Cross-border law schools focus on Great Lakes

Wayne State University Law School has begun working with Windsor Law School to provide education in environmental law and issues related to the Great Lakes. The two law schools will work out of Wayne State\'s Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which will provide students with opportunities to learn about Great Lakes legal issues on both sides of the border, including water quality, invasive species, air quality, renewable energy and environmental justice.

February 27, 2011

WSU Physician Group, Medical Network One to form company

Wayne State University Physician Group, a 2,000-physician academic medical group, and Medical Network One, a Rochester-based physician organization with 750 physicians, have agreed to form a joint company that could contract with private insurers and governmental payers. Effective March 1, the organizations will first apply to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan\'s organized systems of care initiative.

February 27, 2011

Union numbers on the decline

Marick Masters, director of Wayne State University's Labor@Wayne, comments in a story about the drop in union membership nationwide. According to Masters, the decline is more pronounced sector-by-sector. Public union membership in the U.S. has stayed around 35 to 38 percent of the public sector for several decades. He said public union membership seems to be saturated, especially because many states do not allow bargaining for public employees.

February 27, 2011

Film supporters fight incentive cuts

More than 1,000 film industry supporters gathered at a standing-room-only town meeting in Livonia last week with hopes of saving the film incentives that have provided work and jobs for them. Workers employed in the industry, ranging from actors and producers to truck drivers and construction workers, attended the gathering to send a message of "work it out, don\'t throw it out" to Gov. Rick Snyder and state lawmakers. Several college students from Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Michigan State University talked about how they have found work or their hopes in landing a job in the film industry here.

February 27, 2011

DMC board: Review foundations: Are they ready for $150M in charitable assets?

The DMC Legacy Board plans to hire an independent management and financial consultant to assess the readiness of two local foundations to take on $150 million in charitable assets left after Vanguard Health Systems Inc.\'s acquisition of the Detroit Medical Center. The DMC Legacy Board would retain oversight responsibility for the charitable assets until their transfer, in addition to overseeing Vanguard\'s commitments to maintain the level of charitable care, research/clinical relationships with Wayne State University and other obligations it made as part of the deal.

February 27, 2011

The Decaying Ruins of Detroit as an Art Project

Wayne State's Old Main is pointed out as an example of one of Detroit's buildings that have undergone restoration and been preserved. Also noted in the story are the city's incentive programs to encourage people to move back including Live Midtown, "15X15," Project 14 and Detroit Works Project.

February 27, 2011

Business Diary

Troy-based McGraw Wentworth, a group benefit consulting and brokerage firm, has been selected by the Wayne State University Physician Group to manage health care benefits for the organization.

February 27, 2011

Wayne Law hosts symposium, "Deconstructing the School-to-Prison Pipeline"

The Wayne State University Law School will host a public symposium, "Deconstructing the School-to-Prison Pipeline," on Friday, March 25, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. The symposium, sponsored by The Journal of Law in Society, a scholarly publication of Wayne State University's law school and the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, examines the trend of the school-to-prison pipeline, which refers to the procedures and habits that systemically thrust at-risk youth out of conventional public schools and into the juvenile or criminal justice systems.

February 27, 2011

Free events

A sidebar highlighting free Black History Month events mentions a talk by Danielle McGuire, Wayne State University professor and author. The event is schedule on Feb. 27 at the Lansing library's African American Family History Showcase.

February 27, 2011

Michigan foreclosures-by-advertising catch homeowners off guard

Homeowners nationwide claim that banks and loan servicers are pushing through foreclosures, or arbitrarily rejecting or ignoring loan-modification requests. Wayne State University professor Laura Bartell, who teaches bankruptcy and creditors' right, says that the current laws on the books don't require banks to modify loans. "Without a mechanism to compel banks to modify loans, the banks don't feel compelled to do so," she said. "The banks just have to wait a bit longer."

February 24, 2011

People in the news

Pamela J. VandeVord , associate professor of biomedical engineering at Wayne State University, was among 85 researchers recently named by President Obama as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers.

February 24, 2011

An act of preservation: New director of Keith Collection aims to keep past in tune with the present

I. India Geronimo, director of the Damon J. Keith Collection of African American Legal History at Wayne State University, is featured in an interview about the collection exhibit \"Marching Toward Justice\" a history of the 14th Amendment. That amendment, passed during Reconstruction, extended legal concepts such as due process and equal protection to newly-freed slaves.

February 24, 2011

Local innovation hits L.A

Representatives of a WindsorDetroit company will have an opportunity this weekend to pitch their all-natural dietary fat-burning supplements to a galaxy of stars and celebrities at the annual Academy Awards swag bag event in Los Angeles. Cathy Jen, chair of the nutrition and food science department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and co-founder of ArtJen Complexus with Windsor resident Joe Artiss, are invited to attend the event Saturday which allows invited companies to showcase their products in the Academy Awards Red Carpet Lounge and leave them with samples of the product. \"It\'s a great opportunity to gain some recognition and exposure for our product,\" said Artiss, associate professor of pathology at Wayne State University. Branded as Mirafit fbcx, the corn-based fiber supplement comes in tablet form and binds to dietary fat in the stomach.

February 24, 2011

Paparazzi: EMU students take first and third places in annual Skandalaris Business Plan Competition

Two students from Wayne State University placed second for their plan \"GreenStart Batteries\" during the 2011 Skandalaria Business Plan Competition. Cynthia Finger and Marta Hrecznyj took home $750 for their plan to create an eco-friendly company that would recycle used car batteries and sell back to the consumer. Finger and Hrecznyj also took home $200 for \"Best Presentation.\" A photo of Finger and Hrecznyj is included.

February 24, 2011

Wayne State University students making a difference in Detroit during Alternative Spring Break

During a week when many college students travel to warmer climates, 60 students from Wayne State University will spend spring break in Detroit making a difference. The students are participating in a service-learning immersion program called Alternative Spring Break Detroit (ASBD), now in its eighth year at Wayne State. ASBD participants volunteer at nonprofit organizations for five to six hours each day. ASBD is sponsored by the Dean of Students Office and the Detroit Orientation Institute. Contact information is provided.

February 24, 2011

WSU masters' exhibition

A brief notes the Wayne State University Art Department Gallery's 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Feb. 25-March 25, featuring the works of Deborah Kingery, Chad Riley and Josephine C. Hazen. (print only)

February 24, 2011

Counterinsurgency campaigns focus of Wayne Law lecture

WSU School of Law's Program for International Legal Studies and the International Law Student Association are hosting a lecture by John Hutson, dean and president emeritus of the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center), from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, in the law school\'s Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. Hutson\'s lecture is titled \"Rules of Engagement in Counterinsurgency Campaigns.\" WSU law professor Gregory Fox, director of the Program for International Legal Studies, comments in the item.

February 24, 2011

Wayne State offers certificate program in advanced energy storage systems

Wayne State University's College of Engineering will be the first in the country to offer graduate and undergraduate certificate programs in advanced energy storage systems as the state\'s automotive industry transitions into producing more electric drive vehicles. The new certificate programs draw from Wayne State\'s curriculum and research in electric drive vehicle and alternative energy technologies, making the university a key education provider for the new engineering workforce critical to the transition and the state\'s economic growth. Chih Ping Yeh, director of the Engineering Technology Division, comments in the story.

February 23, 2011

College center travels memory lane

A story highlighting the Atomic Age exhibit at Macomb Community College's Lorenzo Cultural Center mentions the showcasing of a documentary from Wayne State University professor Ronald Aronson. The production \"First Amendment on Trial - The Case of the Detroit Six\" documents the Michigan Communist Party trials of the 1950s.

February 23, 2011

Libya demonstration on WSU campus

Libyan American students at Wayne State University and their supporters on Wednesday staged a demonstration in solidarity with the anti-government protestors in Libya.

February 23, 2011