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MSU

Weeklong festivities showcase unique Puerto Rican traditions

MSU's campus is the perfect place to celebrate Puerto Rican Culture Week because of its mixture of people, students said. Psychology senior Natalia Mercado grew up in Puerto Rico and said the diversity and curiosity of the campus makes her feel welcome to acknowledge her culture. "If I want to celebrate my culture, if I want to show what it is about — it's easy," Mercado said.

MSU

Event educates, helps promote smoke-free life

Jennifer Toland
November 18, 2005

The 29th Great American Smokeout came and went Thursday with few packs of cigarettes set aside in East Lansing during the national day of smoking abstinence. During the annual event, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, smokers are asked to abstain from the act for a day. Some businesses, especially restaurants, participate by going smoke-free for the day, said Lisa Prince, a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society Great Lakes Division. The cancer society's hope is that smokers will consider quitting smoking for good and the day will raise awareness for smoke-free laws, she said. "It's just for one day," Prince said.

MSU

Panel grades youth sports

Laura Collins
November 17, 2005

A community league soccer game for 6-year-olds has turned into something too serious, said Dan Gould, the director of MSU's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports. "Some of the dads are worried about who is winning, when 6-year-olds should just run around," said Gould, also a kinesiology professor.

MSU

RHA reps sample, critique potential dorm fare

Kristen Daum
November 17, 2005

It smelled like home-cooked food as about 40 Residence Halls Association representatives sat down to dinner in a Williams Hall meeting room. Before them were new food dishes — fried jalapeño bottle caps, Indian curry with basmati rice and blueberry quesadillas.

MSU

New engineering lab to debut on campus

Laura Collins
November 17, 2005

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday to introduce the new site of the Energy and Automotive Research Laboratories on MSU's campus. The site is located south of the Engineering Research Complex, on the corner of Service Road and Bogue Street.

MSU

MSU to offer new doctoral program

Laura Collins
November 16, 2005

A new graduate program about the increasing Chicanos and Latinos present in the United States will be offered at MSU beginning in the fall of 2006. A new report released by the University Committee on Curriculum was approved Tuesday, adding the Chicano/Latino Studies doctoral program to the university's curriculum. Academic Council met Tuesday, the same day as the scheduled Faculty Council meeting, because of the Thanksgiving holiday next week. "It is a very important thing to stake out interest in the Chicano/Latino Studies," said Mike Schechter, chairman of the University Committee on Curriculum.

MSU

Immediate openings offered at preschool

Fredricka Paul
November 16, 2005

There are immediate openings for MSU's Child Development Laboratory morning and afternoon preschool for children 3- to 5-years old. Classes meet Monday through Thursday until April 28. The morning session is from 8:45 to 11:45 a.m.

MSU

Alum honored for service

Laura Collins
November 16, 2005

Standing in the back of the MSU Auditorium in the 1960s, David Hollister's life was changed. As a night student working toward his master's degree, Hollister was handed a flier for one of the many guest speeches held on campus. But this one was different. In a packed auditorium, Hollister said he listened to Martin Luther King Jr.

MSU

Chimps mourn departed friend

His half brother and four other members of his troop sat beside him to touch the body of their companion for one last time. Jo Mendi, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, died Friday after routine dental surgery. Later that day, the five other chimpanzees Jo Mendi had lived with since 2001 were given an opportunity to bid him farewell. "There was not a dry eye in the place," said Bert Vescolani, director of the zoo.

MSU

Assault program honored

Jennifer Toland
November 16, 2005

Twenty-five years ago, MSU formed one of the first on-campus sexual assault programs in the country. The program was started by students wanting to respond to sexual assault on campus, said Carmen Lane, the advocacy coordinator for the Sexual Assault Crisis & Safety Education Program. A room full of about 40 volunteers, university, local officials, and past and present coordinators celebrated the 25th anniversary of the program on Tuesday. Although the program has grown in many ways, such as having more full-time staff positions, the core values of the program have remained the same, Lane said. "Student volunteers are the core of who we are," she said.

MSU

Panel of experts promote healthy images

Jennifer Toland
November 15, 2005

Problems with body image might be more common than people think. With images of celebrities everywhere, from magazine racks in supermarkets to advertisements on billboards, most people deal with body image issues at some point in their lives and eating disorders are becoming more prevalent, said Dave Novicki, a professor and counselor at the MSU Counseling Center. The problems with body image are not going away anytime soon and prompted a panel discussion on Monday night held by the campus group Respecting and Understanding Body Image, or RUBI. The group works to promote positive body images and increase eating disorder awareness. "We have a lot of people that are not 'eating disordered,'" he said.

MSU

Charitable MSU alum fuses GM and university

Laura Collins
November 15, 2005

Gerald Elson said he fell in love with MSU for the first time while touring the cattle barns with his local chapter of the former Future Farmers of America in the 1950s. Even though he was surrounded by Michigan's farmland in Merrill while growing up, encouragement from Elson's high school teachers got him thinking more about the world of machines. "When I graduated from my school, everyone said, 'You should be an engineer,'" Elson said.

MSU

Global cultures showcased at festival

Lan Truong was on a mission Sunday at Global Festival 2005 in the Union. The supply chain management junior was so busy having her "passport" signed by representatives from the more than 25 campus international groups that she had to get a second one.

MSU

MSU honors distinguished alumni

Laura Collins
November 14, 2005

As a graduate student at MSU, Linda Nelson lived in the Paolucci Building for six weeks at a time. Nelson studied home management, a program that is extinct today, and lived in the building as an instructor with other female students as part of the program. "It was really lots of fun," she said.

MSU

Online survey hacked into, must be redone

Kristen Daum
November 14, 2005

Students had the option of completing the annual dining halls survey last week, but now Food Services Coordinator Bruce Haskell is asking them to redo it because of the possibility that someone tampered with the results. The survey — used for feedback about residence dining halls — was initially sent to students through e-mail by Housing and Food Services on Nov.

MSU

Proposal would give voice students longer lessons

Laura Collins
November 11, 2005

Kyle Harwood has a 60-minute, one-on-one lesson with his voice professor each week, but he said he could always use more time. To keep up with competitive programs at other universities, such as the University of Michigan, the MSU School of Music is looking to increase the amount of practice time available for undergraduates as part of a proposed curriculum update. "Making voice lessons longer for a performance major can only make it better," said Harwood, a vocal music performance sophomore.