Students in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, or RCAH, program at MSU listened to indigenous music and speakers from afar as a part of the Indigenous People’s Day Celebration.
The theme of this year’s homecoming week, Spartan Space Odyssey 2010, is a celebration of MSU’s contributions to space exploration and astrophysics.
A group of sustainability leaders on campus are working to promote mass transit and clean commuting options at MSU. The Environmental Stewardship Transportation Technical Team is comprised of about 15 faculty, staff and students.
Interior demolition will begin next week to convert the former Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house, 128 Collingwood Drive, into a 14-unit apartment building. The renovations will include all new interiors, as well as an 8,000-square-foot addition to the rear of the 12,000-square-foot building, project developer Dale Inman said.
MSU researchers linked a group of illnesses reported in dogs nationwide to Blue Buffalo Co. dog food. The sick dogs were between 8 months and 8 years old and showed symptoms of weight loss, loss of appetite, kidney damage and increased thirst and urination. MSU’s Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health is working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the food, said center director Carole Bolin in a statement. Blood samples from all 16 dogs tested with the illnesses had found very high levels of vitamin D. Blue Buffalo Co. since has issued a voluntary recall.
After taking about 50 Malawian students to the zoo, graduate student Ty Lawson watched as they screamed and chased after zebras, animals they hadn’t seen before. From his two years of service in the Peace Corps, this is one of many stories Lawson remembers about his experience in Malawi. Lawson was among several Peace Corps alumni present at an informational meeting Tuesday evening encouraging students to apply to the Peace Corps. Peace Corps Deputy Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet spoke about her experiences in Samoa with her husband at the meeting. Hessler-Radelet said there is a huge demand for volunteers. “Countries still ask for Peace Corps (volunteers) much more than we can deliver,” Hessler-Radelet said. MSU is ranked first in Michigan for number of Peace Corps volunteers and fourth nationally.
Xiao Chuanguo was sentenced to five and a half months in jail for coordinating an attack on MSU alumnus Shi-min Fang, according to the New York Times. During the trial, Chuanguo, a college professor and doctor in China, confessed to paying four men a total of $15,000 to assault Fang and journalist Fang Xuanchang on Aug.
Faculty, current students and more than 5,000 alumni will celebrate the past 100 years of journalism education at MSU this month with events commemorating the School of Journalism Centennial.
Through MSU Community Reuse Days, students now have another opportunity to be Spartan green. The MSU Surplus Store will offer some free recycling to the public 7 a.m.
Artists from all different backgrounds had the opportunity to work with live models Monday in a drawing marathon hosted by (SCENE) Metrospace and the MSU Department of Art and Art History. The marathon began outside of Kresge Art Center, where a circle of easels was set up.
Paul Rubin is giving his management students options. Depending on their budget, busy schedules and the technology available to them, Rubin’s students were able to choose their learning medium this fall, whether in the form of a web-based HTML text, a PDF file or a physical, softbound version of the same book. Rubin, a professor in management science, said it’s all a part of an experiment in using an open-source textbook.
The Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, will discuss upcoming mandatory student health insurance at its Wednesday night meeting. COGS President Stefan Fletcher said Randy Hillard, associate provost for human health affairs, are scheduled to speak at the meeting to give an update about events happening in the medical colleges, the new Secchia Center in Grand Rapids and student health insurance, which will be mandatory for MSU students beginning in 2011. “It’s hard to say how it will affect graduate students, but it’s found at some other Big Ten universities,” Fletcher said. Also, under President Barack Obama’s new health care plan, students will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26, he said. Adam Lovgren, vice president for graduate welfare, said parent insurance plans typically have more flexibility than student health insurance plans, which often require going through Olin Health Center as a gatekeeper before they can be used at other medical facilities. “Anybody who can stay on their parent’s insurance longer is going to be better off,” Lovgren said.
A week of games, dancing and community events is aimed to have a deeper educational undertone for many MSU students. Monday marks National Coming Out Day, and groups at MSU will host several events to raise awareness of the LBGT community throughout the week. National Coming Out Day is celebrated annually on Oct.
A group of MSU students is taking a stand against sexual violence. About 10 students met in the Union Sunday for the newly-formed Coalition Against Sexual Violence.
Chanting, cheering and carrying posters that called for the MSU administration to shut down the T.B. Simon Power Plant, about 20 members of MSU Greenpeace and other environmental campus organizations marched from Case Hall to the Administration Building Sunday in support of renewable energy on campus.
Eleven-year-old Joey Berman went swimming with the big fish Sunday morning. He rode his bike and ran with them too. Berman was one of more than 300 participants in the Spartan Sprint Triathlon. The event consisted of a 400-meter swim in the outdoor pool at IM Sports-West, a 20-kilometer bike ride around South Neighborhood and five-kilometer run along the Red Cedar River.
The partnership developed to complete the “Bridge to the Future” Farm Lane project recently received a gold award from the National Partnership for Highway Quality, or NPHQ. Executive Director Bob Templeton presented the award to MSU, the Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT, as well as their planning and construction partners at last week’s State Transportation Commission meeting in Lansing.
Michigan’s three largest universities contributed about $14.8 billion to the state’s economy in 2009, in spite of the region’s inability to experience positive economic growth, according to a report released Thursday. The University Research Corridor, or URC, — comprised of MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University — increased its economic impact to the state by about 15 percent from about $12.9 billion in 2006, said Patrick Anderson, founder of Anderson Economic Group which led the 2010 Empowering Michigan report. “The research universities should be commended for benchmarking themselves,” he said.
For entomology postdoctoral student Ryan Kimbirauskas, Saturday would have consisted of playing a round of golf with a friend and grilling some food at home before the MSU football game.
Four months after its installation and multiple instances of vandalism, university officials and the creator of Funambulist dedicated the piece in a ceremony Wednesday. The fabricated steel structure, which stands more than 25 feet tall and 36 feet wide, attempts to incorporate the balance college students must keep while they walk on a thin line before graduation, said John Van Alstine, the artist who created the sculpture. “It has more (of a) universal meaning because we’re all on our wire per se,” he said.