The recent forum at Wayne State University featuring three Nobel Peace Prize laureates is covered in this feature story. An audience of about 650 gathered during this public forum that is part of the 20th anniversary of the Wayne State University Honors Program, which is defined by the program's four pillars - community, service, research and career. Undergraduates focus on one of the four pillars during each year of study at WSU. The symposium was sponsored by the DaimlerChrysler Corp. Fund, which is the primary source of charitable grants made by the corporation. The distinguished speakers were introduced by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan. Corrigan also joined a panel at the event with U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. A photo of Levin, Corrigan and the three laureates is included.

Barbara Redman, dean of Wayne State's College of Nursing, comments in a column about Michigan's shortage of nurses. Detroit area hospitals employ more than 4,000 Canadian nurses who travel each day from Windsor. State lawmakers, in committee, are debating legislation that would let out-of-state nurses work in Michigan without a Michigan license. "While the nursing shortage is real and extremely critical, the good news is that it's an easy problem to fix," Redman says. "It just takes money: money to recruit, retain and expand the number of faculty, which in turn increases the number of qualified students who can be accepted into nursing programs."

Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, associate professor of political science at Wayne State, comments about Pennsylvania's term limits for lawmakers. Four veteran lawmakers with a combined 107 years of political experience are stepping down this year from their seats in the state House and state Senate, possibly creating a loss of clout for a large section of Luzerne County and northeastern Pennsylvania. Sarbaugh-Thompson says she is against term limits, but that if they must exist, they should be longer. She adds that her research concluded that while there is no exact length of time for a lawmaker to get over the learning curve, it does take time to learn the ropes and the art of compromise.

Terry Cross, executive-in-residence for entrepreneurial studies at Wayne State University, is profiled in a story about the pitfalls and ins-and-outs of angel investing. Cross, who was honored as Wayne State's distinguished alumnus in 2005, was a ground-floor investor in Google Inc. when he was an investment banker in Silicon Valley in the 1990s. He says his seven successful angel investments have more than covered his losses, leaving him with a total return on his investment of 41 percent. A photo of Cross is included.

Wayne State University is noted as one of Michigan's research institutions that has developed technology that is in some cases ready for its commercial development. However, there are not enough seasoned managers of high-tech companies to run those types of university spinouts. A growing number of local venture capital firms are looking at good deals and can team up with out-of-state partners, but the local roster of potential VC partners is tiny by national standards.

A brief notes The Kresge Foundation $3 million grant to Wayne State's School of Medicine towards construction of the Richard J. Mazurek M.D. Education Commons building. Bits and pieces Two Wayne State University Law School graduates are noted as "squaring off in the National Basketball Association playoffs this year." Bill Davidson, class of '49, owner of the Detroit Pistons since 1974; and, Dan Gilbert, class of '87, bought majority control of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. Calendar A calendar item notes that Wayne State Professor Robin Boyle will be one of the featured panelists during a discussion titled "Crafting the Metropolitan Agenda." The forum will be held Friday, May 19 at the Southfield Public Library. Contact information is provided. People In the spotlight: The Karmanos Cancer Center has named George Yoo to the new position of vice president of medical affairs. Yoo will continue his patient practice, as the Head and Neck Multidisciplinary Team leader and his associate professorship at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Wayne County has established a One-Stop Business Resource Center, where county businesses can receive assistance with Wayne County programs and services plus help and advice with business development, growth, expansion and attraction issues. Staffing for the new venture is provided by two Wayne State University finance students; Lawrence Jackson, executive director; and, Terry Wilson, intake coordinator.

The U.S. Commerce Department will announce this week that it plans to create a committee to study ways to control foreign students\' and scholars\' access to sensitive technologies, postponing for at least a year the release of a new rule on what are called \"deemed exports.\" Notice of the new committee, which will be published in the Federal Register, comes a little over a year after the department announced, in an \"advance notice of proposed rulemaking,\" that it was considering changes in regulations for carrying out deemed-export law that would restrict foreign students\' and scholars\' access to sensitive technology based on their countries of birth, rather than their countries of citizenship or permanent residency. A \"deemed export\" occurs when information about a technology is released to a foreign national. Under deemed-export law, colleges must obtain licenses for foreign nationals who will have access to sensitive technologies, laboratory instruments, or information necessary for the \"development, production, or use of a product.\"

Applications for college admission surged in 2005 because of a combination of factors, including a \"population wave\" of high-school graduates, more of whom are applying online and to multiple colleges, according to an annual report released today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. The report, \"State of College Admission 2006,\" said that 73 percent of colleges saw an increase in applications from the previous year. Last year the association reported that the number of applications had decreased slightly for the first time since 1999. \"Last year it seemed that the application wave had crested,\" said David A. Hawkins, the association\'s director of public policy and a co-author of the report, \"but this year they came back with a vengeance.\" The same was true of early applications. After two years of reported declines, colleges saw an uptick in both early-decision and early-action applications in 2005.

The School of Business Administration \'s (SBA) weekly television series, \"Leaders on Leadership\" co-produced with Detroit Public Television, featured guest Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of Trinity Health. The health organization is less than 10 years old, is chartered as a not-for-profit, operates almost 300 hospitals and clinics nationwide, generates about $6 billion annual revenue, and is faith based. Program host Larry Fobes of the SBA and WSU students in the audience asked the guest questions. The episode is scheduled for re-broadcast today at 5:30 pm.

John Hannigan, Wayne State University psychology professor, has been invited to give lectures about Dan Brown's controversial novel "The DaVinci Code," which will move to the big screen this week. Hannigan has been lecturing in Catholic parishes across Michigan debunking the book's historical flaws. He will also appear on the Catholic cable program "Dialogue" later this month. Hannigan says the novel is a fabrication, and that it's full of errors.

May Seikaly, associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Wayne State, commented about remarks made at a banquet by Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Colombia University. Khalidi urged Arab Americans to strive for political power in the United States to secure the same respect and influence that other immigrant groups have achieved. Seikaly said it is important to hear Arab Americans speaking in a strong manner about these issues. She added that the speaker's observations were well received.

Professor William N. Cooke, director of Wayne State's Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues, will be a featured speaker during the Kalamazoo Area Labor Management Committee's tribute dinner titled "A Celebration of Labor-Management Achievements," Wednesday, May 17, at Western Michigan University's Fetzer Center. Contact information is provided.

Cleary University in Livingston County will break ground Thursday on a 26,000-square-foot classroom building on its Howell campus to accommodate demand in the state's fastest-growing county. The one-story, brick-and-glass building will have eight 1,000-square-foot classrooms, a student lounge, a foyer, an outdoor patio and a catering kitchen. Walls will be retractable so some space can be reconfigured as a single hall accommodating up to 1,400 people for conferences and other events. "This facility is critical for the long-term health and growth of Livingston County," Cleary president Tom Sullivan said. "Since we service primarily working adult students, we need the space to relieve classroom congestion." The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting, finance, information systems, management and marketing.

The Troy-based Kresge Foundation has awarded Wayne State University School of Medicine a $3 million challenge grant for construction of a medical education building. The medical school will receive the money provided it can raise an additional $20 million to fund the Richard J. Mazurek M.D. Medical Education Commons by July 1, 2007. Wayne State has raised $61 million so far toward its goal of $81 million for construction, endowment and program funding for the new area. The Medical Education Commons will play a significant role in training of future physicians, while increasing the university's ability "to serve the medical community and the people of Michigan," said Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid in a release. The 34,000-square-foot, two-story complex will house all undergraduate, graduate and continuing-education programs in the School of Medicine. The university plans to host educational programs and offer health information services for the community.

The Detroit-based human tissue bank Asterand Inc. Thursday announced the availability of a new cell line that offers researchers an important tool in the study of breast cancer. The cell line, known as MCF10DCIS.com, will be valuable for the testing of chemopreventive agents and for screening cancer causing agents, in addition to screening anticancer drugs. The cell line is being made available to commercial and academic researchers under an exclusive license from the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University.

Mel Small, distinguished professor of history, appeared on a segment of the talk show "Rear Vision." Small examined the escalating oil prices during the 1970's and President Richard Nixon's presidency.

Wayne State Professors Mel Small and Robert Sedler commented about the news that the federal government has quietly been amassing a database which includes tens of millions of phone records from private citizens. Small said this news is not without precedent and that it occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon. "The government routinely tapped the phones of groups involved in radical politics during that time, but congressional hearings and court hearings later ruled most of them illegal." Sedler, a constitutional law professor, said the program\'s legality will likely be determined once the government uses the program to prosecute people. \"I believe that any surveillance for any reason requires a warrant, that there can be no excuse in the name of national security or anything else.\"

Wayne State University owned public radio station WDET-FM101.9 is letting go of four staffers effective June 10. General Manager Michael Coleman said the staff became larger than was needed. He added that university policy prohibited naming those departing, but that the cuts were one each from administration, membership, production and engineering. A photo of Coleman is included.

The newly renovated Niles High School (Niles, Mich.) baseball field will celebrate its makeover with a ceremony and a three-game tournament on Saturday. The project was headed up by local residents and made possible by a contribution of $55,000 from Illitch Charities for Children, which assists several groups in Michigan, including Math Corps at Wayne State University and others.