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MSU

Grant helps prof study HIV, AIDS

Fredricka Paul
January 11, 2006

An MSU professor is in Africa to research and treat people with HIV and AIDS. Gretchen Birbeck, an associate professor in the departments of epidemiology, neurology and ophthalmology, is using a recent grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to begin her research. Birbeck said she wants to look at stigmas that surround HIV and AIDS in Africa, as well as reasons why people might not or do not take their medications. "I was ecstatic about receiving the grant," Birbeck said, adding that the funding made the research possible. According to AVERT, a United Kingdom-based HIV and AIDS charity, an estimated 25.8 million people were infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2005. Birbeck's work will benefit MSU, but is aimed specifically for HIV and AIDS patients in Africa. "The virus develops resistance to the medications if it is not taken correctly," Birbeck said.

MSU

Muslim prayer begins multiple-day holiday

The three-day Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, begins today. Eid acknowledges the Quran's account of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to Allah. The Islamic Society of Greater Lansing will be recognizing the holiday today at the center, located at 920 S.

MSU

ASMSU: Academic minors essential

Kristi Jourdan
January 10, 2006

A plan introduced by student government officials to incorporate academic minors into MSU's curriculum would bring it in line with other Big Ten schools. "Everybody on the issue loves the idea of minors," said Robert Murphy, ASMSU's Academic Assembly chairperson.

MSU

Official New Year's resolutions

"My resolution is to continue to learn about the campus … about the values and directions and do everything I can to help the campus move forward." Kim Wilcox MSU provost "Like everyone, I want to exercise more and have a healthier diet.

MSU

ASMSU in search of funding for new, affordable activity center

Kristi Jourdan
January 9, 2006

Student government officials are proposing a combined IM sports facility and student events center located on campus to lower event expenses for student organizations. While the plan is in its initial stages, a survey will be sent out to students to gather public input on the matter, said Harry Wang, a finance sophomore and Eli Broad College of Business representative for ASMSU's Student Assembly ASMSU is MSU's undergraduate student government. "We have limited amounts of space to host student events," Wang said.

MSU

Contest held for horseshoers

Gentlemen, start your forge ovens. Horseshoes, known as good luck charms and often pitched at company picnics, went back to their roots Saturday as Michigan's best horseshoers competed in a timed 30-minute shoeing contest at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education.

MSU

Accreditation at MSU first in state

Kristen Daum
January 9, 2006

MSU is one of six institutions in the nation — and the first in Michigan — to receive accreditation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs Inc. The university earned "qualified accreditation" status in 2005 for all research done involving human participants.

MSU

12 teams compete in engineering contest

By Nicholas Baumgardner Special to The State News Students of a senior Capstone Design course for electrical and computer engineering majors might have just redefined the idea of being stressed for final exams. The culmination of their semester-long efforts and college careers, as well as several all-night-long lab sessions, took place Thursday at the International Center as 12 teams gathered to show off their inventions at the annual Electrical and Computer Engineering Design Day.

MSU

Program simulates typical college day

Kristen Daum
December 9, 2005

About 150 fifth-grade students got a look at college life for a few hours Thursday. A professor and several students in James Madison College presented a college lecture and a tour of the residence halls to children from Baldwin Elementary School in Rochester, before eating lunch with them in South Complex. "They walk away learning, and it gives them a college experience," said Peter Spadafore, a social relations junior and coordinator of the program. The college has hosted visiting days for Baldwin Elementary for the past six years, with the same kind of format every year, Spadafore said. Recently, the program has expanded to include two other elementary schools, and it might continue to grow in the future. "We're trying to reach out to Lansing schools and Haslett schools," Spadafore said.

MSU

Housing sign-up to begin after break

Kristen Daum
December 9, 2005

Residence hall sign-ups for the 2006-07 academic year begin Jan. 20. Scheduled sign-ups occur throughout a two-week period, and the day students sign up depends on what they request for a housing assignment for the next year. Students who wish to stay in their current room or residence hall have the first option, over students who don't currently live there. Final priority is given to students who choose a single room, with juniors and seniors having first pick over freshmen and sophomores. Due to the renovation of Snyder and Phillips halls beginning this summer, those halls will not be available for residence in the next academic year. Students currently living in those halls will have second choice at requesting another hall to live in because of the displacement. To see the schedule for the 2006-07 housing sign-up process, log on to http://uh.msu.edu/campus/sign_up.html.

MSU

Prof. planning program to help Katrina victims

Laura Collins
December 9, 2005

Months ago, Joyce Grant said she remembers watching Hurricane Katrina unfold on the news, as the flood waters destroyed community after community in New Orleans. "It is not enough to feel bad — there is so much stuff going on in the world to feel bad about," Grant said.

MSU

ASMSU assemblies, RHA to hold first-ever joint meeting tonight

Melissa Domsic
December 8, 2005

The Residence Halls Association and both assemblies of ASMSU will meet together for the first time tonight to discuss issues such as the independent commission reviewing the April 2-3 disturbances, water quality and campus recycling. Members of RHA and ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, will hold the meeting at 7 p.m.

MSU

Book drive to benefit Africa

At one point this semester, Laura Sologuren Sanchez had about 1,600 books in her residence hall, but none of them were hers. The learning disabilities freshman started the student group Books for Africa when she arrived to MSU from her native Bolivia, and kept donations in a Mason Hall storage room. The group collects new and used English-language books for all ages and donates them to organizations working to help reduce costs for building community libraries and educational centers in African countries. "We are changing African children's lives — it's amazing," said Sanchez, who is president of the group.

MSU

Supplies sent to Miss. schools, kids

Corinne Devries
December 8, 2005

More than 10,000 books, boxes of school supplies and backpacks were donated last month to a Mississippi school district hit by Hurricane Katrina, after an MSU student adopted the district. Through her organization called Heart 2 Heart, elementary education senior Michelle Buffa collected donations at drives held at local libraries and schools, and at her hometown school in Grand Blanc.

MSU

Student remembers conflict

Kristen Daum
December 7, 2005

Azra Kapetanovic remembers people constantly running from place to place in Prijedor, Bosnia, during the early 1990s. When the Bosnian conflict began in 1992, she said members of her community were living day-to-day, just trying to survive. "There were days when 100 people would be sleeping in one house, not even sleeping, just sitting and waiting for the night to be over," the 24-year-old electrical engineering senior said of her memories from the conflict in the country now known as Bosnia-Herzegovina. Kapetanovic, who will graduate from MSU on Saturday, left her hometown with her family in December 1994 and arrived in the United States in April 1995. She said she enjoys MSU because she is seeing things from a different perspective. "In Bosnia, there's the same culture," Kapetanovic said.

MSU

MSU prof tackles stress

Melissa Domsic
December 7, 2005

An MSU professor has been granted $1.8 million to spend researching stress stemming from work and family. One of Professor Ellen Kossek's projects looks into these stresses, and another focuses on flexibility policies for unionized employees. "What happens with grants is you don't expect two pretty big ones, because it's so hard to get one," said Kossek, a labor and industrial relations professor. Kossek works with Leslie Hammer, a psychology professor at Portland State University in Oregon, on a $1.4-million project to research how stress from balancing home life and work affects people. Oregon Health & Science University is also involved in the study. The two professors, who previously worked together at national conferences, are using their specializations to uncover relationships between work-family stress, safety and health. The project is based out of PSU's Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety and Health, but some of the research is being done at MSU. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is funding the three-year project. Work-family stress or conflicts occur when the strain of one role affects the other, Kossek said.

MSU

Senior awarded fellowship for kidney research

Jennifer Toland
December 7, 2005

A microbiology and molecular genetics senior recently received a fellowship to continue her current research on kidney defects. Jennifer Edwards was awarded a 2005 Undergraduate Research Fellows Outstanding Local Students fellowship from the American Physiological Society. The 10-week fellowship will allow her to continue working in a lab and pay travel expenses to an experimental biology conference in San Francisco in April, where she will present her work — the relationship between kidneys and blood pressure. She has always known that she wants to go into medicine and do research, so she said this has been a good opportunity for her. "It's got to be something you have a true interest in and true passion for," Edwards said.