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MSU

Governance OKs minors

Kristen Daum
April 26, 2006

Students are one step closer to adding academic minors to their transcripts now that the concept has been approved by the Academic Governance system. Individual colleges and departments have been given the OK to consider whether they will offer academic minors to students, following the approval of a proposal about the topic at Tuesday's Academic Council meeting. Academic minors are defined as a secondary field of study for undergraduates and are made up of courses that provide a student with understanding of the field's major concepts. "It's a long, overdue change that the students have been asking for quite awhile," said Eric Hinojosa, ASMSU's Academic Assembly chairperson. Sarah Kunst, a retailing and interdisciplinary studies in social science sophomore, said she would add a minor to her transcript. "As a retailing major, I have a business cognate, but I think that having a minor shows your work more," Kunst said.

MSU

Bike project expands spring service hours

Holly Klaft
April 25, 2006

The MSU Bike Project has added additional workshop hours from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays to combat the increased need for bikes and bike repairs. The Bike Project is a group composed of volunteers dedicated to promoting bicycling on campus. It offers one-year leases for bikes and provides bike repair services to the MSU community for donations.

MSU

MSU, China formally declare partnership

Josh Jarman
April 25, 2006

Officials from MSU and China's National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language signed an agreement Monday to create the MSU Confucius Institute, which will provide online Chinese language instruction to students across the state. MSU President Lou Anna K.

MSU

Extraordinary births

Holly Klaft
April 25, 2006

Tucked away in their own corner of the barn, four lambs slept soundly near each other under the careful watch of their mother. "It's hard being center stage all the time," said Holly Glomski, farm manager at the MSU Sheep Teaching and Research Center. The four lambs are one of two sets of live quadruplet lambs born at the center this month.

MSU

Group searches for new natural sciences dean

Kristen Daum
April 25, 2006

With another college dean leaving at the end of 2006, faculty members are beginning to search for candidates who can fill the position. Dean George Leroi of the College of Natural Science is planning to retire and will step down from his position on Dec.

MSU

'Dreamworlds II' to play on campus today

Corinne Devries
April 25, 2006

The film "Dreamworlds II" will be screened on campus today at Olds Hall in room 11. The movie shows the impact of pop culture on young people in regard to their sexuality and gender, using more than 200 images from music videos to illustrate the point. Free pizza will be served at 12:30 p.m., with the film starting at 1:00 p.m.

MSU

Students march against initiative

Lindsay Machak
April 24, 2006

About 35 students marched from the Brody Complex to the steps of Hubbard Hall in protest of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, on Friday. The group of students call themselves S.T.E.P.S.

MSU

Cultural connection

For the first time since 2003, live emcees hosted Satrang, an annual Indian cultural show put on by the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students on Saturday at the Auditorium. In the past few years, the organization had opted to use videotaped segments to introduce each new dance.

MSU

MSU area participates in trials of breast cancer prevention drugs

Holly Klaft
April 21, 2006

Judy Harris was alarmed when doctors informed her of a possibly cancerous spot on her breast after her annual mammogram. Harris, 64, said she was particularly concerned about developing breast cancer because of the high occurrence of the disease in her family, although a biopsy on the spot revealed it was only a calcium deposit, a potential precursor to breast cancer. Harris then was asked by doctors to participate in one of the largest breast cancer prevention clinical trials ever conducted that would test the effectiveness of the breast cancer prevention drugs Tamoxifen and Raloxifene. Researchers released the results of the international study Monday, showing that both drugs lowered the risk of developing breast cancer by 50 percent.

MSU

Interest rates to increase

Kristi Jourdan
April 21, 2006

After July 1, students who borrow money to pay their college expenses will notice an about 2 percent increase in interest they will pay on those loans. After the deadline, Stafford Loan interest rates will increase from 4.7 percent to 6.8 percent.

MSU

Stanford professor to speak to graduates

Lindsay Machak
April 21, 2006

Paul Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University, will speak at the commencement ceremony for graduate students on May 5. "I am going to say something about needed changes in the structure of universities and things that (the graduates) can do to help themselves and help other people deal with the information explosions that we have," Ehrlich said. When he was asked to speak at the ceremony, he said he was pleased because he has close colleagues at MSU. One of his MSU colleagues is Jack Liu, a distinguished professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. "He and I were standing together when the second plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept.

MSU

Resource fair included in Spartan Celebration

Kristen Daum
April 21, 2006

The second annual Spartan Celebration Day will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kellogg Center. The program, which is sponsored by MSU's Office of Admissions and Scholarships, is to welcome incoming students of color and their families. A student organization resource fair will be included in the program, where students can learn more about different groups on campus from current members.

MSU

Hidden treasures

Corinne Devries
April 21, 2006

Tiny toys on fishing wire hang down from the ceiling. The cash register has a small fortune from a fortune cookie taped to the front of it that reads, "You love Chinese food." Tucked away in Kresge Art Center, the Spartan Art Store, also known as the Kresge Art Store, has been a crucial part of art students' lives since 1969. Much like an MSU book store sells everything a student could need, the Kresge Art Store sells almost everything artistic, from canvas to paints to sketch pads. "They have most everything you'll need for class in stock," art education senior Arielle Popkey said. Popkey said she comes into the store a few times every day and gets coffee every morning. Last year, she bought her roommates toys from the store for a gift exchange, Popkey said.

MSU

Pushing for change

About 20 MSU students wearing blue shirts gathered in and near the public bathrooms in Wells Hall on Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to raise awareness about transgender issues on campus. The students — members of TransAction, a discussion group for transgender individuals and allies, and Phi Tau Mu, an organization for female-to-male transgender students — were part of a "bathroom crawl." They traveled to a number of bathrooms across campus spreading information about such issues as creating gender-neutral bathrooms in university buildings. Mathematics senior Courtney Couvreur helped spread pamphlets at the event.

MSU

WEB EXTRA: Committee to combine task forces' recommendations

Kristen Daum
April 20, 2006

The final reports of five committees looking to increase faculty input in university decisions will be assessed by one new committee — lengthening the amount of time before the committees can impact the Academic Governance system. Faculty Council approved the formation of an integration committee Tuesday, which will begin looking at reports released this week from four of the committees. The five committees, called the Faculty Voice Task Force Groups, were created last fall to address faculty's role in specific issues — such as restructuring the Academic Governance system, reviewing administrators and academic programs, defining the role of fixed-term faculty and improving communication within the system. Four committees presented their final recommendations at Tuesday's meeting, and the task force looking at the structure of the Academic Governance system is scheduled to issue its final report in October. The proposal of an integration committee came on behalf of the Executive Committee of Academic Council, which now has the responsibility to form the new committee. Although the proposal passed without any formal discussion, several faculty members voiced their concerns throughout the meeting about having an integration committee. "Having an integration committee is counterproductive," said Wolfgang Bauer, chairperson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and chairperson for the communications task force. "We have an opportunity to occupy a leadership position here, so let's not send it to another committee," Bauer said of his task force's recommendations. The integration committee will look at combining the task forces' various recommendations into a single package and assess the costs of carrying them out.

MSU

WEB EXTRA: Event to create discussion on extending MSU's international reach

Holly Klaft
April 20, 2006

In 1855, MSU helped to define what it meant to be a land-grant institution, teaching agriculture, technical skills and a variety of other studies to the working classes. Now, more than 150 years later, members of the MSU community are looking to extend the university's international reach, and are attempting to define what it would mean for MSU to be a world-grant institution. "We've built a university to serve not only Michigan, but the world," said Jeffrey Riedinger, acting dean of International Studies and Programs.

MSU

Students dance for awareness

By Toshira Johnson For The State News A day of swing dancing got the Comm Arts Dance-Nic celebration off on the right foot by wowing the crowd with jumpin', jivin' and swingin' routines.

MSU

Innovations: Freedom of the press

Lindsay Machak
April 20, 2006

Name: Assistant Professor Eric Freedman Department: Journalism Title of research project: After the Tulip Revolution, Press Freedoms, Constraints and Competition in Kyrgyzstan Date of research: Freedman has been researching journalism-related topics involving Central Asia since 2002 after he returned from teaching in Uzbekistan. Basics of the project: Freedman is looking at how the press environment has changed in Kyrgyzstan after the Tulip Revolution in March 2005, during which the president of the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan was overthrown. Freedman will be studying press coverage and press freedom as some of the topics for the project. Since the Tulip Revolution, the government in Kyrgyzstan has become more democratic, he said.