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WSU incubator sets sights on neighborhood's small businesses

A feature story examines Wayne State University's TechTown and a part of its mission to low-tech companies including lifestyle companies that stimulate growth in Detroit's Midtown. Located in Midtown, TechTown\'s push to help lifestyle companies get up and running is part of a broader effort by WSU to build up the area around its campus to create jobs and revitalize Detroit. About 80 percent of the businesses TechTown is helping are micro-enterprises or focused on delivering goods and services inside Detroit\'s boundaries.

Wayne State saxophonist will head Detroit Jazz Fest artistic direction

Detroit Jazz Festival has found its new artistic director naming saxophonist Chris Collins, director of jazz studies at Wayne State University to the post. Collins, who has toured internationally as a band leader, is best known as a contemporary mainstream tenor saxophonist. He has also explored various fusions, including marriages of jazz with techno music and jazz with Irish folk music, the latter featuring his clarinet work. "I've seen all of the variations of how the artistic side has been managed, and I've noted the good, bad and the ugly. I'm looking forward to combining my knowledge of the local scene, the uniqueness of the Detroit sound that we've created, along with an understanding of broader national talent and new developments on the global scene," said Collins. A photo of Collins is included.
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Could Detroit become the silicon valley of social entrepreneurship?

Wayne State University's Blackstone LaunchPad is mentioned in a story about social entrepreneurship in Detroit. Funded by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and modeled after a program at the University of Miami, the LaunchPad opened its doors a little over a year ago with the goal of being a comprehensive resource for student entrepreneurs at Wayne State. LaunchPad's goal is to help the students develop business plans and offering workshops, networking events, and consulting sessions, as well as a brick-and-mortar location on campus for like-minded young innovators to gather and hash out ideas.
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Matt Michaels tribute

\"The Listening Room\" program with Chris Felcyn dedicated its Nov. 6 show to the late Matt Michaels, WSU professor of jazz who passed away Nov. 2. In-studio guests were WSU music teachers Dennis Tini and Chris Collins and Detroit harpist Christa Grix. Michaels co-founded the jazz studies program at WSU, was a teacher to countless students and was a pianist. WSU\'s and the DSO\'s \"Mondays at the Max\" Big Band concert Nov. 14 includes a tribute to Michaels. Proceeds support a WSU music scholarship named for him.

Civil rights leader Arthur Johnson remembered for quiet strength

Hundreds of mourners gathered at Missionary Baptist Church to honor Arthur Johnson who died Tuesday at 85. In the early 1950s, Johnson was executive director of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, and he established the branch\'s Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner. Johnson held other positions, including deputy superintendent for school community relations for Detroit Public Schools, being the first African American to hold the position of assistant superintendent. He retired in 1995 as the vice president for university relations and professor of educational sociology at Wayne State University after 23 years.

Rally addresses youth obesity issue in Detroit

About 700 Detroit Public Schools students are expected to take part in a youth program targeting childhood obesity. City Councilman Andre Spivey says this morning\'s rally at Wayne State University for fourth- and fifth-graders will kick off his newly formed Minors Overcoming Obesity with Veggies and Exercise task force. M.O.O.V.E. Detroit is a spinoff of first lady Michelle Obama\'s \"Let\'s Move\" campaign, which pushes for better school lunches, more access to fruits and vegetables and more physical activity among children.
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Guest commentary: Not enough doctors

Valeri M. Parisi, dean of Wayne State University's School of Medicine, coauthored an opinion piece about the shortage of doctors in Michigan and federal reduction plans proposed to reduce support. Parisi and her coauthors, deans of six other Michigan medical schools, wrote: "Cutting federal and state funding for graduate medical education will reduce the number of new doctors we can train and will worsen the shortage of physicians. The more drastic the cuts, the fewer residency slots will be available and the more severe this shortage will become. These cuts would also eliminate jobs, make it harder for people to get health care, and reduce quality of life overall at a time when we can least afford it. In the long run, it also means fewer physicians will stay in Michigan to open practices and create additional, stable jobs."

Grant will fund initiatives to increase interest in health, science disciplines

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the NIH awarded a $1.7 million, 5-year grant to Wayne State University to fund initiatives set to increase the interest of metropolitan Detroit-area girls in health-related science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Directed toward seventh-grade girls, the goal of the Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life (GO-GIRL) intervention is to increase and sustain engagement of girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines; build capacities to pursue those disciplines by increasing girls' and parents' knowledge of the personal academic skills necessary for college admission in health-related STEM fields; and provide continuity throughout high school by connecting girls to role models and mentors in health-related STEM disciplines.

Wayne State Study of marijuana therapy could affect public policy

A $1.5 million grant to a Wayne State University researcher from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health could have policy implications in Michigan and other states regarding the therapeutic use of marijuana. Mark Greenwald, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in WSU's School of Medicine and director of the Substance Abuse Research Division, is seeking to understand the differences in marijuana use between three subgroups.

Half of the population of Detroit lacks the literacy skills necessary to properly navigate modern life

Wayne State University Honors College Dean Jerry Herron is quoted about literacy challenges in Detroit and surrounding areas. Herron is among those leading the Reading Works initiative to address illiteracy. "Any problem is too big to combat if you scale the problem at a cosmic level," Herron said. "And when the scale is cosmic, it's also easy for individuals just to throw up their hands and say, 'This is huge! What can one person do?' Which often means that individuals end up doing nothing at all for lack of a practical means of engaging and doing good."

Arthur Johnson, a civil rights icon and comrade of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 85

Human rights activist, educator and arts advocate Arthur Johnson died at home Tuesday after an extended illness. Dr. Johnson was 85. In recent years, Dr. Johnson was best known as a university administrator. He retired as senior vice president for university relations at Wayne State University in 1995 after 23 years in various high-ranking posts. But his impact was perhaps greatest as a leader in the battle to end racial discrimination in housing, public education, restaurants and other public places in Detroit.

Rise in Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index suggests stronger economy may be on the way

The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index rebounded sharply in October, rising more than 12 percent - to 59.7 from 53.1 in September. That increase followed three months of decline. Anything above 50 indicates an expanding economy. "The index had declined to near the threshold of 50, suggesting that the economy may be cooling. The October index suggests a possible, but far from conclusive, return to a stronger business economy," said Timothy Butler, associate professor of global supply chain management at Wayne State University's business school.

Wayne State Farmers Market supports local food economy

Kami Pothukuchi, a member of the Detroit Food Policy Council and professor of urban planning at Wayne State University, writes a column about WSU's farmers market, which is a program of SEED Wayne. Pothukuchi writes: "The Farmers Market has connected small businesses offering fresh and prepared foods with people living and working in Detroit's Midtown; increased access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods in convenient ways; and supported a number of businesses and operations owned and run by women and people of color."
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Kettering University professor works with research team at Wayne State University to find next best cancer treatment

Kettering professor Prem Vaishnava has been spending long days in the labs of Wayne State University with hopes that the group's research - along with work at other universities - will help bring a cancer therapy that would ideally only target cancer zones. Chemotherapy and radiation attack the entire body, which also kills regular cells. The scientists at Wayne State are looking to unravel the method's largest challenge so far - how to most effectively inject the medicine. Because of the varying shapes, sizes and volumes of tumors, each person would need a different type of drug distribution, Vaishnava said. WSU is among several universities in the country using funding from the National Cancer Institute to study the technology.
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President Gilmour talks purpose, use of universities

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour addressed the economy and what he called the forgotten purpose of higher education Oct. 27 during the "Higher Education and the Future of Democracy" lecture at the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium in the WSU Law School. "If you read the papers, and some of us still do, or watch the news, there is one subject dominating the conversation: the economy, or more specifically jobs," Gilmour said. "Higher education is not a substitution for trade schools," he said. "Higher education is a key to inform and inspire citizens. The kinds of citizens who help build and lead this republic. The kinds of citizens who can contribute individually and act collectively. The kinds of citizens who are relentlessly curious and in being so help invent the world of the future." A photo of President Gilmour is included.

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