Wayne's Latino program seeks to boost retention

The WSU Center for Chicano-Boricua Studies is launching a new program aimed at keeping students on track to graduate and finding careers. Its goal is to improve graduation rates among underrepresented students and first generation college students. The two-year program will pair students with established professionals for mentoring, community-based research and service-learning activities. Ethriam Cash Brammer, associate director of the center, discussed the program on WDET.

August 28, 2009

WSU offers film audition workshops

Wayne State University is offering "on your feet," auditioning workshops to help aspiring actors and actresses break into Michigan's burgeoning film industry. Two sessions are offered, running four consecutive Saturdays beginning Sept. 5 and Oct. 10. Cost is $195, and 20 openings are available per workshop.

August 28, 2009

Kid Rock: The only hope for Detroit?

A CNN Money report on Kid Rock's philanthropic efforts in metro Detroit mentions the scholarship he established recently at Wayne State.

August 28, 2009

Wayne State to help train Michigan's hybrid work force; WSU offers details on $5M electric vehicle plant; Michigan gets $1 billion plus in battery grants

Wayne State and the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth are partnering to train hybrid electric vehicle engineers as the state's automotive industry transitions to manufacturing more advanced, fuel-efficient vehicles. Graduate-level courses in advanced battery systems for HEVs will be offered in the College of Engineering this fall and in the spring. Another article in this edition mentions that the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Wayne State a $5 million grant to provide electric vehicle engineering education and workforce training. A third item talks about $1 million in federal grants headed to Michigan for advanced battery research. Wayne State will team up with several other institutions in training researchers, technicians and service providers.

August 28, 2009

Business awards

Dr. Gerald A. Shiener was given the Nancy C.A. Roeske MD Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education and was elevated to Distinguished Fellow by the American Psychiatric Association. Shiener is the chief of consultation and liaison psychiatry at Sinai Grace Hospital and an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

August 27, 2009

Companies eye Wixom plant for energy park

Plans by two out-of-state companies to redevelop Ford Motor Co.\'s abandoned Wixom plant into an energy park could help further solidify Michigan\'s effort to become an alternative energy hub, some industry observers say. A research and development center also will be located at the site and the firms will partner with a Michigan university. The companies are working with Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

August 27, 2009

Ballplayers win fight with U.S. over seizure of drug-test data

The drug-test records of more than 100 Major League Baseball players were illegally seized by federal agents investigating the use of steroids in professional sports, a U.S. appeals court ruled. The seizures in 2004 of records for players not named in a search warrant violated protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the court ruled yesterday. "It's sending a message to prosecutors and investigating agencies that when you are doing searches of businesses you don't just grab everything and sort it out later," said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

August 27, 2009

Student grants in limbo while state wrestles with big deficit

Thousands of Michigan college-bound students must make their fall tuition payments without the $500 or $1,000 state grants they expected. A deadlock over a new state budget has put in limbo the Michigan Promise Grant. Wayne State University is including the Promise Grant as a credit for tuition payments.

August 27, 2009

Gone but not forgotten

Architect Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the Twin Towers, is having his work showcased in an exhibit called "Serenity and Delight: The Architecture of Minoru Yamasaki" at the Birmingham Historical Museum. Yamasaki was also responsible for many buildings throughout the metro Detroit area, including various structures at Wayne State University - such as the DeRoy Auditorium.

August 27, 2009

More college grads bank future on private student loans

An increasing number of college students are turning to private loans -- one of the riskiest ways to pay for schooling, according to an education organization that compared them to credit-card debt. \"I know I have accomplished a lot, but I wonder if it was all worth it,\" said Kristin Schlaud, 28, who earned a law degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, but is now saddled with debt.

August 27, 2009

Detroit 'Bohemia' restaurant planned

Students at Wayne State University were interviewed about a new restaurant that is scheduled to open at the former 13th Precinct police station on Woodward. "There's a new energy, a new life that's coming back to Midtown," said Aarin Pekso, a WSU student. "An energy that I don't think Detroit has seen for some time."

August 27, 2009

Wayne State opening 3 new business assistance centers to help companies, nonprofits

The WSU School of Business Administration's newly established Assistance Centers will aid companies and nonprofits facing tough challenges. The centers, staffed by MBA students, will be located in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and will work with startups as well as established companies. David Williams, dean of the business school, is quoted.

August 27, 2009

Wayne State says cholesterol drug study advancing

Wayne State University says promising early results have led the university to expand tests on a possible new drug treatment for high cholesterol. The university is working with Health Enhancement Products Inc. to test the material. Assistant professor Smiti Gupta says early tests failed to find any detectable liver inflammation among test subjects. Liver damage is a concern with some current drugs used by persons with high cholesterol.

August 26, 2009

Wayne State Prof Gets Once-A-Decade Honor

Peter Lichtenberg, director of the Institute of Gerontology, is guest editor of the spring issue of "Generations," a once-a-decade update on Alzheimer's and other dementias. According to JASA editor Mary Johnson, "Generations" chose Lichtenberg because he is the "perfect guide," a "compassionate clinician, researcher, and advocate nationally recognized for his work related to late-life dementia."

August 26, 2009

One more spin for State Fair

Jerry Herron, dean of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College, discusses the cultural significance of the Michigan State Fair, which is about to begin what is likely its last run. \"The fair was the great leveler -- where we come together to imbibe foot-long hot dogs and cotton candy,\" he observes. \"The state fair was one place where the usual distinctions of American life -- black and white, rural and urban -- dissolved for one Brigadoon afternoon.\"

August 26, 2009

Home schooling

Several Michigan colleges and universities are now offering classes and service programs in an effort to help local organizations and to address Detroit's challenges. An article highlights the service-learning requirement for WSU's Irvin D. Reid Honors College. Elizabeth Barton, faculty adviser for community engagement in the college, comments.

August 26, 2009

Changing Michigan's government, tax structure can't save Detroit

Robin Boyle, chair of the Geography and Urban Planning Department, shares his thoughts on why the city improvement group Detroit Renaissance may be planning to become a statewide organization.

August 26, 2009

WSU's College of Nursing turns grant dollars into jobs

Wayne State University's College of Nursing is taking steps to help resolve the nursing shortage in Michigan while making healthcare a driving force to aid the state's economy. Two programs, the Nursing Corps Initiative and No Worker Left Behind, each offer prospective students opportunities to enroll in programs that will help them adapt to a new knowledge-based economy.

August 26, 2009

UNC part of study on social networking

Led by the Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State, 34 higher education institutions will collaborate to study the transformative relationship between social networking and civic engagement in order to determine effective methods for preparing students to be active members of society.

August 25, 2009

Boys dealt harder learning curve

Boys have a harder time "keeping it together" than girls because they lag behind at various developmental stages, says Dr. Gerald Shiener, assistant professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Department in the School of Medicine. \"Adolescent boys developmentally are less organized, less self-disciplined and less able to plan for the future than girls,\" Shiener explained. \"They\'re in a different zone.\" He says boys catch up in their 20s.

August 25, 2009