This year will be the second year the CMS Jazz Camp returned to MSU, with day and night programs available to high schoolers throughout Michigan. The camp is being held during the week, with an ending concert Friday from camp attendees. The camp features a number of programs for people who are interested in expanding their skills in playing jazz instruments.
Hosting international scholars through the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is a crucial way East Lansing and MSU further their global reach, city officials said. The program, organized through the U.S. Department of State, is run through 18 U.S. universities and brings in about 200 Fellows each year for study and professional experiences across the country. The program has more than 4,000 alumni in 157 countries across the globe — including 78 Fellows from 53 countries to MSU.
Although Michigan residents feel more financially secure, their trust in government officials is plummeting, according to a State of the State Survey recently published by an MSU professor. The quarterly telephone survey is conducted by MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, or IPPSR, through the College of Social Science.
Taking advantage of retirement incentives offered by amendments to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System, or MPSERS, 17,063 school employees across 95 percent of school districts filed to retire before the June 11 deadline, according to a press release Friday from Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office.
Children circled through numerous stations to examine fossils of fish, bugs and several other organisms and learn about their significance on the first day of a fossil camp hosted by the MSU Museum. The annual Fossil Camp at the MSU Museum began Monday with a class of 12 students.
When MSU alumna Michelle Adams was a senior at MSU, she took a course about sustainability in the production of apparel and textiles. The class showed Adams she could combine her passion for sustainability with design, and it inspired her to start her own textile company, Rubie Green, in 2007.
According to Gunn, soccer fans are all unemployed, ignorant, drunken slugs who don’t care about global warming, the troubles in Darfur or Joran van der Sloot (I wonder where Gunn got his data on this). His opinions are based on soccer fans he saw getting on a train in Europe. Judging from this article, Mr. Gunn has never been to a professional soccer game.
I enjoy going to games each fall, as well as to the occasional basketball or hockey game, but I’m really disappointed that MSU Concessions does not offer veggie burgers and veggie dogs for vegetarians and vegans at most of the sporting events.
An MSU professor has released a new State of the State Survey that shows Michigan residents are showing signs of increased optimism with the state’s economy, while at the same time losing faith in their political leaders.
As a special part of MSU’s land grant university atmosphere, it seems like everything should be coming up roses for the MSU Extension and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, or MAES. The opposite, unfortunately, is true. Both programs receive a large portion of their funding through ever-shrinking state appropriations. On top of that, MSU’s Board of Trustees reduced Extension’s budget by $1.6 million and the MAES budget by $400,000 at its June 18 meeting. Those numbers might not seem like much to students because the nature of Extension and MAES involves a great deal of work in the community.
For some of the early entries, such as No. 1 pick John Wall, leaving school for the NBA was an easy decision. However, not every player who left school early was happy with his decision on draft night.
More than 40 people went to the Harris Nature Center’s Howl at the Moon monthly night walk at 9 p.m. Friday. The walk was about 2.8 miles through the trails behind the center.
Max’s Race, a 5K run/walk to raise money for Cure Kids Cancer and the Maxwell C. Matthews Foundation, was held Saturday at MSU to celebrate its sixth year of fundraising to benefit children’s cancer research. Although Max did not have cancer, the family thought raising money for children’s cancer research was the best way to make people aware of the illnesses to which children are subjected.
To inform citizens about the importance of knowing one’s HIV status, the Michigan Department of Community Health, or MDCH, recognized Sunday’s National HIV Testing Day. Across Michigan, there are more than 18,000 people diagnosed with HIV. About 4,000 of that number are unaware they have the virus and could spread the disease without understanding the complications.
Barbara Conley, an MSU cancer specialist, was selected to be the new associate director of the Cancer Diagnosis Program at the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, in Maryland. Conley will leave in mid-August after serving about five years as the chief of MSU’s Division of Hematology and Oncology, a position that enabled her to oversee projects at MSU, such as the development of the Clinical Cancer Research Center and the MSU Breslin Cancer Center.
Lansing resident Lori James gave her 9-year-old son, Daniel, his first $10 to spend but said he could only have it if he spent it wisely. Walking around the booths, activities and attractions Saturday afternoon at the Delta Rocks! Family Festival, at Sharp Park, 1401 Elmwood Road, in Lansing, Daniel James did a scan of everything before he chose what to buy. The annual festival was held Saturday afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. and showcased dozens of free, family-friendly activities, including a petting zoo, games, face painting, a business expo, concessions and pony rides.
In observance of the Fourth of July holiday, the MSU Museum will be closed July 3 through July 5. The museum will resume operation July 6, with regular hours from 9 a.m.
The Tri-County Bicycle Association’s 30th annual Women on Wheels bicycle tour will be held 7 a.m. July 24 at Mason High School, 1001 S. Barnes St., in Mason. The organization expects more than 500 women, men and children to ride country roads southeast of the Lansing area.
MSU Extension will begin a mass reorganization Thursday that will aim to serve Michigan residents regionally instead of county by county. The cost-cutting maneuver comes after the MSU Board of Trustees approved the university’s budget July 18, and along with it a $1.6 million reduction to Extension funding. The program also relies on state appropriations, although that amount has diminished incrementally throughout the past several years.
In a confirmation hearing beginning Monday, Supreme Court nominee and U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be questioned before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which experts believe will bring up issues relevant to the senators’ reelections and Kagan’s judicial inexperience.