A group of future teachers hoping to work in Detroit Public Schools (DPS) in 2012 was warned Tuesday - be ready to make a difference when you enter a classroom or don\'t come at all. More than 44 fellows from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation\'s Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching program gathered at Wayne State University for an orientation and tour of Detroit. The group is in a 13-month master\'s teaching program that will prepare them to enter DPS classrooms in the fall of next year as certified teachers. Most of these fellows have left careers in science, math and technology to be part of a statewide program that will deploy teachers to high-need urban and rural school districts.

More than one-third of Michigan\'s senior citizens are struggling to pay for food, housing, transportation and medical care they need, according a report to be released today. Those who do not own homes or who rely solely on Social Security payments to live are at much greater risk, says the report by Wayne State University researchers.

The Wayne State University College of Nursing received a $200,000 grant from the Michigan Nursing Corps to enhance its simulation technology for teaching clinical nursing skills. The college\'s simulation laboratories use life-sized manikins programmed to exhibit a wide range of biological responses and medical conditions. This technology allows nursing students to learn and practice clinical skills in a safe, low-stress environment before their supervised training with actual patients. \"This award will enable us to expand simulation training for a significant number of our undergraduate and graduate nursing students,\" said Barbara K. Redman, College of Nursing dean and professor.

Wayne State law professor Peter Henning provided legal analysis of the case involving media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is facing tough questioning along with his son James over the phone hacking scandal that resulted in the shutdown of the 168-year-old News of the World.

Members of the U.S. Navy will tour the Detroit area and participate in a series of events celebrating Navy Week, including a reception at Wayne State University. Navy Week is designed to highlight the investment Americans have made in their armed forces. Sailors will tour the Detroit area through Sunday. Detroit last hosted Navy Week in 2006.

Thomas Jankowski, associate director of research at the Institute of Gerontology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute at Wayne State University, spoke with Craig Fahle about the Elder Security Index from Elder Law of Michigan. Jankowski discussed the economic security of people 65 years of age and older in the region and the rate of poverty among seniors in rural and urban areas.

The Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School announced Tuesday that its rescheduled Fifth Keith Biennial Lecture will feature actor, singer and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. Belafonte\'s lecture, \"Where We Are Headed,\" sponsored by Comerica Bank, will be held at 7 p.m. in Wayne State University\'s Community Arts Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 8. \"The Keith Biennial Lecture has quickly become one of the most significant and anticipated civil rights events in the Detroit community,\" said Peter Hammer, Wayne Law professor and director of the Keith Center. \"We are excited to have Mr. Harry Belafonte deliver this important address. This event will serve as an appropriate kickoff to our fall events and festivities, which will culminate with the Oct. 19 grand opening ceremony for the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.\"

Michael Belzer, associate professor of economics and president and CEO of Great Lakes Gateway, was a guest on "Powering Michigan's Future" talking about trade and transportation strategies for the Great Lakes region.

In 1952, Dr. Forest Dodrill captured national attention when he became the first surgeon to use a mechanical heart pump on a patient at Wayne State University\'s Harper Hospital in Detroit. There\'s a reason that heart pump looks like a 12-cylinder engine. It was made by General Motors. Automakers have had an impact in many areas beyond the traditional scope of developing cars and trucks - from paint and gasoline to solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells, and even the inertial guidance system for NASA\'s Apollo moon program. All were built by automakers. Dodrill believed that a machine could be developed to temporarily replace the human heart\'s blood-pumping function and make open heart surgery possible. \"We\'ve come a long way since that first heart operation by Dodrill in 1952. Now, it\'s estimated that worldwide more than one million open heart operations are done using some form of heart-lung machine each year,\" said Dr. Larry Stephenson, Wayne State University cardiothoracic surgeon and medical historian, in a press release in 2002. \"Without some form of blood pump or heart-lung machine, many of the heart operations we routinely do would not be possible.\"

Though it generally is known that obesity dramatically increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, the biological mechanisms for that connection still are unclear. Backed by several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), James Granneman, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences and pathology in Wayne State University\'s School of Medicine, is examining the nature of those mechanisms, specifically how the toxicity of lipids, or fatty acids, links obesity and diabetes. \"It\'s not how fat you are that causes diabetes, but rather how well your adipose tissue functions to handle toxic fatty acids,\" said Granneman, whose laboratory is part of WSU\'s Center for Integrative Metabolic and Endocrine Research (CIMER).

A Battle Creek Enquirer editorial suggests that it would be wise to focus on how immigrants could be a major asset in helping Michigan to rebuild its economy. Gov. Rick Snyder and panelists pointed out the need for a new focus on immigration during the New Michigan Media conference held at Wayne State University on Monday.

Dr. Mark Juzych has been appointed chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Kresge Eye Institute. "Dr. Juzych has been deeply involved in all aspects of the ophthalmology department and has demonstrated tremendous commitment to our missions, especially in the area of medical education," said Dr. Valerie M. Parisi, dean of the School of Medicine. "We can be confident that his experience with the school and with the Kresge Eye Institute ensures he is the ideal choice to lead the department and the institute into the future." A photo of Juzych is included. (print edition only)

The Wayne State University College of Nursing received a $200,000 grant from the Michigan Nursing Corps (MNC) to enhance its simulation technology for teaching clinical nursing skills. "This award will enable us to expand simulation training for a significant number of our undergraduate and graduate nursing students," said Barbara K. Redman, College of Nursing dean and professor. Simulation experience allows faculty to more efficiently assess procedures practiced by nursing students before they are performed on hospital and clinic patients. These students are then better prepared when they begin their training with actual patients. In addition, the grant will increase opportunities for nursing research on patient care practices as well as disease-specific projects." A photo of WSU nursing students is included. (print edition only)

Proposed state laws viewed as anti-immigration are too divisive to be taken up with Michigan\'s economy struggling, Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday, according to a Detroit Free Press story. \"Those are negative issues that have no value,\" Snyder said after a speech on immigration at Wayne State University. \"We\'ve shared that general premise with the Legislature.\" New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who created a stir in May when he suggested Detroit could solve its population loss problems by pushing for a law that would guarantee citizenship for foreigners as long as they agree to move to Detroit for seven years, spoke at the conference by a video link. Asked about his Detroit proposal, Bloomberg said city leaders should look to states which have passed anti-immigration laws and reach out to immigrants living there. \"I\'d go as fast as I could to recruit immigrants who are already here,\" he said. Once in the city, he said, immigrants will buy abandoned housing, pay taxes, fill schools and create new businesses.

In a South End interview after the keynote addresses at Monday's New Michigan Media conference on the role of immigration in the revitalization of Michigan's economy, Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour discussed the need to keep international students in the area after they graduate from WSU. "We need that horsepower," Gilmour said. "We need that brainpower in our local community." In regard to Bloomberg's proposal for immigrants to come to Detroit, Gilmour focused on keeping the city competitive on an international level. "In terms of population density, we're roughly one-tenth of what Japan is," Gilmour said. "You can make a case, therefore, if we're going to compete in the world - in the standard of living, economic growth, social well-being, etc. - we need more people." Photos of President Gilmour and Governor Rick Snyder are included.

Borders Group, the 40-year-old retailer that started as a used bookstore in Ann Arbor, decided Monday to liquidate its remaining 399 stores, conceding a battle with competitors, technology and itself. Started in 1971 by brothers Louis and Tom Borders as an 800-square-foot bookstore, its impending passing adds to a long list of Michigan-based retailers that lost their edge with consumers. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 16. "The news seemed like a formality after the bid for Borders fell apart last week," said Laura Bartell, a bankruptcy law professor at Wayne State University. \"The physical bookstore has become a thing of the past,\" she said.

Craig Fahle spoke with Wayne State University communications professor and New Michigan Media founding director Hayg Oshagan about the organization's conference held at Wayne State on Monday. The pair discussed the impact of Gov. Rick Snyder's position on immigration and how immigrants have the potential to help Michigan's economy. Additionally, WDET reporters Martina Guzman and Nicole Christian, who attended the conference, reflected on what they heard.

Immigrants are the key to revitalizing Michigan's economy, said Gov. Rick Snyder at a New Michigan Media Conference at Wayne State University on Monday. The Associated Press reports: "One of the keys that made us successful in the past is going to again be the key to our future, and that's… immigration," Snyder told hundreds of people attending the conference. He noted that the venture capital companies he headed before he became governor invested in several businesses led by foreign graduates who created Michigan jobs.

The first-term Michigan governor Rick Snyder said one of the keys to reinventing Michigan is to look at the state\'s past. The last time the Great Lakes State had fully reinvented itself was during the Industrial Revolution, which immigrants played a major role in, he said. "One of the keys to Michigan's future is to look back to our past and to say, 'what keys made us successful in the past (are) going to have to be the key(s) to our future?\' And that's the topic of today,\" he said. \"It's the topic of immigration; it's the topic of diversity." Snyder spoke for about 20 minutes before taking questions at the New Michigan Media Conference about "Immigration and Michigan's Economic Future," held at Wayne State University.

Though it generally is known that obesity dramatically increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, the biological mechanisms for that connection still are unclear. James Granneman, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences and pathology in Wayne State University's School of Medicine, is examining the nature of those mechanisms. "It's not how fat you are that causes diabetes, but rather how well your adipose tissue functions to handle toxic fatty acids," said Granneman, whose laboratory is part of WSU's Center for Integrative Metabolic and Endocrine Research (CIMER). He is working with colleagues on four NIH-funded projects that address how adipose tissue handles fatty acids and the mechanisms by which that process occurs. Fellow CIMER researcher Todd Leff, associate professor of pathology, is helping Granneman pursue applications beyond fat cell signaling.