MSU
COGS adopts tax increase
Despite a low turnout at the polls, graduate students approved a tax increase beginning in the 2001-02 school year.
MSU
Department sponsors bowl-a-thon for cancer
The Department of Communication is working to defeat cancer - at the bowling alley. The department is hosting its eighth annual Bowling For Scholars - A Strike Against Cancer bowl-a-thon from noon until 5 p.m.
MSU
Psychology project examines language
If you ever wondered, um, why people, uh, have trouble understanding you, well so have some of MSU’s top psychologists.Fernanda Ferreira, a professor of psychology, is researching the development of a theory into how people are able to understand the sentences we hear in the real world that are full of corrections, mistakes and disfluencies.“The question I am interested in is how people, mainly adults, understand language,” she said.
MSU
U hosts quiz bowl championships
MSU students will soon be surrounded by some of the top students in Michigan - and they’re not even out of high school.More than 500 high school students from across the state will compete in the 14th annual State Championship High School Quiz Bowl on Friday and Saturday in the Union.
MSU
DCL program trades cans for participation
MSU-Detroit College of Law students spent last week telling their professors to “can it.” The Journal of International Law at DCL sponsored its fourth annual Can-a-Professor Program, which allows students to bring in a canned good or other nonperishable food item in exchange for not having to participate in class. Professors who agree to participate in the program may not call on students who bring cans of food to class. For some law students, the program, which began last Monday was convenient. Daniel Olson, a second-year law student who participated in Can-a-Professor, said the because he was out of town two weeks ago, the program saved him both some reading and from answering questions. “I was at a law review symposium in Washington, D.C., got back late in the week and didn’t feel like reading a lot,” he said. Olson said being able to avoid questions “especially took the stress off for exams in a week and a half.” That’s exactly why the program is so popular, said Connell Alsup, DCL assistant dean of student affairs.
MSU
Civil rights advocate to speak to U about activists of the 1960s
The Rev. Edwin King, a peace and civil rights activist will address an audience at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Auditorium. In his second trip to MSU since 1999, King’s address will be on “A Rumor of Freedom, A Rumor of War: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam.” King, who teaches at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, also served as a chaplain and dean of students at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss.
MSU
Partnership helps educate South African students
It all started with a visit from two Zulu artists.And now, Sally McClintock and other mid-Michigan teachers are launching a project that could send many children in an impoverished region of South Africa to school.McClintock, a retired East Lansing Public Schools teacher and administrator, is the founder and director of Linking All Types of Teachers to International Cross-cultural Education, or LATTICE, a partnership that allows mid-Michigan teachers to collaborate with international students in the MSU College of Education.The organization is selling baskets made by women in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, and using the proceeds to send the artists’ children to school.“Public schools are not free in South Africa,” McClintock explained.
MSU
Telecommunication class creates Virtual Commerce Mall on Internet
While new technology is making a world of virtual businesses available on the Internet, some MSU students have been learning more about it through a simulation of their own.Charles Steinfield’s Telecommunication 891, Advanced Electronic Commerce, has constructed the Virtual Commerce Mall - a Web site with nine virtual stores created by students.Steinfield, a professor of telecommunication, said it’s important students understand how business and technology combine.“Part of the problem that we’ve had with all the dot com failures is a whole lot of people started creating Web businesses without really knowing enough about what makes a good business,” he said.
MSU
Panda habitat examined
Some MSU wildlife experts are looking to have an impact on the protection of giant pandas and endangered species around the world. Jianguo Liu, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife, is the lead author of the paper “Ecological Degradation in Protected Areas: The Case of Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas,” which was published April 6 in Science magazine. “I, like many people, love pandas and I wanted to do something to help save them,” Liu said.
MSU
Holocaust commemoration honors victims and survivors
In commemoration of the Holocaust and the death of millions of Jewish people, members of the MSU community will gather at 8 p.m.
MSU
Schools grade policy may change
A failing grade can make many students wish they had never taken a course. For students at the University of Alabama, this dream has been a reality through its academic forgiveness policy - a chance for students to drop up to three completed classes from their grade-point averages. Thinking of transferring?
MSU
Students break down ego barriers at seminar
Bill Lansing told a crowd of 120 high school students attending a leadership seminar Thursday at the Union to accept one another - in all circumstances.“Look on the optimistic side,” said Lansing, a sophomore at Lansing Eastern High School, 220 N.
MSU
James Madison students present professor with award
When James Madison College Professor Michael Schechter attended the Honors College Awards Convocation last spring, he said it struck a chord in him.“I saw how impressive and wonderful it was for the person who was getting the award,” Schechter said.
MSU
Researchers seek new methods of identification
MSU computer scientists are looking to create technology that works for you - and only you.Anil Jain, a professor of computer science and engineering, has been studying various methods of personal identification for the past 10 years.“One of the areas I have been involved in is how to identify individuals based on physiological characteristics,” Jain said.
MSU
Events educate U about STDs
While Olin Health Center educators say people should be conscious every day about sexually transmitted diseases and the dangers surrounding them, the health center will be sponsoring events throughout April for Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month.“Every day is awareness day for us,” Olin Health Educator Dennis Martell said.
MSU
Bug expo allows area students to discover beauty of insects
MSU’s Department of Entomology has been taking time to share its knowledge about little creatures with little people.Elementary students from Lansing and East Lansing school districts made a trip to campus Wednesday for the second annual insect expo at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education.The event united students who participated in this year’s “Get Bugged” Mentor Program - which pairs entomology graduate students with local classrooms on a weekly basis to share insect-related projects.“It’s a way to showcase MSU primarily, and secondly, a way to interest people in insects and science,” said Barb Stinnett, outreach coordinator for the Department of Entomology.
MSU
ASMSUs new leader to build on foundation
For 90 minutes, Matt Clayson was in a pressure cooker.The pressure cooker was the ASMSU representative office, where Clayson remained with fellow ASMSU Academic Assembly chairperson candidate Steve Lovelace on Tuesday, awaiting the assembly’s final decision on its new leader.
MSU
Music therapy recital showcases ability
MSU students have grown accustomed to campus celebrations, and on April 20 they’ll have another chance to show their support.
MSU
Program teaches hidden significance of everyday objects
A program being offered at 7:30 p.m. today in the Main Library hopes to show the hidden meaning in objects most people take for granted.
MSU
Learning Resources Center offers test-taking workshops
If the term “finals week” makes your blood pressure rise and your palms sweat, officials at the Learning Resources Center think you might want to start preparing now.General business management freshman Nicole Leffler said she’s starting to think about finals already - and for good reason.“I have a lot of finals that are the week before finals week,” she said.Although Leffler said she’s not too worried yet, she knows she has to stay ahead of the game, especially for the cumulative exams.For interested students, the Learning Resources Center will host “Preparing for Finals” workshops for three days next week, to aid students in areas such as time management, stress reduction and test-taking skills. Fred Barton, coordinator of the center, said students from various class levels attend the workshops to refresh their skills prior to exam week.“It doesn’t really matter what kind of test you’re taking - the skills are generic,” Barton said.“The workshops teach you how to make sense of what you read as well as the most effective way to transfer the information in your head onto the test.”The workshops are from noon to 1:30 p.m.