MICHIGAN
Snyder approval rating down since January
Michiganians’ confidence in Gov. Rick Snyder has faded in recent months, according to findings from MSU economists.
FOOTBALL
Pure Michigan expands into Lansing area
The popular Pure Michigan campaign advertisements will come to Spartan Stadium on Sept. 2 for the football season opener, partnering MSU with the state’s tourism efforts.
MSU
MSU Museum creates online registry of Michigan’s stained glass
In 1992, Betty MacDowell was fresh off of a doctoral degree from MSU when the idea struck. She had heard about an effort on the East Coast to archive local stained glass windows, and after completing a dissertation about female stained glass artists in Michigan, she decided to start a similar project on her own.
MSU
Emmons Hall to reopen after extensive construction
As the university moves forward with a master plan for campus living accommodations, a newly revamped and renovated Emmons Hall will open up to students for the first time later this month.
MSU
Surplus store to hold sale
For the past few months, Tom March has helped collect usable school supplies left behind in desks and file cabinets from MSU’s campus.
NEWS
OISS seeks volunteers for Fall Orientation program
The Office for International Students and Scholars, or OISS, is encouraging students to become a part of MSU’s global community.
MSU
Professors partner with marketing firm to increase volunteer awareness
A group of MSU professors has partnered with East Lansing-based marketing company Netvantage to begin Every Child is Yours, a program to increase awareness for volunteer opportunities in Greater Lansing. Every Child Is Yours is targeted toward presenting volunteer opportunities to the millennial generation, or those between the ages of 18-30.
MSU
Professor to study fundraising
An MSU professor plans to study new and improved ways of online fundraising, research that could have implications for the university’s donation and fundraising efforts. Rick Wash, an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, will use a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to explore crowd funding sites — applications that provide researchers or project sponsors with an outlet to receive donations geared specifically to their project. “I look at these sites as an electronic system that matches two sides,” Wash said. Examples of popular crowd funding sites range from dating sites to job-searching outlets, but Wash said the tactic also can be applied to various forms of university and college fundraising. Using computer simulations of different funding websites, Wash plans to develop the best possible approach to crowd funding, a tactic that he eventually hopes to apply to an MSU-themed donation site. On the site, students or people associated with the university could post various projects or ideas, and interested donors could contribute funding. The method even could extend to research projects being conducted at the university. “This is actually giving power to the donor,” said the university’s director of annual giving Kathleen Deneau, when discussing the potential for crowd funding at MSU.
MICHIGAN
Move-in days bring stress to E.L.
For theatre senior Erika Moul, moving into her new apartment has been a disaster. Moul is one of a number of students moving into apartments this week, a trend that will only pick up steam as the month continues. DTN Management Co. had its first move-in date on Monday, and many other apartment complexes are scheduled to open their doors in the coming weeks.
MSU
Cost of health care at MSU decreases
Even as health care costs at institutions across the country climb, university officials said this week that employee benefits have remained stable this year at MSU.
MICHIGAN
Apartment complex changes management without prior notice to residents
An East Lansing-based real estate company will be changing management hands for several of its properties for the upcoming school year.
MSU
Summer study abroad successful despite international turmoil
During the past year, a nonstop series of natural disasters, political uprisings and economic devastation occurred throughout the world.
Dena Elian
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MICHIGAN
East Lansing celebrates National Night Out
East Lansing resident Ava Gonzalez celebrated her fourth birthday Tuesday night with her family, along with members of the East Lansing Police and Fire departments, at the 28th annual National Night Out. “What a great way to celebrate her birthday,” Meaghan Gonzalez, Ava’s mother, said.
MSU
MSU research builds tight relationships in search of Parkinson's cure
Caryl Sortwell didn’t have any first-hand experience with Parkinson’s disease when she began her research, but the relationships she’s made since then have kept her motivated to work toward a cure. Sortwell, an MSU professor in translational science and molecular medicine, is working with the school’s College of Human Medicine, Van Andel Research Institute and the Translational Genomics Research Institute to see if the drug Fasudil could not only deal with the symptoms of Parkinson’s, but treat the progression of the disease as well. The team’s work is being sponsored in-part by a $400,000 grant from the Michael J.
MSU
New engineering major set to take off in fall
The MSU College of Engineering is moving forward with its plans to launch a new environmental engineering major this fall. Students who previously only had the opportunity to take a concentration in the field now will have the chance to earn an undergraduate degree, with very little deviation from the previous specialization’s benchmarks. “The class requirements for the concentration as opposed to the degree are really pretty similar,” said Richard Lyles, a professor and the associate chairman for undergraduate studies in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The university had offered graduate programs in environmental engineering for more than four decades, but new demand from employers for environmental engineers pushed them to move the undergraduate degree program forward. Increased student interest also necessitated the creation of the program. “As the demand for graduates increases, there are employers interested in hiring these people,” said Tom Voice, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who spearheaded the undergraduate degree program’s creation.
MSU
Ramadan begins with new moon
Monday, Muslims around the world exchanged the phrase “Ramadan mubarak,” meaning “blessed Ramadan” in Arabic. The new moon was sighted, which signals the start of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
MSU
Reports show MBA program candidates younger, less experienced
More students are entering MSU’s full-time Masters of Business Administration, or MBA, program with less work experience than in years prior, a trend that could change expectations of employers as younger graduates enter the job market.
MICHIGAN
Epilepsy Unit Localizes Care
Fisheries and wildlife associate professor Shawn Riley lost his son, Aaron Riley, earlier this summer in an accident believed to be caused by epilepsy — a neurological disorder characterized by seizures.
MICHIGAN
Seniors participate in prom night
For Okemos resident Dick Dunlap, the sound of a good time is measured in bees. Just like a beehive teeming with life, more buzzing means more activity, Dunlap said.
MSU
Music camp takes center stage
At 7 p.m. Friday, about 100 yellow-clad performers marched onto the stage at the MSU Community Music School auditorium and launched into a rendition of “Be Our Guest,” from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”