Krystal Gardner has been appointed director of career services at the Wayne State University Law School . She was formerly manager of the career services office for Cooley Law School , Oakland campus.

A brief notes that Wayne State University has raised $320 million of its $500 million goal.

Olivia Washington, a faculty member of the Institute of Gerontology (IOG) and the College of Nursing, taped a one-on-one interview with Comcast Newsmakers last month about the IOG\'s work at the Healthier Black Elders (HBE) Center and annual HBE reception taking place on June 6 at the Charles Wright Museum. The interview aired 21 times from May 22 through May 28 on CNN Headline News.

Dr. Gregory VanStavern, an assistant professor of neurology and ophthalmology at Wayne State University 's School of Medicine , comments about treatment options for MS patients, such as exercise and aerobics. \"For patients with spasticity, which not every patient has, muscles become tense and a lot tighter," he says. "Exercise helps muscle tone, gives a broader ranger of motion, more endurance and stamina. It improves balance, coordination.\" VanStavern adds that many MS patients suffer from depression as well. Although the experts are out as to whether it\'s part of the disease or caused by the disease, exercise helps to reduce stress, improves mood and regulates sleep patterns. \"I recommend any sort of aerobic exercise where you\'re getting your heart rate up for 20 to 30 minutes, swimming, low impact like tai chi,\" VanStavern says. \"It\'s not like they have to run a marathon, just get the heart rate up.\"

The Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group at Wayne State provides a venue for future physicians to receive practical advice about how they can care for others or themselves in emergency situations far from the high-tech equipment in hospital emergency rooms. Dr. Marc Rosenthal, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Wayne State's School of Medicine, says in the backwoods, physicians might face anything from altitude sickness to skin infections, with limited resources or manpower to treat the problem. "One of the most important things in dealing with anything is to know your limits, what you're capable of doing and what you're not capable of doing," Rosenthal says. Wayne State medical student Chris Davis also comments in the story. A photo of WSU medical students Saloni Shah and Loren Gorosh are included.

Dr. Richard Lewis, associate chair of neurology at Wayne State's School of Medicine, commented about Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that often causes temporary paralysis and strikes 1 or 2 in 100,000 people in the United States. The disease\'s course ranges widely among patients, but it usually lasts two to three weeks from onset to its worst point, Lewis said. "Then there\'s a period of plateau, then recovery that can take weeks or years. About one-third of patients are fully paralyzed and the rest usually have some kind of paralysis."

In a feature story about actress and author Kathleen A. Gaffney, it is noted that she was a recipient of Wayne State University\'s 2002 Achievement in Theatre award.

Eboe Hutchful, professor of African Studies at Wayne State University and chair of the African Security Sector Network, says youth unemployment in most of Africa is "horrific" which pushes many young men who see no alternative to offering their services to whoever wants to hire them to fight. In Africa, he says, demand is catching up with supply as a fundamental factor in the floodtide of arms sweeping the continent. \"Eradicating the demand may be even more difficult than getting rid of the supply,\" Hutchful says. \"In some African countries guns are now part of the culture. You have to have a personal weapon,\" he said.

Wayne State University 's Institute of Gerontology (IOG) is hosting the fourth annual " Healthier Black Elders Center " (HBEC) reception at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 6. The annual health reception celebrates healthy living and the successful partnerships the HBEC has built within the community. Included this year will be live entertainment and music, health screenings and information from more than 20 vendors about health, nutrition and aging. All events, food and screenings are free to elders and their families.

Barbara K. Redman, dean of Wayne State University 's College of Nursing , was interviewed by a reporter with National Public Radio in Wisconsin .

Wayne State alumnus Helen Thomas is acknowledged for being one of the first 12 people inducted into the Michigan Walk of Fame. Thomas, a journalism graduate whose White House coverage spanned more than half a century, spoke about the great education she received at Detroit's public Schools and Wayne State before she began her career covering every president since John F. Kennedy.

A front-page story examines Wayne State University\'s capital campaign and the progress marked by today\'s First Anniversary Celebration on campus. The renovations and additions to the College of Engineering, School of Business Administration, and medical and law schools will help elevate WSU\'s visibility as a \"premier urban research university,\" according to President Irvin D. Reid. \"The campaign is an opportunity to align the quality of campus buildings with the quality of education within them,\"? Reid said. The capital campaign\'s goal is to raise $500 million by 2009 for the construction, endowments and scholarships. Although Wayne State has lost state funding for four consecutive years, the capital campaign is designed to pay for significant programs that would not normally be funded by the state, Reid said, such as the scholarships and endowments to attract and retain outstanding faculty. The story mentions that Reid has been transforming Wayne State to a residential university, rather than just a commuter school. During his tenure, residential halls, a Welcome Center and a Fitness Center have been built. Tech Town, a research and technology park, was created to support the establishment of high-tech companies in Detroit. Now, the university is considering a new student center, and hotel and conference center. Susan Burns, vice president for development and alumni affairs, and Ralph Kummler, dean of the School of Engineering, are quoted in the story. A photo of engineering graduate assistant Lavie Golenberg; a rendering of the proposed business school building; and a map showing upcoming construction projects are included with the article.

Crain\'s reporter Sherri Begin highlighted the capital campaign progress in a story that included a list of donors to the university. To date, 40 donors have committed $1 million or more to the effort, President Irvin D. Reid said in a statement. More than 2,300 WSU faculty and staff have collectively contributed $8 million. \"I am confident that we can exceed our goal of $500 million by 2009,\" Reid said. Susan Burns also comments in the piece.

Jack McHugh\'s May 10 commentary on the cost of education in Michigan prompted the following letter responses from Detroit News readers: Jeff Hoenig writes, \"Don\'t tell me how non-faculty staff numbers keep rising out of control when I keep seeing good, knowledgeable, hard-working people losing their jobs all around me because funding is getting cut left and right. Frankly, this column by Jack McHugh is downright insulting, painting universities as money pits with no financial conscience. The universities are the last good thing going in Michigan.\" Fran Theis writes, \"As a parent who put four children through undergraduate school, I can assure you that the high cost of both undergraduate and graduate school is hurting the Michigan economy. It didn\'t take our kids long to figure out that paying $18 a credit as a citizen of California rather than $200 to $400 in Michigan was a good idea.\"

Mice in a lab experiment inherited the effects of an aberrant gene without inheriting the gene itself, a bizarre-sounding result that may someday help scientists understand aspects of diabetes, infertility and other problems. For the study, reported in Thursday\'s issue of the journal Nature, scientists produced mice that carried one normal copy of a particular gene and one aberrant copy. Stephen Krawetz, Wayne State University\'s School of Medicine, noted that the discovery may play a role in unexplained male infertility.

In an opinion piece, Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance, mentioned Wayne State's Tech Town for supporting the growth of the types of companies that Michigan's economy needs. He compares Michigan's treatment of higher education to other states such as North Carolina and Pennsylvania. There, he says, universities are heavily invested in by the state, especially the research institutions. Here in Michigan, however, there is no partnership between our universities and the state.

Wayne State University was credited for a demographic study which showed that a declining birth rate was a catalyst for the lack of enrollment in the Huron Valley School District. The district had already made $17 million in cuts over the past five years, and is now considering teacher layoffs, fewer paraprofessionals in the classroom, abbreviated media center hours and altered bus routes.

Mark Baskaran, Wayne State professor of geochemistry, presented findings from his research team that completed studies of a 30-acre Industrial Excess Landfill in Uniontown, Ohio. Baskaran said there may be radiation problems and that if the radiation tests are accurate, there could be radiation waste buried in the dump. The Concerned Citizens of Lake Township is urging the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Defense Department to oversee the landfill.

Wayne State University was mentioned, along with the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the Michigan Department of Community Health, for creating the Michigan Public Health Institute in 1990. CareTech Solutions Inc. CEO James Giordano has been named to the institute's board of directors.

Wayne State is noted in an AP story as facing a potential 1.9 percent loss of its state funding under proposals in the state higher education budget, for which floor voting begins as early as Wednesday.