WWJ's technology reporter Matt Roush talked about Wayne State University's new incentive program designed to help TechTown startup companies secure the best and brightest college talent. The program rewards entrepreneurs in the TechTown community for hiring work-study students by offering a 50 to 100 percent reimbursement towards their work-study salaries.

Kami Pothukuchi, associate professor in Wayne State's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and director of SEED Wayne, was a guest on Tony Trupiano\'s show discussing sustainable food systems on campus including the Farmers Market which opens next week. (cue to 1:10)

Matthew J. Simoncini, senior vice president and the chief financial officer of Lear Corporation, was named the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus of Wayne State University\'s School of Business Administration. Simoncini, a Grosse Pointe resident, serves on the Swing for Students golf outing for Wayne State and has worked to secure corporate sponsorship, including Lear. The organization supports scholarships for students of the business school.

A story highlighting the increase in overweight children, in particular infants, references a Wayne State University study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion which revealed that one third of infants in the United States are obese or at risk for obesity. Children above the 95th percentile on standard growth charts were considered obese. Those in the 85th to 95th percentile were considered at risk for obesity, the study showed.

This year's Midwest School for Women Workers meets July 28-31 at Wayne State University. The theme is "Women Stepping Up & Standing Strong: Midwest Strategies For Protecting the Heartland." The annual summer conference is sponsored by the United Association of Labor Education and hosted this year by Wayne State University's Labor Studies Center and Labor@Wayne. The Midwest School for Women Workers is a special educational event designed for working women, rank-and-file union members, activists, union staff and officers to share experiences, learn new skills and give one another support.

Wayne State's Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic (AILC) and the experiences of various Wayne Law students and faculty are discussed in this story. AILC is a student-run clinic that is also a for-credit course at the law school. In addition to a classroom component, real cases are handled by student attorneys. Wayne Law professor and AILC's first director, Rachel Settlage, offers comments throughout the piece.

Older high-risk patients rarely undergo HIV testing when they present for the first time at an outpatient primary care clinic, investigators reported here at the American Geriatrics Society 2011 Annual Scientific Meeting. Researchers at Wayne State University's School of Medicine reviewed the electronic records of 350 patients 65 years of age and older who had their first appointment at an ambulatory geriatric clinic during a recent 12-month period. The results showed that the rate of HIV testing was only 5.02 percent, and that the presence of HIV risk factors had almost no effect on whether HIV testing was conducted or not. \"Ideally, new patients undergo screening for sexually transmitted diseases at their index visit,\" principal investigator Aaron Kirsch, a third-year medical student.\" (subscription)

Wayne State University is helping TechTown startup companies secure the best and brightest college talent with a new incentive program that rewards entrepreneurs for hiring work-study students. Companies in the TechTown community will now be eligible to receive a 50 to 100 percent reimbursement from Wayne State of the students\' work-study salaries. TechTown General Manager Leslie Smith; Gloria Heppner, Wayne State\'s associate vice president for research; Ron Kent, director of WSU's Career Services; and, Faris Alami, entrepreneurial talent champion at TechTown, comment in the story.

Detroit Public Schools today will announce partnerships with the Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University School of Medicine and three national education organizations for two new high schools that will open this fall. Under the partnerships, students at the Benjamin Carson School of Science and Medicine will have access to major health care facilities in Detroit, including the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the Kresge Eye Institute, the DMC, WSU and other specialized facilities and laboratories. Both schools will open in the fall to incoming freshman. Each year, the schools will add a grade.

Michael Wright will add the responsibilities of chief of staff to his role as Wayne State University\'s vice president for Marketing and Communications. He will report directly to WSU President Allan Gilmour. Wright has managed marketing, public relations, media relations, advertising, publications production and Web activities since he joined Wayne State in July 2007 as associate vice president. He was promoted to vice president in 2010. Wright has more than 30 years\' experience in marketing, communications and advertising, including a series of increasingly responsible positions at General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Wayne State University.

Wayne State University's Detroit Revitalization Fellowship, a two-year executive certification program that has attracted twice its projected tally of applicants, is discussed in this story. The 25 fellows, slated to be announced in July, are chosen from a nationwide pool of 640 mid-career urban planners, public policymakers, lawyers, architects, community organizers and developers and others, with Detroit natives especially targeted for the fellowship. "The surprising part is that they were not just applicants looking for jobs. A lot of them are currently employed; they're serious contenders. That speaks to the value of the program and what's happening in the city," said Ahmad Ezzeddine, Wayne State's associate vice president for educational outreach and international programs. "We're an urban research university. For years, we've been a major player … on economic development, education and health care. This is just another venue for doing some of the same kind of work."

Abdias do Nascimento, a Brazilian writer, painter, politician and scholar who was an outspoken civil rights leader on behalf of black Brazilians, has died in Rio de Janeiro. He was 97. "There was no more important Brazilian than Nascimento since the abolition of slavery in 1888," said Ollie A. Johnson, professor of Africana Studies at Wayne State University and the author of "Brazilian Party Politics and the Coup of 1964." "No other Brazilian fought harder and longer against white supremacy and racism in Brazil in the post-slavery era. For Americans to understand him and his contribution, you'd have to say he was a little bit of Marcus Garvey, a little of W. E. B. DuBois, a little bit of Langston Hughes and a little bit of Adam Clayton Powell."

Another installment to the series following the Great Harvest Bread Co. and the four-month classroom project of MBA students from Wayne State University is included in this edition.

Michigan\'s only urban state park is planning to turn half of a more than century-old manufacturing site into something far removed from its ship engine-building heyday: an adventure and discovery center with rock climbing, zip lining and other outdoor activities. The transformation of the vacant Globe Trading Co. complex is the jewel in the crown of a plan to expand and enhance the William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor across the street and turn the Detroit riverfront park into a launching pad of sorts for Michigan\'s nearly 100 state parks. John Mogk, law professor at Wayne State University, said the park\'s plans sound like a \"wise policy decision\" in an area where manufacturing has all but vanished and private plans for waterfront redevelopment, including numerous retail and residential projects, have been shelved.

Wayne State\'s School of Business Administration presented its 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award to Matthew J. Simoncini, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Lear. He received the award at the school\'s Annual Recognition and Awards Program held at the Detroit Institute of Arts this month. A photo of Simoncini is included.

Until an accord is reached on critical aspects of the Woodward light-rail line, a consortium of private-sector donors who have pledged $100 million toward the project\'s $528 million capital costs won\'t commit any money. The city's long-awaited Woodward Avenue light rail has hit a snag with private investors calling on the resolution of several issues. The planned route would link the Detroit River to the sports/entertainment district and the Midtown core of hospitals, museums and Wayne State University and beyond. Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University have committed $3 million each for a station, according to Matt Cullen, CEO of M1 Rail, the coalition of project financial backers. A Crain's editorial also discusses the project.

Local journalists from television to print and radio were honored on Saturday, May 14 as Wayne State University\'s Journalism Institute for Media Diversity (JIM) celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala and fundraiser at the Wayne State Community Arts Auditorium. \"The 25th anniversary celebration was a wonderful event with almost every major news anchor in town (attending),\" said WSU Director of Journalism Ben Burns. \"We now have sent more than 250 communications professionals into the field to help change the nature of our trade, (it) made me feel real proud,\" Burns said.

Susan Smolinske, professor of pediatrics at Wayne State University's School of Medicine and the managing director of the Michigan Regional Poison Control Center at Children\'s Hospital of Michigan, comments in a story about the increase in poisonous mushrooms across the state. At least 11 people have been hospitalized from eating poison mushrooms this year, and state health officials issued reminders today to mushroom lovers to watch out for fungi that appear to be the celebrated morel. "This is just my intuition. I'm looking outside, it's raining and maybe there's more mushrooms," Smolinske said.

Ned Staebler is joining Wayne State University as vice president for economic development. Staebler, who begins work June 6, will coordinate the university\'s activities related to TechTown, Wayne State\'s research park and business incubator; commercialization of university-based research discoveries, and participation in Midtown and other area economic development. Prior to his appointment, Staebler was vice president of Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index declined to 67.7 in May from 67.9 in April, according to economists at Wayne State University's business school. The index measures a variety of economic indicators from new orders to employment to prices. May's figure means the economy in Southeast Michigan is still growing, but expanded at a slightly slower pace over the past month. According to Paranjpe, it is too early to say whether these employment numbers indicate the start of a slowdown. But if a slowdown does occur, and the increases in raw materials prices percolate through the economy to the retail level, then the economy could begin to experience stagflation. "Stagflation is what occurs when a rise in inflation combines with an economic slowdown," Paranjpe said. "The U.S. last encountered stagflation in the 1970s along with a similar spike in oil prices."