Thursday, May 28, 2026

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

News | Msu

MSU

Educators press student government to set healthy example for MSU population

Melanie Thomas
February 13, 2006

Olin Health Center health educators are challenging ASMSU members to improve their diets and get in shape. After approaching Olin about stress relief programs, health educators Dennis Martell and Jonathan Kermiet challenged ASMSU chairperson Andrew Schepers and other student government officials to use the Lifestyle Inventory and Fitness Evaluation: Prescription Program, or LIFE: Rx, an Olin program that assesses a client's lifestyle for an individualized fitness and eating plan. Martell said he wants ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, to lead other students back to the gym. "Half of campus wouldn't be able to pass an aerobic test," said Martell, who is a State News columnist.

MSU

WEB EXTRA: Harvard lecturer discusses Condoleezza Rice's role in politics, history

Vanessa Notman
February 10, 2006

A Harvard University professor and historian explored the role U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played in the United States after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and described her as "detached from the black community" during a lecture Thursday night. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham was the second of four speakers for MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine's sixth-annual lecture series, "Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey." Higginbotham, whose lecture was titled "An Open Letter to Condoleezza Rice," is an author, Harvard professor and renowned historian. "Dear Condoleezza Rice, Miss Secretary of State, you are the most important woman in the United States, some might even say the world," Higginbotham began her lecture at the Kellogg Center. With a calm expression and exquisite posture, Higginbotham explained a conversation she had with students at Harvard about the Civil Rights Movement.

MSU

Turin bound

Kristen Daum
February 10, 2006

Most MSU students can only watch the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin from the comfort of their nearest TV set.

MSU

WEB EXTRA: Banquet gives students taste of world hunger, class differences

Nicholas Richer
February 10, 2006

All some students had to eat for dinner Wednesday night was rice and water from a spot on the floor — while another group of students feasted on a four-course meal right next to them at elegantly set dining tables. These MSU students learned about the disparity between the wealthy and the poor at a hunger banquet put on by the North Campus Black Caucus in the Snyder Hall cafeteria.

MSU

Peace Corps draws MSU grads

Kristen Daum
February 9, 2006

Yvonne Wood traveled to her mother's native Colombia when she was about 5 years old. But it's not her own memories that stayed with her through the years — it was the stories her mother told her about her own childhood. Wood, an environmental studies and applications senior wants to travel back to Latin America by serving in the Peace Corps. "My life is completely different than any of my (Colombian) relatives," she said.

MSU

ASMSU looks into plagiarism site

Kristi Jourdan
February 9, 2006

ASMSU officials are investigating a plagiarism-prevention Web site used by MSU's Lyman Briggs School to determine if the site is academically ethical. ASMSU is MSU's undergraduate student government. Turnitin.com, a prewriting tool designed to catch plagiarism errors in papers, is used by some instructors in the Lyman Briggs School. Robert Murphy, ASMSU's Academic Assembly chairperson, said he learned of the Web site at a conference he attended in December. "It was brought to my attention by Saginaw Valley State University," he said.

MSU

Library in limbo

Nicholas Richer
February 9, 2006

A proposed building move has the Urban and Regional Planning Program concerned about the fate of its in-house library, which harbors more than 35,000 planning reports from around the globe. The Office of Planning and Budgets is discussing a plan to move the four units of the MSU School of Planning, Design and Construction into the Human Ecology Building, said Eric Strauss, director of the school's Urban and Regional Planning Program.

MSU

Cultural connections

Crinkled foreheads and questioning looks adorned the faces of students in MSU's Italian Club as a Scopa tournament developed. A corner of the Multicultural Center in the Union overflowed with chatter as students sought information from others on how to accurately play the Italian card game. "So, can I pick it up?" "Yeah, it's a Scopa, I think." Club president Achille DiNello said the group focuses more on social activities than cultural ones, but he's trying to change that.

MSU

Innovations: Skeletal studies

Kristen Daum
February 8, 2006

Name: Professor Norman Sauer and Assistant Professor Todd Fenton Department: Forensic anthropology Type of research: Identifying human remains Date of research: Sauer has been researching forensic anthropology for about 30 years, and Fenton began when he joined the department in 1998. Basics of the project: "We aid in the investigation of deaths," Fenton said.

MSU

Feedback sought for possible tax increase

Fredricka Paul
February 7, 2006

The Residence Halls Association, or RHA, is seeking public comment about its proposed tax increase at its Wednesday meeting. RHA officials are asking that students voice their opinions on whether the tax increase should be approved at 7:15 p.m.

MSU

WEB EXTRA: Totally Takeout, disturbances among issues discussed at RHA meeting

Fredricka Paul
February 3, 2006

The April 2-3 disturbances and the security system in Emmons Hall were among the topics university officials discussed with members of the Residence Halls Association, or RHA, on Wednesday. Lee June, vice president of Student Affairs and Services, said MSU police are willing to meet jointly with RHA to address any of the members' questions and concerns about possible future disturbances, in efforts to correct and prevent any incidents similar to the ones in 2005. He said in the future, if action needs to be taken, police need to announce their intentions more times and louder on speakers. In the event of future disturbances, "I am sure you as students will do the positive things you did last year," June said.

MSU

New Web site lets viewers rate game-day ads

Kristen Daum
February 2, 2006

For the past nine years, Robert Kolt has hosted a Super Bowl party in his Haslett home. But it's only when the advertisements appear that the TV volume increases and conversations go quiet, with eyes intently focused on the screen. Kolt, an MSU instructor, and about 15 other faculty members in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing gather not to watch the game — but to grade the Super Bowl advertisements, which usually earns them national recognition in the media. "I think we were the first ones to do it, and we continue to do it," Kolt said. "The professors at Michigan State are pretty good, tough critics." But during this Sunday's game, MSU's professors won't be the only ones judging. Now advertising professionals, university professors and students worldwide can rate the advertisements themselves through an interactive Web site called MSU Ad Pulse. Richard Cole, executive vice president and chief administrative officer with the Detroit Medical Center, came up with the idea for the Web site as a way to extend the rating of the advertisements to a broader base of people. "It's just like anything — you don't know exactly what the outcome will be, but many more ideas will keep flowing," he said. Cole takes office at MSU on March 1 as the new chairman for the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing. The site — a project between MSU and Collaboration LLC, a marketing firm based in Pleasant Ridge, Mich.