Wayne State University will be participating in the two-day Region 5 Premedical Conference at Central Michigan University Sept. 29-30. More than 250 premedical students will learn what they need to know to get into medical school including interviewing techniques, how to present resumes and how to write personal statements.

Fraternity and sorority students from Wayne State University and Oakland University will be on hand to perform step routines during the Detroit Zoo's free African American Festival on Saturday. Zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills calls the step routines "a festival highlight."

Detroit rappers Obie Trice and Trick Trick lead a panel discussion on prophecy and death in hip-hop culture at noon Saturday at Wayne State University\'s UGL Auditorium. Other speakers during the free event include producer Nick Speed, WHTD-FM\'s (105.9) Sean Anthony and The Detroit News\' Adam Graham.

An editorial suggests that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings\' proposals to make college more affordable and accessible are well-intentioned -- but they could turn into a bureaucratic nightmare. Her plans were announced prior to the release of the first major national report on higher education since the 1980s. Spellings says she wants to apply the same principles of accountability in the No Child Left Behind Act to colleges and universities. The editorial further charges that the No Child Left Behind Act has given birth to a whole new, costly, bureaucratic federal process for local schools, while undermining local and state control. Spellings also proposes a national database, maintained by the federal government, which would track college achievement without compromising student privacy; and a national college achievement test. The editorial calls the latter proposal for a test "as chilling as it is preposterous" suggesting that no single test could measure college achievement in so many specialties -- biology, English, nursing, computer science -- that are typical of university programs.

Wayne State University faculty, staff and students are less likely to be involved in a traffic accident than in the past, according to data compiled by the WSU Transportation Research Group (WSU-TRG) at the College of Engineering . The Drive Safely to Wayne State Campaign, Oct. 9-11, is designed to make daily commutes to campus safer and to raise awareness about driving safely. Details of the initiative are given.

The Wayne State University Children's Bridge and Children's Hospital of Michigan will host the second biennial Children's Conference Sept. 28-29. The article gives details of the conference and speakers.

Brief profile on the Wayne State University Law School. The WSU Law School provides services in the areas of litigation, administrative law and transactional work through the following clinics: Free Legal Aid Clinic, Non-profit Corporations and Urban Development Law Clinic, Criminal Appellate Practice and Civil Rights Litigation Clinic.

Representatives from more than 100 colleges - including Wayne State University - are expected to take part in the 2006 Greater Kalamazoo Area College Night on Oct. 16 at Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township campus.

Wayne State University Law School is inviting alumni from the classes of 1966, 1976, 1986, and 1996 to a class reunion on Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Law School . Details and contact information are provided.

Wayne State University earned national recognition twice in the past year for innovation in the application of information technology. Developing procedures to identify and document functional processes in WSU\'s core applications, thoroughly testing them with automated scripts before bringing new systems online and monitoring end-to-end service have led to improved system performance and annual savings of approximately $225,000, the university said Wednesday. The effort also earned the university special recognition twice in less than a year from Campus Technology magazine. One article named Wayne State one of 16 \"Campus Technology Innovators\" for 2006, selected from almost 500 entries. In the magazine\'s December 2005 issue, Wayne State was named one of the nation\'s top 100 universities for its IT practices.

David W. Ripple has been named associate vice president of development and alumni affairs for Wayne State University. "David Ripple's extensive fund-raising experience will be of significant assistance to the university as we work to complete the Wayne State Capital Campaign on schedule," said Susan Burns, vice president for Development and Alumni Affairs. "The Campaign is of critical importance to the urban mission of the university and we are fortunate to have someone of David Ripple's caliber in this key position." Formerly, Ripple served as executive director for Community Counseling Service, directing nonprofit clients on multi-million dollar campaigns, including Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan and the Michigan Opera Theatre.

Polymers, particularly dendrimers, hold promise for treating many types of illnesses according to recent findings from Michigan researchers. Rangaramanujam Kannan, associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science at Wayne State University, Larry Matherly, professor of pharmacology at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and a co-investigator on the study, and several collaborators attached a commonly used anti-cancer drug, methotrexate, to PAMAM, or polyamidoamine, dendrimers. They used two different types of end groups: amines and carboxyl acid. They then compared the effect of each version of dendrimer-drug therapy with free methotrexate in cancer cells cultured in vitro. What they found differed from previous studies, where in vitro polymer-drug conjugates have had less of an effect than the drug alone: both dendrimer-methotrexate combinations killed significantly more cancer cells than the free drug. Perhaps even more noteworthy was that this same dendrimer-drug pairing, known as conjugate A in the study, killed cancer cells that were resistant to the drug.

Michael Mirto has joined Wayne State University as a major gifts officer for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He formerly worked in development for Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center and was responsible for their first ever capital and endowment campaign, grant writing and increasing donor contributions.

Desiree Cooper dedicated her column to the United Nations panel discussion on global literacy that was held at Wayne State University on Tuesday. A panel of women participated as part of the United States Mission to the United Nations. Their message was a follow-up to first lady Laura Bush's White House Conference on Global Literacy held on Sept. 18. Moriah Yeakulah of Liberia was one of the six women from the developing world - including Indonesia, India, Afghanistan and El Salvador - who spoke about the challenges and struggles facing young women who strive to achieve an education. "The world is blind to us," said Yeakulah, adding that cultural norms often make girls invisible, while poverty makes them vulnerable. "Teachers demand sexual favors of girls in exchange for tuition or grades," she said. "The exploitation forces some to drop out. Education is the light, but when they leave school, the light is shut off."

Both media outlets provided coverage of the opening day of the Children\'s Conference hosted by Wayne State University and Children\'s Hospital of Michigan. The two-day conference titled "Promoting the Well-Being of Children and Youth in Urban America: Best Practices to Next Practices," is bringing together top researchers and practitioners in the nation who are examining prevention and intervention programs designed for urban children and youth. Hilary Ratner, associate provost and dean of Wayne State's Graduate School, was interviewed by WJR's Dick Haefner as part of a story that will be airing throughout the day. WWJ's piece by reporter Ron Dewey is also scheduled to run on a rotation basis today.

WDET reporter Noah Ovshinsky covered the Richard C. Van Dusen Forum on Urban Issues held at Wayne State yesterday. Excerpts of keynote speaker Alex Polikoff's speech aired during the morning news today. Polikoff, author, attorney, fair housing advocate, talked about his role as the lead attorney in an ongoing, 40-year landmark housing case that is sometimes referred to as the Brown v. Board of Education of the fair housing movement. Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the case led to the creation of a national movement that seeks to add "housing mobility" to the tools used to address the inter-generational cycle of inner-city poverty.

Wayne State's College of Engineering Training Institute (HSETI) is seeking to increase the number of high school students participating in the program which is designed to help students hone their skills in algebra, general science, computers, robotics and study skills. HSETI, which is open to students with a 2.7 GPA who wish to become engineers, will be losing its main funding sources because of Detroit's budget crisis. The once-free program, which started in 1997, has been funded by both tuition, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and Emerson Process Management.

Wayne State Law Professor Peter Henning says one of the keys to repairing Hewlett-Packard\'s credibility with the public following a controversial hunt for news leaks is their legal counsel, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. The 133-year-old Philadelphia law firm, according to Henning, packs the kind of political muscle and can boast the heavyweight attorneys that can navigate a congressional or criminal probe. A key aspect of representing a client in an investigation like this is getting an early meeting with the prosecutors to get a read on what they plan to do, Henning added. \"They have the contacts and they have the credibility, too. They\'re a well-respected law firm. A lot of this is connections...not that you\'re going to get favorable treatment--but can you get your phone call returned?\"

Steven M. Davidoff has joined the faculty of Wayne State's Law School as an assistant professor. He will teach corporate law, securities law and economics.

The Wayne State University Department of Music will welcome Fall 2006 Artist in Residence Walter White to campus Oct. 2-8 and Nov. 21-28. He will be performing in the Schaver Music Recital Hall. White is respected as one of the leading trumpeters in the world, in both the classical and jazz genres of music.