Douglas Czajkowski has been named executive director of the School of Medicine's Office of Development and Alumni Affairs. Czajkowski served as senior director of development and alumni affairs for Wayne State's Law School, College of Nursing and Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Before joining WSU in 2005, he was president of the Mt. Clemens General Hospital Foundation.

Dr. John H. Krouse, director of rhinology and otolaryngic allergy at Wayne State University\'s School of Medicine, commented about the rise in allergies among adults and people who have no history of allergic sensitivity. Many adult sufferers are under treated, and many never see a physician for their allergies. Patients tend to live with symptoms because they believe there are no better treatments available, experts say. \"There\'s definitely a need for better treatments that work more rapidly and are better tolerated,\" Krouse said.

Bre Detrick, a former co-captain of the Wayne State University volleyball team, has been named an assistant women's volleyball coach at Bowling Green State University. She was twice named to the GLIAC All-Academic team. Detrick also has coached volleyball at the University of Louisiana-Monroe and was a student assistant at Wayne State.

A story about how people who live and work in Detroit prefer driving rather than walking or using public transit includes a comment by Michael Smith, director of WSU's Walter P. Reuther Library. "This city didn't grow up like Boston or New York ," he points out. " Detroit never flourished in the era of mass transit. It came of age in the era of the car." He also observes that " Detroit was the prototype for the 20th century American city. In a lot of ways, we were the prototype for Los Angeles ."

A News editorial calls for upgrades in teacher training programs at Michigan 's colleges and universities. "Far from building a culture of education, some schools have become part of the problem," the editorial charges. The newspaper expresses skepticism about assurances from the schools that concerns about their programs have been addressed. The editors call for state Superintendent Mike Flanagan to withhold teacher-certification authority from institutions that do not measure up to new state standards. A sidebar lists certification test results for 10 colleges and universities in Michigan . Wayne State was the best of the "bottom five" tier, with 77.6 percent of students passing on the first attempt. An accompanying photo shows a Wayne State graduate student working with fourth graders in Port Huron as part of a 13-week student teaching assignment.

A story about how school budget cuts might impact programs for gifted students carries a sidebar that lists organizations that parents can seek out for advice and assistance. Among them is Wayne State 's Psychology Clinic, which tests children whose parents believe they are gifted. Fee information and a contact number are provided.

Can you judge a book by its cover? This article points out that a cover "has to visually represent what the book is about since that might be an important cue in identifying a book as belonging to a specific genre." The article includes a reference to "Cat Yampbell at Wayne State University in Detroit ," whose recent report "Judging a Book by Its Cover," gives an explanation. Yampbell says a book cover can be "superficial, ineffective, incorrect and/or misleading."

In addition to a previous entry in this report about Annie Martin of the Wayne State University Press, the following persons with a Wayne State connection also are among those featured in Crain's "20 in Their 20s" special section. Elizabeth Isakson, curator and vice president of Cubegallery Inc. in Hamtramck , has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from WSU. Quasim Basir, CEO and founder of Qproductions L.L.C. in Detroit , has a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice degree from WSU. Matthew Clayson, project manager with the Detroit Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, is attending the WSU Law School .

A special section highlights 20 people under age 30 who are "making a creative difference in the region." Among the honorees is Annie Martin, acquisitions editor for Wayne State University Press. She came up with the idea and secured funding for a literature series by The Press called the "Made in Michigan Writers Series." Her next step is "to really expand and to prove to everybody that this is a series that is going to work and have so much value." A photo of Martin surrounded by books accompanies the write-up.

A story about CreateDetroit, a nonprofit organization that promotes the city as a hub of creativity, mentions that the organization was created by the Detroit Regional Chamber, Wayne State University , the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and the offices of Gov. Granholm and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Wayne State's police department will be the home of a cutting-edge hydrogen fuel cell-powered police vehicle, thanks to the Daimler-Chrysler AG Mercedes division. In addition to its law enforcement duties, the car will serve as a laboratory for students in the College of Engineering's Alternative Energy Technology program. A photo of the vehicle is included.

Wayne State is mentioned in the first sentence of a story about former Warriors football standout Tom Beer, who will be the first inductee into the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port High School Hall of Fame. "Throughout his playing days with Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port, Wayne State University and the Detroit Lions, Tom Beer was recognized for being a hard-nose, gritty competitor," the sentence reads. Beer was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 1994 NFL draft and played 41 games on special teams and at linebacker before his career was cut short by an injury.

An associate professor of information systems and manufacturing will be among the Wayne State University staff and area business leaders honored Tuesday at the Wayne State School of Business Administration 2006 Annual Recognition and Awards Program. Toni M. Somers, associate professor of information systems and manufacturing, will receive one of the business school\'s Distinguished Research Awards for her work linking business strategies and requirements with the selection and implementation of the most appropriate technology.

A team of Wayne State University researchers has restored visual response in blind mice through gene therapy. While more research needs to be done and researchers say they don\'t yet know if the apparent visual response is actually what could be described as good vision, the team led by Dr. Zhuo-Hua Pan, Wayne State\'s School of Medicine, says the findings are an exciting first step. The researchers say vision normally begins when photoreceptors in the back of the eye called rods and cones respond to light and send signals through other retinal neurons, called inner retinal neurons or interneurons. From there the signals go to the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain. In some genetic diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, rods and cones degenerate and die, leading to blindness.

With more than 30,000 students at nine campuses around the state, Baker College received $20.3 million last year in state-funded Michigan Tuition Grants, 38 percent of the financial aid program. Baker\'s graduation rate - 19.2 percent - lags behind all but one of the state\'s 27 other private colleges that reported the figures to the government. State Rep. Chris Kolb, D-Ann Arbor, says this cries out for answers. \"I think people would be very surprised one college is getting one-third of the money and graduating only one out of five students in a timely manner. We have done zero oversight of this program.\" Baker Chief Executive Officer F. James Cummins said last week it\'s misleading to judge the school on graduation rates because the college attracts many students with \"formidable hurdles to retention.\"

Mitch Ritter, vice president of Wayne State's Athletics Alumni Association, and Kathryn Clark, director of athletic development at WSU's Athletics Department, participated in an on-air interview April 16. They discussed the Doc Andrews Endowed Fund in Sports Information which honors the enthusiasm, courage and professionalism of the late Mark E. "Doc" Andrews, a well-known sportscaster and celebrity on "The Dick Purtan Show." The Wayne State Athletic Alumni Association initiated the fund which will be used to fund an intern in sports information, as well as upgraded sports information software and conference fees.

This electronic news bulletin for University of Michigan alumni carries an item mentioning Dean Frank Wu of the WSU Law School. In delivering the annual Nancy Cantor Distinguished Lecture at U-M, he said the pro vs. con debate on affirmative action should be transformed into a discussion of: "What do we do as institutions and individuals to make good our vision of democracy"?

Alan Frank, President of Post-Newsweek Stations, was the featured guest on \"Leaders on Leadership\", co-produced by the WSU School of Business Administration and Detroit Public Television. Frank spoke about leading a national group of major television stations to balance their individualized service to each local market, and to also advantage their network affiliations. He also discussed insights learned by observing Kathryn Graham\'s leadership of the organization. The studio audience of Wayne State SBA students asked insightful leadership questions. The program will air again on Wednesday, April 19th, at 5:30 pm.

Wayne State University College of Education Dean Paula Wood comments in a story about state officials wanting to fill the shortage of math and science instructors. They want to attract professionals in other industries who want to change careers, such as recently laid off auto engineers, and college students who may be pursuing careers in other professions. Wood says her college has smoothed the path for second-career students to come back. They combine the students\' previous bachelor\'s degree in math or science with additional classes they can take over the weekend, at night or online. Students can finish the program and get certified to teach in one to two years, school officials said. They are also working with the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co. to attract some of the employees who took a recent education buyout. \"We have found that for these high-need areas you have to have these alternative pathways,\" Wood said. \"A traditional program is just not going to work for them.\"

A front-page story discusses how state officials want to crack down on Michigan\'s colleges to ensure they are preparing future teachers to meet the state and nation\'s rising education standards. According to the story, until recently, Michigan didn\'t report the number of prospective teachers from each university who flunked certification exams, and it ignored a federal requirement to identify low-performing teacher colleges. Michael Flanagan, the state superintendent of public instruction, now plans by June to have a way to rate low-performing colleges and is developing a process to more thoroughly evaluate how well they prepare new teachers. State officials say the plans ultimately could mean taking away universities\' authority to certify teachers if, for example, they have too many graduates teaching in failing schools and too few passing certification exams. Flanagan also wants them to produce more instructors in subjects such as math and science, where the needs are greatest. At five of the state\'s colleges, fewer than 80 percent of first-time teacher candidates pass certification tests. Wayne State and University of Detroit officials said they are working to raise their scores, but part of the reason they are low is some students may take the tests before they are done with most of their coursework, and others suffer because they returned to college later in life. A sidebar includes a listing of Michigan colleges and universities and their passing rates on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification for October 2001 through July 2004. Wayne State is included among the institutions.