The WSU School of Medicine and the International Association for Organ Donation will hold their annual Organ Donation Symposium on April 19-20 at the Ritz-Carlton-Dearborn. The event will attract people from around the globe to discuss the field of organ donation and the issues surrounding it.

Representatives from several universities - including Wayne State - will participate in a college open house program at Macomb Community College's University Center on Sunday, March 25.

Dr. Walter Pool, founder and former director of the Wayne State University Mortuary Science program, where he taught for 40 years, died Sunday at the age of 95. He began teaching pathology at Wayne in 1939 and retired in 1979. "The contributions he made to the mortuary science program are invaluable," said Gerrie Paulson, the program's campaign manager. "He helped establish it as one of the finest in the country."

Actor and Wayne State University alumnus Tom Skerritt is the subject of the Detroit News story about the Career Achievement Award that he is receiving today from WSU. Skerritt, 73, who attended Wayne State some 45 years ago, says he "definitely" enjoyed his time at Wayne State. The Detroit native and McKenzie High School grad said when he started doing theater at WSU, he did not realize the school\'s acting program had the national reputation it did then and still does. \"I had my first theater experiences at Wayne. I grew up on the west side of the city and Detroit always had this sense of autonomy. Of course, it\'s a different place now, but I will say that you never see anything for what it is until you leave it.\" Details about Wayne State University's 30th annual Ovation Awards are included in a sidebar. A photo of Skerritt also accompanies the story with a teaser on the front page of the "My Wednesday" feature section. Fox 2 also aired information about the Ovation Awards event scheduled tonight.

The opportunity for Metro Detroit to host a satellite campus of Michigan State University\'s medical school is drawing some competition. Colleges and hospitals from three counties are interested in plans by MSU to train about 50 osteopathic medical students in southeastern Michigan. For the DMC, interest in the MSU satellite campus has strained relations with Wayne State, which trains future DMC physicians. Mike Duggan, chief executive officer of the Detroit Medical Center, said Hutzel Hospital would be an ideal site -- for both the DMC and Detroit. Hutzel is used as an office building and as a center for training with the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Robert Frank, executive vice dean at Wayne State's School of Medicine, said the satellite campus would be better off somewhere else. WSU recently expanded its program by 30 students, and there just isn\'t enough room for 100 MSU medical students, he said. \"We have to place essentially 1,200 students -- some in lectures part of the time, some in hospitals, some in doctor\'s offices,\" Frank said. \"We have a huge need for faculty and spaces in hospitals for these kids to be able to learn.\" Two photos are included showing WSU first-year medical students in classroom settings.

Revelations of details about the Tara Grant murder case -- discussed publicly by top Macomb County law enforcement officials -- may hamper efforts to give accused murderer Stephen Grant a fair trial, local and national law experts said. Details about Grant\'s supposed confession, an alleged privately administered polygraph test that Grant failed and autopsy results that suggest a struggle and strangulation have been made public. \"All this stuff makes it increasingly questionable whether or not a trial can be held in southeast Michigan,\" said David A. Moran, associate dean of Wayne State University's Law School. \"All of this publicity, beyond just \'So and So has been arrested and charged,\' but here is the specific evidence, here is what he said, here is the findings from the autopsy, makes it harder and harder to try it not only in Macomb County but all of southeast Michigan.\" Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor who also teaches criminal law at Wayne State, said while Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel is not bound by any rule not to discuss the case, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith might have violated ethics rules by discussing lie detector tests for Grant. \"You (Prosecutors) are not supposed to discuss inadmissible evidence or results of tests,\" Henning said. \"But that is one small piece of information in a very large body of very damning evidence against Grant. That is something the prosecutor should not have talked about, but it is very unlikely that he would be disciplined for that.\"

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University is noted as a site for the National Marrow Donor Program. Through the collaboration of the Karmanos Institute, St. John Hospital and Medical Center has collected about 100 units of cord blood each month since June 2005. Stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood can be used to help the body\'s ability to make blood and build immunity. They are collected immediately following a child\'s birth by clamping the umbilical cord and extracting blood from the cord. The blood is then frozen and stored. Once collected, cord blood is stored at the J.P. McCarthy Cord Stem Cell Bank in Detroit, where it is registered with the National Marrow Donor Program at Karmanos Cancer Institute. The cord blood bank is the only one in southeastern Michigan, and one of eight national public cord blood banks.

Wayne State University will participate in a college open house scheduled from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. March 25 at Macomb Community College's University Center. WSU contact information is provided.

The Michigan Water Color Society\'s 60th annual Exhibition at Wayne State University runs from June 22 through July 20. The event is now seeking entries. Contact information is provided.

The Hilberry Theatre's 2007-08 season is highlighted in this brief. Except for Henrik Ibsen\'s \"The Master Builder,\" the lineup is wall-to-wall comedies, beginning Oct. 5 with \"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),\" by Jess Borgeson, Adam Long and Daniel Singer. The rest of the season: \"The Lusty and Comical History of Tom Jones,\" by John Morrison; Neil Simon\'s \"Biloxi Blues,\" Shakespeare\'s \"As You Like it,\" Ibsen\'s \"The Master Builder\" and \"Compleat Female Stage Beauty,\" by Jeffrey Hatcher. Contact and background information is provided.

Wayne State University is noted as a site last fall for roundtable discussions with scholars, music journalists and rap artists, hosted by an organization called A Prophetic Generation. The organization hopes to line up similar events this year, starting at Georgia State University.

In the wake of the planned closure of Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti this summer, efforts have intensified to open a new orthodox Catholic college by next year. A recently formed foundation comprised of professors, priests and professionals will hold a benefit dinner March 16 to help raise the $6 million to $10 million needed to establish the College of Saints Peter and Paul, a liberal arts school that would produce graduates who are eager to live out their Catholic faith.

A nonprofit group has filed a formal complaint against Eastern Michigan University asking whether the college violated federal law by not immediately informing students and faculty of the slaying of a student on campus. Security On Campus Inc., a national campus-crime watch-dog group, on Tuesday filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education alleging the university may have violated the federal Jeanne Clery Act by not informing students and faculty that the death of a 22-year-old student in December was being investigated as a homicide. The Clery Act, passed by Congress in 1990, requires public universities to notify students and faculty in a "timely manner" of any "threat to students and employees. The university may be fined up to $27,500 per violation.

Randy Paschke, chair of the Department of Accounting in the School of Business Administration, participated in an extensive phone interview with Fox 2 co-anchor Sherry Margolis about Comerica's announced move of their corporate headquarters to Texas. Paschke said the announced relocation and subsequent loss of 200 jobs is not good news for Michigan, particularly as other companies such as Pfizer have also decided to move. He added that probably a lot of the remaining (7,300) jobs would remain in Michigan, however, the types of jobs would change as the higher-level employee positions move to the new corporate headquarters.

Wayne State University student Nicholas Bashour participated in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Town Hall meeting held at the WXYZ Channel 7 studios last night. Bashour identified himself as a WSU student and asked Granholm what her plans are for providing funds to meet the needs of Michigan's public research universities. Granholm emphasized the need to increase the number of people in Michigan who complete their college education and better equip them to participate in a more technological work force.

Peter J. Henning, professor of law at Wayne State's Law School, commented in a Q&A about the federal jury's guilty verdict of I. Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney\'s former chief of staff. Libby was found guilty on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Henning talked about the defense strategy, key testimony offered in the trial and what the defense will likely argue on appeal.

A year ago, Frank Wu, Wayne State University Law School dean, began working with the school's admissions committee to analyze alternatives in case Proposal 2 passed. The law school has a dozen scholarships that donors have requested be race- or gender-specific, including scholarships for White ethnic groups. "There is still a Black/White gap. It's not imaginary, it's real," Wu says. He has created a new position, director of student services and educational outreach, to, among other duties; help administer scholarship programs in light of diversity constraints.

African-Americans have a lower reported rate of depression, but their symptoms last longer and are more severe, according to a new study by Wayne State University and University of Michigan researchers. Treatment that is poor in quality or lacking altogether, combined with a cultural tolerance for having the blues, may be preventing African- and Caribbean-Americans from getting mental-health services until their depression is acute. By that time, the highly treatable disease has often exacted a toll, the study revealed.

The Project Generation meeting will be held at Wayne State University in the second floor ballroom of the Student Center Building from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Registration and contact information is provided.

In the lead feature story, Wayne State University is sponsoring its first study-abroad trip to study the Beatles called the Magical Mystery Tour, according to Amberly Chirolla of the WSU Office of Study Abroad and Global Programs. M.L. Liebler, Wayne State English professor and poet laureate of St. Clair Shores, will be leading the trip. He has taught a class at Wayne State for several years that covers the Beatles and their impact on popular culture. He says a recent surge in serious books on the Beatles is more evidence they\'re just as important now as they were 40-plus years ago. A sidebar is included noting that the trip is open to Wayne State students and members of the community.