the next time you see that word, it triggers that sensory motor memory," Conti said.

Fox 2 reporter Deena Centofanti's local "Health Works" segment exploring research on premature births being conducted at Wayne State University's Perinatology Research Branch, ran nationally on other Fox network outlets. A discovery made by researchers could save hundreds of thousands of babies from being born too soon across the country. Doctors know that women who have what is known as a \"short\" cervix are at higher risk for delivering a premature birth. A new gel containing progesterone can be rubbed on the cervix and help lower the risk. Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the program in Perinatal Research and Obstetrics, and Dr. Sonia Hassan, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Wayne State University School of Medicine and associate dean for Maternal, Perinatal and Child Health, were featured in the story.

Additional coverage of the opening of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University is provided from this web-based media outlet.

Hermina Anghelescu, associate professor of library and information science at Wayne State University, is featured in a video discussing the U.S. contingent at the international \"The Book. Romania. Europe.\" symposium in Sinaia, Romania, Sept. 20-23, 2011. Anghelescu was one of the event's organizers.

Wayne State University's Law School today is set to celebrate the grand opening of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. The Keith Center honors the life and legacy of Keith, a federal judge, civil rights figure and 1956 Wayne Law alumnus. "Part of the new building is a permanent version of our 'Marching Toward Justice' exhibit telling the story of the 14th Amendment, and it's been designed to be a public destination site," professor Peter Hammer told WWJ Newsradio 950. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot building features classrooms, conference rooms, student organization space and a lecture hall.

Numerous media outlets reported the dedication and opening of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University. An overflow audience in the university\'s 600-seat Community Arts Auditorium stood to applaud when Damon J. Keith, 89, took the stage. Those attending included political leaders, federal, state and local judges. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot addition to Wayne State University\'s Law building on the west edge of the midtown campus will serve not only as the center for education in the laws of civil rights, but will also house programs to stimulate debate and action toward social justice and connect with area residents through legal clinics exploring laws for immigration and asylum, the disabled, the environment, small business and nonprofits. A photo gallery and video are included in the Detroit Free Press story. WJR talk show host Mitch Albom, who was a featured speaker at the grand opening ceremonies, mentioned the event at the top of his 5 p.m. show.

A renewed call to encourage putting babies to sleep on their backs and discourage co-sleeping were among the solutions suggested by a panel of doctor-academics at a statewide summit in Ypsilanti called to curtail infant mortality in Michigan. The state MDCH in May appointed an 11-member team of doctor-academics to begin to address the issue. The group asked itself, "What can have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time?" said Dr. Valerie Parisi, dean of Wayne State University's School of Medicine. While "Back to Sleep" or "Safe Sleep" campaigns have been underway since the early 1990s, the panel recognizes that not everyone is getting the message.

Sally Roberts, Wayne State University assistant professor of mathematics education, was awarded a $1.7 million grant to help prepare high school girls for success in math, science, technology and engineering, and boost the number of female students studying those disciplines in college. The National Institute of Health awarded the five-year grant to Roberts, who is planning programming in Metro Detroit targeting high school girls for science and math disciplines, including a summer academy, events for parents and students during the academic year and mentoring from WSU students.

Mike Smith, labor historian at Wayne State University, commented in a story about the influence of the United Auto Workers (UAW) over the years. UAW membership dropped significantly from the heyday of the automotive industry decades ago. Members tallied 1.5 million in 1979, but today that number is close to 355,000, one-third of which works in the auto industry, says Smith. The two-tier system in 2007 was "a massive philosophical change for the UAW" and signified the organization was becoming more willing to cooperate with the domestic automakers in order to keep their membership numbers solvent and prevent further labor cuts. "The whole game has changed. The main issue for bargaining now is job security," Smith adds. Marick Masters, director of the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues and Labor@Wayne, also was quoted in the piece. Even when the economy improves, UAW workers should not expect a return to the earlier era when they were guaranteed certain pay and benefit packages and were not necessarily forced to share in the long-term success of the company, says Masters. "What you're going to see is a continuing effort to reward a leaner workforce in a way that doesn't balloon the fixed costs of the company."

Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the Perinatology Research Branch of the Division of Intramural Research of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was awarded the 2011 John Dingell Hero for Babies Award by the March of Dimes Michigan Chapter. Romero was honored for his work in preterm birth at the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) including the PREGNANT study, which was conducted collaboratively under a Clinical Trials Agreement between Columbia and the PRB/NICHD/NIH and of which Dr. Romero was the NIH Principal Investigator.

At its Oct. 17 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council voted to appoint Ned Staebler to fill an open four-year term on the local development finance authority board. Staebler took a position starting in the summer of 2011 as vice president of economic development for Wayne State University, after previously serving with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Staebler currently serves on the city's Housing and Human Services Advisory Board, which was established in 2007 to replace two other bodies.

Dr. Valerie Parisi, dean of Wayne State University's School of Medicine, comments in a story highlighting the 2011 Michigan\'s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Infant Mortality Summit held Monday in Ann Arbor. According to Parisi, despite all of the research and attention devoted to the matter, the problem has continued to get worse. \"It was almost like we ignored the problem all of these years,\" she said. Parisi said the committee recommended a number of ways to combat pre-term births, which accounts for 70 percent of the state\'s infant mortality rate. She added that premature births cost the U.S. nearly $26 billion per year.

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority board Tuesday approved a $408,647 tax break to support construction of a new five-story medical office building in Detroit to house Wayne State University School of Medicine\'s Department of Psychiatry. The $18 million project on 2.7 acres at 3901 Chrysler Service Drive includes construction of a 62,840-square-foot building and parking lot with 139 spaces. The medical school\'s psychiatry department will be the main tenant and lease space from developer Queen Lillian LLC, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

RetroSense Therapeutics LLC, a Michigan-based company, announced that it has executed its exclusive, worldwide option and signed a license agreement for novel gene-therapy approaches for treating blindness developed at Wayne State University's School of Medicine. Zhuo-Hua Pan, professor of anatomy and cell biology in the School of Medicine, along with colleagues at Salus University in Pennsylvania, developed the breakthrough therapy and follow-on approaches that offer promise to people suffering with incurable blindness caused by age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa - retinal degenerative disorders that are currently incurable. "This license agreement with RetroSense is an exciting example of how critical research is to making discoveries, then getting those discoveries to the market," said Hilary Ratner, vice president for research at Wayne State University.

An article highlights the work of Wayne State University anthropology students and faculty who are donating space and time to help save Pontiac's Oak Hill Cemetery. Teddi Setzer, a physical anthropologist and lecturer, volunteered to assist with removing the bodies after The Oakland Press contacted the university's Department of Anthropology seeking assistance. The remains will be properly sorted through and housed at Wayne State University until the sites are properly secured. Records from the cemetery offices will assist in identifying the people in the disturbed crypts. Photos and video are included.

The former and current managing partners of CPA and business advisory firm Plante Moran have released "Succession Transition: A Roadmap for Seamless Transitions," a book that offers an inside view of strategies to cultivate staff members into leadership positions. The book includes a foreword from Wayne State University President and former Ford Motor Co. CFO Allan Gilmour.