Whether it was taking portraits of friends in his self-made basement studio, under the hood of an old 1929 Model A pickup truck or biking his way from Lansing to the Mackinac Bridge, Arnold Werner always seemed to have something on his plate. "He was a man with a million hobbies," Sarah Werner said of her father, whose work was on display at the East Lansing Public Library during June 2005.
Sixteen months after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, a group of MSU horticulture students and faculty made what they thought was going to be a small difference. For some, it turned out to be much more. In August, MSU horticulture Professor Art Cameron returned to campus after a national horticulture meeting in New Orleans. His description of disaster and sadness inspired more than 40 students and faculty to make the trip to New Orleans in December to lend a hand to a city in need. The group spent about a week collecting and sorting the hundreds of pots that had scattered everywhere and cleaning up a greenhouse at New Orleans City Park that was under more than 10 feet of standing saltwater. Students also helped clear brush and wood, install benches and fixed greenhouse fans.
Faculty from MSU's accounting and philosophy departments produced more publications, were cited in more journals and received more funding and awards than the same departments at 353 other large research universities. Both programs were ranked first by the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, which categorized large and small universities across the country based on data from 2005.
On Monday, the nation honors Martin Luther King Jr., a man who dedicated his life to promoting civil rights. Now, students can help honor other heroes who share some of King's principles or those who furthered his dream. A group of three undergraduate students who can convincingly argue their case for who deserves similar recognition will win $1,500 for their presentation. The sixth annual Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame Case Competition will take place Feb.
The Muslim Students' Association, or MSA, is hosting the second annual Eid party, which celebrates the Eid Al-Adhaa, or when the Prophet Abraham was tested by God. The holiday occurs on the 10th day of the last month of the lunar calendar and is a celebration of the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and is required of all Muslims able to undertake the 10-day journey through the desert. "A lot of students at MSU were able to go this year because it was during winter break," said Tammam Alwan, president of MSA. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m.
Six of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in China, one MSU researcher said. This is a problem for Jack Liu, who was born there and now studies the impact of economic growth on the environment. "Now, more and more people are realizing the importance of the environment to humans," said Liu, the director for MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. Liu said economic development is important, but comes at the expense of the environment.
For the Student Greenhouse Project, one day of celebrating the Earth just didn't seem like enough. So the group decided to celebrate Earth Day for an entire week. Green Week, which will happen the week of Feb.
Syed Hashsham was raised in Sidhartha Nagar, a village in India. There, he said, water quality is a huge problem. Now, to "make an impact," he's designing a device that detects waterborne pathogens. "Research costs a lot," the civil and environmental engineering associate professor said.
A team of astronomers, including two MSU professors, discovered a black hole in an unlikely location. Stephen Zepf, a physics and astronomy professor at MSU, said the team's discovery of a black hole within a globular cluster, which is a dense collection of stars found in nearly all galaxies, is the first one of its kind. "The idea of black holes grows directly from Einstein's theory of general relativity," Zepf said in an e-mail.
Teach classes, hold office hours, perform emergency surgery on a rare African lion. For MSU veterinary professor Bryden Stanley, not every day can be considered typical. Amboseli, a 17-year-old lion living in Lansing's Potter Park Zoo, was anesthetized on Dec.
Honesty, integrity and humility were hallmarks of Gerald R. Ford's presidency, according to members of the MSU community who knew him best. The 38th president died Dec.
Horticulture students, such as freshman Sara Dahms, showcased the poinsettias they raised from sprouts at MSU Greenhouse's 19th annual Gardens Holiday Open House. Students from the MSU Greenhouse invited East Lansing community members to visit Thursday and check out some of the projects the horticulture students have done throughout the course of the semester. "We really wanted to have the community see what students have been doing," said Jessica Albright, the educational coordinator for the 4-H Children's Garden.
The university could see a change on campus if a proposal to plan to move the Kresge Art Museum to a new location is passed by the MSU Board of Trustees on Friday. According to the board's agenda for the upcoming meeting, if the proposal passes, the project could cost up to $30 million. Under the proposed project, the museum would also move into the old Paolucci Building along East Circle Drive, which is currently abandoned. Officials from the museum did not want to comment on the issue until after the meeting, but MSU's chief engineer, Robert Nestle, said this site had a lot of good attributes that would benefit an art museum in the future. "The current building is vacant and is not a good candidate for other uses," Nestle said.
The four-part harmony of the MSU men's a cappella group, The Accafellas, can be heard reverberating off the walls of the Music Building at night. The nine men are preparing for the performance of a lifetime: They have received the honor of singing Christmas carols at the White House. Unlike other groups, which apply to sing in arguably the most famous house in the world, the group was offered the honor from the White House associate director of visitors.
The time at which an MSU student enrolls for classes in a given semester is significant. Whether it's at the end of a semester or the beginning of the school year, students are eager to make sure they have a spot in a certain class to obtain that all-important degree. However, when it comes to enrollment, a caste system does exist.
Residence dining halls across campus celebrated the end of the semester by giving students a special meal with more selection and options Wednesday evening. Carolyn Roy, dining service manager for Shaw Hall, said the holiday dinner is a meal with more options than normally presented. "It changes students' moods because it's getting dark at 5:30," Roy said.
With the push of a button, a remote controlling your stereo, DVD player and television can turn on the electronics all at once. RevolutionAudio, unlike other sound systems, allows the user to have television, computer or any other electronic devices hooked into one sound system.
The MSU livestock judging team finished in third place at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky. This is the team's seventh event this season and they have always finished among the top teams, where most of these competitions have up to 30 teams competing. Besides this most recent finish, the group has also placed fifth overall at the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo., and third at the National Barrow Show in Austin, Minn. The team is sponsored by the Department of Animal Science at MSU. This was the team's last event of the season.
Large companies, such as General Motors Corp. and Crest, are evolving the way they promote their products to keep up with the fast-paced lives of college students. "Our consumer is our boss," said Kevin Bass, marketing manager for Crest.
MSU's fall commencement ceremonies will be held Friday and Saturday at Breslin Center. This semester's class will consist of 2,566 students and MSU President Lou Anna K.