MSU
MSU researchers work to eliminate invasive species
Three years ago Loren Roslund wasn't concerned about heavy rains or high winds affecting his soybean plants.
MSU
Governor honors archaeology project
An archaeological dig to uncover the remains of Saints' Rest, the first MSU dorm — which burned down in 1876 — will receive the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation. "This is not just an honor for this dig," said Jodie O'Gorman, an assistant professor of anthropology who was in charge of the Saints' Rest dig.
MSU
Engineering endurance
The MSU Formula Racing team unveiled its new race car on Monday after more than a year of design, construction and testing. The green and white race car, No.
MSU
Celebrating Sparty
Prancing around MSU sports games, spending quality time with the community or just hanging out at the library, Sparty is everywhere. And the Mascot Hall of Fame may be the next place he'll be hanging out.
MSU
Campus quiets down for summer
Silence filled the kiva, the classrooms and most of the hallways in McDonel Hall on Sunday afternoon. On the eve of the first day of summer classes, a fraction of the number of students who would be on campus August through April were settling into their dorm rooms and preparing for a quiet summer. McDonel and Owen Graduate halls are the only dormitories housing summer semester students for the next couple of months. Business and general management sophomore Jamie Clements is looking forward to the summer silence. "I'm here because it's quieter," he said. Clements is embarking on his first summer at MSU and plans to enjoy being away from home and having fewer students on campus.
MSU
Officials to decide college's name
The new residential college in the arts and humanities already has an acting dean selected and its curriculum approved — but no official name. University officials said the college won't receive a formal name anytime soon, since it won't open for another 16 months, but they are looking at options. "It probably is, at this point, just important to give it some time and spend some time thinking about it because once colleges are named, they don't very often get renamed," said June Youatt, associate provost for undergraduate education and dean of undergraduate studies. Construction begins May 8 on the residential college, which will be housed in Snyder and Phillips halls.
MSU
WEB EXTRA: The State News sits down with MSU's senior diversity advisor for Q&A
This school year saw racially charged events in residence halls and a growing concern about an initiative that could eliminate affirmative action agencies. As it draws to a close, many on campus hope the issues they have highlighted will continue to spark dialogue in the MSU community. Paulette Granberry Russell is one of those people. As the senior advisor to MSU President Lou Anna K.
MSU
WEB EXTRA: MSU advocacy coordinator wins national award
Carmen Lane means a lot of things to many people. When asked to describe Lane, an MSU advocacy coordinator, colleagues described her as "dedicated," "articulate," "committed to social justice" and "a visionary." Traits such as these are what earned Lane widespread recognition by receiving the National Award for Outstanding Response to and Prevention of Sexual Violence from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Enola, Pa., earlier this month. "Carmen's probably the best trainer I've known," said Ann Flescher, associate director for multicultural and clinical services at MSU's Counseling Center, where Lane coaches sexual assault advocates.
MSU
MSU employees' kids come to work
With "passports" in hand and ready to get a view of the real world, children of MSU faculty and staff took over the second floor of the Union on Thursday for the annual Take Your Child to Work Day. Roughly 200 faculty members and their children participated in the event, which introduces children to the workplace, family responsibilities and community involvement, said Jodi Roberto Hancock, education program coordinator for the MSU Women's Resource Center. The national Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day also was Thursday, launched by the Ms. Foundation for Women in 2003. It originally was designed for daughters to explore career options, Roberto Hancock said. "People's values are changing," Roberto Hancock said.
MSU
Innovations: Measuring moods
Name: Assistant Professor Laura Symonds Department: Psychiatry and radiology Title of research project: The Effect of Mood on Pain Perception Date of research: Symonds has been working on this project, which looks at depression and chronic pain, for the past five years, and it is continuing to evolve into new studies. Basics of the project: Symonds is looking at why people who have depression are at risk for developing chronic pain and why people who have chronic pain are at risk for developing depression. The study involves inducing moods and pain stimuli in people and watching how their brains react using a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, machine. Her research team has found that when a sad mood is induced, chronic pain feels more intense than when a happy mood is induced, even if the stimulation is set at the same intensity. "The brain is telling them it hurts more, and what we are trying to figure out is how does the brain do that," Symonds said. As the subject reacts to the pain, the researchers watch how the brain modifies it, Symonds added. "One thing it's leading us toward is a real interest in how people can consciously change how a sensation feels," she said. Social impact of research: The goal of the project is to help people at risk for chronic pain disorder or depression, Symonds said. She also hopes to decrease that risk as a result of her research by understanding how the disorders are connected. "Hopefully we will be able to give people ideas on how to modify pain and depression," she said. Grants and funding: The cost of the project is about $100,000 per year.
MSU
WEB EXTRA: Support group holds brain injury education program
Four days before the start of her freshman year, human biology junior Sarah Schrauben flipped her car seven times, broke her neck and pelvis and suffered a severe brain injury. In recovery, Schrauben was taught how to formulate sentences and she had to re-learn other basic tasks most people do without thinking.
MSU
Teenage genius
While most 18-year-olds are preparing to leave their high schools to start new lives as undergraduates, Taraz Buck will be leaving MSU to begin working on his doctorate. Buck was one of the youngest full-time students to enroll at MSU at age 14.
MSU
Faculty pay could increase 4.7 percent
A recommendation to raise the amount of money available for faculty salaries by 4.7 percent for the 2006-07 school year would help MSU stay competitive with other Big Ten institutions, university officials said. The proposed salary increase was calculated to make up for a smaller increase than other universities last year and overcome anticipated salary hikes at other universities, said Ross Emmett, chairperson of the University Committee on Faculty Affairs, which proposed the salary increase. "The Big Ten essentially represents our competitive pool of similar universities," Emmett said.
MSU
New high-tech labs open on Main Library 4th floor
Two new collaborative technology labs were added to the Main Library on Tuesday that will offer new high-tech equipment to the MSU community. The labs are located in the Digital & Multimedia Center on the fourth floor of the library's west wing, and were converted from existing rooms.
MSU
Professor elected to academy
An MSU John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor received one of the highest honors in science Tuesday when he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Richard Lenski has appointments in MSU's Departments of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Zoology and Crop and Soil Sciences, and received a call Tuesday notifying him of his election to the academy. "It was a huge surprise," Lenski said.
MSU
Online video game will aim to teach Chinese language, culture
Made flash cards of vocabulary words? Check. Read study terms in textbook? Check. Played online video game with friends?
MSU
Governance OKs minors
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
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
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
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.