The President's Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) at Wayne State University will start the year's activities with a presentation on professional development by Seetha Shankaran, and a Pistons night at The Palace and cookbook projects to raise funds for an endowed athletic scholarship.

Shankaran, WSU professor of pediatrics and internal medicine, will speak on Professional Development: The Roles of the Institution and the Individual at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, in the Stapleton Room of Shiffman Medical Library. Shankaran came to Wayne State as a fellow inneonatal/perinatal medicine in 1975 following an internship at Jewish Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. She received a Faculty Career Development Chair Award in 1991 and the Women of Wayne Faculty Recognition Award in 1992.The event is free and open to the public.

The first fund-raiser, WSU night at The Palace, will begin at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, for the Pistons' game against the Washington Wizards. People are encouraged to wear WSU attire and some will win prizes for it.

Commission President Barbara Roseboro, College of Lifelong Learning, says the group plans to raise $10,000. "It will be an athletic scholarship for a female student," she says.

With the $22 ticket comes a postcard to be returned for a chance in a drawing. The drawing offers an autographed Grant Hill photo, an autographed Pistons basketball, a Detroit Vipers suite and Viper game tickets. A silent auction for an autographed Grant Hill jersey will be held as well. Minimum bid is $400.

Members of the entire WSU community are invited to buy tickets for families and friends; university units are encouraged to come and have a night out with their colleagues. The deadline for ticket sales is Jan. 19.

For the second fund-raiser, the COSW is collecting recipes from cooks and chefs in the WSU community to be published in a WSU cookbook that will be available in the spring. Recipes may be sent to Wayne State University, COSW office, 1321 Faculty-Administration Building, Detroit, MI 48202 by Jan. 23.

Athletic Coach Diane Wisnewski, chair of the sponsoring COSW career development committee, says two major activities were planned rather than a group of little ones. "We hope to raise $5,000 from the Pistons' event and another $5,000 from the WSU cookbook project," she says.

"It is important to get the WSU community involved and we will do this. People will come to the game wearing their WSU attire. Also, all the recipes in the book will come from our own WSU people," she says.

For more information call the COSW office at (313) 577-7543.