TechTown student needs help to get to Harvard

Jeannette Perryman, a Detroit Northwestern High School junior, has been accepted for the prestigious Harvard Summer School program for high school students and needs assistance with tuition and board. Perryman participates in a student program at WSU's Techtown, "Detroit's only research and technology park." The Parent Child Computer Learning Foundation brings Wayne State University students together with high school students to provide mentoring during the academic year. A start-up company at TechTown, Academic Computing Environments, has voluntarily created a computer lab for student use. The article gives an address where donors can send checks to Perryman to help cover expense of attendance at the Harvard summer program.

June 16, 2005

Engineering camp for girls offers a different kind of summer

Wayne State University is offering a Woman in Engineering Training four-week summer program starting Monday for a group of talented girls who will enter high school next fall. "We want to motivate them before high school when their dreams are still strong," says Gerald Thompkins, associate dean and director of the program. Participants attend computer classes, an aerospace class and they learn about Mars surface exploration projects while building model Mars Rovers and landscapes. On Fridays, they travel to nearby points of interest for fun and additional learning experiences. A contact phone number is given for registrations.

June 16, 2005

WSU offers engineering training institute for high schoolers

High school students can get a head start on an engineering career by attending the High School Engineering Training Institute at Wayne State. Sponsored by the College of Engineering, the program familiarizes participants with hands-on engineering techniques and strengthens their academic competencies in math, science, computers and English. The cost is $250. Sign-up information is given for the June 20-July 15 program.

June 16, 2005

ISSS director resigns

David Austell, director of International student and scholar services at the University of South Florida, will resign July 15 to take a position as executive director of international programs at Wayne State University.

June 16, 2005

Wayne State wins three IABC Best of Show awards

Wayne State earned a Detroit-record three Best of Show awards in the recent International Association of Business Communicators annual Renaissance Awards competition. Included were awards for "communications and technology" for the WSU games site designed for prospective students, "writing and proofreading" and "art and design" (for Wayne State Magazine). The university also won four other awards in the competition.

June 16, 2005

Habitat for Humanity

A story about Habitat for Humanity's work projects in Michigan mentions that out-of-town volunteers working in the Detroit area are staying in dorms at Wayne State, where they pay for their own room and board.

June 16, 2005

Fix the inequities of university funding

The presidents of four Michigan universities - Central Michigan, Grand Valley State, Oakland and Saginaw Valley State - signed a letter to the editor that applauds the leadership of the Michigan House and Senate for "adopting a policy basis for funding each of Michigan's public universities. To maintain historic inequities that cannot be defended on a policy basis is to punish the more than 70,000 students at our universities," they write.

June 16, 2005

Tuition increases are an obstacle to college

This editorial calls for stronger state financial support for Michigan's universities while also positing that the schools are "still a long way from achieving maximum efficiency." "While state leaders say they want and need more college graduates, Michigan's public universities keep raising college tuition at double and triple the rate of inflation - and sometimes more," the editorial says. It concludes: "Michigan has to put its money where its mouth is. If it believes more college graduates will attract employers who need a high-skilled workforce, it should support its universities. And the schools should get far more aggressive about cost-cutting to keep tuition down."

June 16, 2005

State announces winners of Technology Tri-Corridor funds

An article about Michigan Life Sciences funding awards mentions that Wayne State "entities and programs" will receive $4.8 million for a variety of initiatives. Several outstate Booth newspapers also ran an article about the state awards and noting that WSU received funds.

June 15, 2005

Canton quotable

"It was a fine place to grow up, but I never thought Canton would be a hip, diverse place to live," says former Canton resident Frank Wu, dean of the WSU Law School. He points out that the community is now "a good place to get ethnic food," including sushi. "No one could have predicted that 20 years ago."

June 9, 2005

Rising to the top Canton upbringing the foundation for WSU dean

A feature story profiles the career of Dean Frank Wu of the Law School, who is completing his first year at the helm of the school. As a boy growing up in Canton, his first job was delivering the Observer newspaper. In the article, Wu reminisces about his early years in Canton and shares some of his perspectives on Detroit, where he now resides. He said he would like to see more people attend law school, even if they do not intend to practice law. "I think everyone should know their legal rights," he observed.

June 5, 2005

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Linda Lewandowski, associate professor of family and community mental health in the College of Nursing , was interviewed on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The interview aired throughout the day last Saturday.

June 4, 2005

Wayne State may cut urban college

This item notes that WSU's Board of Governors will vote June 8 on whether to eliminate the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA), which has 742 of the university's 33,300 students. Jack Kay, CULMA interim dean, described the college as "an experiment." "I think the notion is that the academic programs have not thrived as much as they should have had they been in the traditional colleges," he said. Frank Koscielski, an instructor in the college's interdisciplinary studies program, said the change would dilute the university's urban mission.

May 31, 2005

Oakland population is aging and active

Kurt Metzger, research director in the Center for Urban Studies, comments about Oakland County's aging population. In 2000, 11.3 percent of Oakland's population was 65 or older; in 2005, the figure had grown to only 11.4 percent, but officials estimate by 2030 the percentage will jump to 20.7. "We're getting older; and it's going to be important for communities, and the county as a whole, to do a lot of planning," Metzger says. "Communities are going to have to look towards the kinds of services they're going to offer and the housing they have."

May 29, 2005

Wayne State biz school offers e-commerce summer camp

The WSU School of Business Administration will host its 5th annual E-Commerce Summer Camp, beginning June 15, with 39 participants. The camp addresses the needs of tomorrow's work force by training students to use ever-increasing applications of technology in all aspects of work. It involves minority students from the middle third of their high school classes who are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The university partners with high schools in Detroit and Inkster as well as the business community to offer the program, which combines morning training and afternoon internships.

May 23, 2005

Sprawling across the generations

Kurt Metzger, research director for Wayne State's Center for Urban Studies, comments in a story about urban sprawl and if it is slowing. Metzger says there is no sign that it is changing. In fact, data shows that for every two new families being created in this area, there are three new houses being started, he adds.

May 18, 2005

Comrade in arms

Film documentary "Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman," will have a local premiere at 3 p.m. in Wayne State's General Lectures building. Wayne State Professor Ron Aronson comments about his collaboration during the film project.

May 18, 2005

Roseville superintendent Kment named 'Distinguished Educator'

John Kment, superintendent of Roseville Community Schools, has been selected by the Wayne State University College of Education (COE) Alumni Association as its "Distinguished Educator" for 2005. Kment will be honored at the COE's award ceremony titled "Leaders as Beacons of Light," on May 7.

May 18, 2005

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Columnist Neal Rubin is sporting a Wayne State sweatshirt in his column photo.

May 18, 2005

Students may get big break on college loans

An announcement by the Department of Education could translate into thousands of dollars of savings for students who secure government loans to cover college expenses. Students who borrow directly from the government have always been free to consolidate while still enrolled, but until this week it was unclear if borrowers from commercial lenders could, too. Under the new plan, students who borrow from commercial lenders are now allowed to consolidate as well.

May 18, 2005