The Wayne State University Physician Group is seeking women who have unexplained infertility, and who would like to have a child, to participate in a clinical research study to determine which of three medications will most likely result in pregnancy without multiple babies. The study is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's Reproductive Medicine Network.

Laura Bartell, professor at Wayne State University's Law School, comments in a story about municipal bankruptcies. "States try to avoid municipal bankruptcy because it results in political fallout, affects nearby municipalities and drags down the state\'s credit ratings. As a result, municipal bankruptcy is a rarity."

Kenneth Chelst, professor of operations research in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Wayne State University, conducted a study on the consolidation of police and fire departments into public safety departments and found that the communities that were most successful had the best leadership. Chelst said firefighters have a strong union and a great public image. Elected officials who underestimate them have not only failed to start public safety departments but have been voted out of office. "It will be a major political battle," Chelst said.

Temple Beth El will host the 69th annual Rabbi B. Benedict and Ada S. Glazer Memorial Lectures on Judaism for the Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish clergy. This year\'s scholar-in-residence will be Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg, founder and national director of Kids Kicking Cancer and a clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics at Wayne State University's School of Medicine. On Feb. 11, Goldberg will present two lectures in Beth El\'s Maas Chapel in Bloomfield Hills.

Wayne State University is noted as a major player in the rebirth of Midtown Detroit during a segment of "Am I Right or Am I Right."

An opinion piece ran by Robert M. Ackerman, dean and professor of law at Wayne State University's Law School. Ackerman wrote the editorial in response to a New York Times article featuring a law school graduate who had racked up $250,000 in debt, and had yet to find permanent employment. "I believe that prospective law students have far more control over the accumulation of debt and their career prospects than many people suppose. And even in a challenging economy law school can be a winning proposition," he wrote.

The Wayne State University Board of Governors elected Tina Abbott and Debbie Dingell to one-year terms as the board's chair and vice chair, respectively. Rick Nork and Julie H. Miller were elected to one-year terms as 2011 board officers. Additional biographical information is provided in the story.

Elizabeth Barton, Wayne State University research associate, is quoted in a story about bullying and the recent public testimony before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from experts on bullying and victims of bullying. Barton has studied the phenomena of \"bystanders,\" individuals who allow, or even encourage, bullying behavior. \"If someone started attacking me right now, in this room, 30 percent of you would walk away and ignore it,\" Barton said. She said that 40 percent in the room would support the bully by laughing, cheering, watching or helping. \"Only 10 percent of you would stand by me and try to stop the bully.\"

Information is provided about the Feb. 7 discussion featuring journalists Nolan Finley, editorial page editor of The Detroit News, and Jack Lessenberry, member of the journalism faculty at Wayne State University and senior political analyst on NPR affiliates. The event, sponsored by Wayne State University\'s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts Alumni Association, is scheduled at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center beginning with networking at 11:30 a.m. and the discussion at noon.

In a story about the launch of the Children\'s Health Study Wayne State University is mentioned as one of the participants along with Michigan State University, University of Michigan, the state Department of Community Health and Henry Ford Health System. Researchers will track 100,000 children nationwide, 5,000 of them in Michigan, from before birth to age 21, looking at the impact of factors such as air and water quality, diet, genetics and family dynamics on children\'s health and development. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110126/FREE/110129924# http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=2785&DateTime=1%2F26%2F2011+11%3A23%3A38+AM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=2785&playclip=True&RefPage= http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110127/NEWS06/101270330/MSU-leading-portion-of-big-health-study http://www.hcwreview.com/?p=3036 http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/health/1000-in-wayne-county-needed-for-national-childrens-study-20110126-wpms

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour announced the appointment of Rick Nork, of Northville, as vice president for finance and business operations, treasurer, and chief financial officer effective Jan. 3. Nork, who has more than 30 years of corporate finance and administration experience, will oversee accounting and fiscal operations, facilities planning and management, human resources, purchasing, administrative policies and procedures, and investment, debt and risk for the university. Nork replaces John L. Davis, who is retiring after more than 25 years\' service to the university.

Wayne State University biomedical engineering professor Cynthia Bir comments in a story about the use of bulletproof vests and their effectiveness. Bir, who has studied law enforcement injuries and body armor for more than a decade, said there are generally two reasons why officers wearing bulletproof vests meet tragedy: either the bullet hits an unprotected area of the body, or the vest was not designed to stand up to the caliber of weapon fired. \"As long as it\'s not an overmatched threat, as long as it\'s a bullet that the vest is rated to stop, we haven\'t had any issues with having any severe or fatal injuries,\" she said.

Gov. Rick Snyder said he was \"disappointed and frustrated\" after the Michigan Civil Service Commission voted Wednesday to spend millions of dollars extending health care benefits to unmarried housemates - same sex or otherwise - of state employees. The commission voted 3-1 to extend the benefits to any unrelated adult - limited to one per household - who lives with a state employee for at least a year. An unmarried opposite-sex partner is also covered by the change, which takes effect Oct. 1, as are the housemate\'s dependents, officials said. Several universities, including Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, and a handful of municipalities, including Ann Arbor and East Lansing, have used similar wording to extend benefits.

The University of Michigan has barred about 2,000 people from its campus or parts of its campus since 2001, according to documents released this week by the university. The policy is now under review. Christopher Lund, an assistant professor in Wayne State University\'s Law School, said he sees potential constitutional problems with U-M\'s policy. \"The university cannot punish people simply for expressing views that the university dislikes, unless the speaker does something exceptionally egregious like incite or threaten physical violence,\" he said. Other potential issues, said Lund, is that officers can issue the warnings without any notice and without any hearing and that the policy allows officers to cite people who are merely suspected of committing a crime.

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour said the decision to remove the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award was made solely by him. "I take accountability fully. The buck stops here," Gilmour told The Arab American News after a Wayne State University Board of Governors meeting. Gilmour says WSU plans on forming a task force or an academic setting that promotes a better understanding of the Middle East. He says WSU officials do not want to rush into finding an appropriate way to respond to those who have expressed concern over the decision.

Wayne State University's School of Law ranked second in a top 10 national evaluation of law school Web sites. The University of Illinois College of Law grabbed the top spot closely followed by Wayne State. The study, titled "Top 10 Law School Home Pages of 2010," was published in the Green Bag Almanac and Reader 2011. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202479449121&Law_school_Web_sites_judged_some_found_wanting&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

Having healthcare providers speak the same language as their patients translates into less confusion and better quality care, U.S. researchers say. Study leader Hector Gonzalez of Wayne State University says when patients and healthcare providers both speak the same language, patients report better quality care. The study, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, associated speaking the same language with lower likelihoods of confusion, frustration and language-related poor-quality ratings. Gonzalez is quoted in the story.

A report about Michigan schools which revealed that more than 80% of Michigan students are graduating from high school without the skills to tackle college-level work, includes a quote Renee Boogren, a Troy mother and biology professor at Wayne State University. She and her son are pictured in the story.

A brief report aired on the comments made by Arab-American community members during the Board of Governors meeting. The topic discussed was the removal of the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award.

NextCAT Inc., has received $250,000 from Troy-based Automation Alley. The news continues a string of funding success in the past year for the Wayne State University spinoff. The company is based on work at WSU\'s National Biofuels Energy Laboratory at NextEnergy, which was funded by a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110126/FREE/110129923 http://www.mitechnews.com/articles.asp?id=12681