Marketing tactics, administrative support and low prices have helped MSU's study abroad program travel to the top as the largest in the United States, according to a study. The Institute of International Education reported in the 2000-01 year that MSU had 1,835 students travel to foreign countries as part of academic programs.
The Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at MSU has chosen former State Treasurer and MSU alumnus Douglas Roberts as its interim director. Roberts will replace Carol Weissert when she leaves in August to work as the LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar Chair in Civic Education and Political Science at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Severe weather conditions in the winter and fall are major obstacles preventing Michigan residents from exercising during those seasons, a MSU professor says.Jim Pivarnik, professor of kinesiology and physical medicine and rehabilitation, analyzed a statewide study called the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, or BRFSS, a 1996 survey of more than 5,000 Michigan residents.The survey focused on what Michiganians were doing to maintain their physical fitness.Pivarnik's findings were published in the June issue of the journal Medicine & Sciences in Sports & Exercises."Most people are fair weather exercisers," Pivarnik said.
University Apartment residents looking for summer entertainment don't have to go far. The 2003 apartment summer program schedule has already begun, but several activities kick off June 9.Summer programs include:• Kids World allows children ages 5-12 to dabble in arts and crafts, science experiments and games from 1:30-3 p.m.
A manure composting demonstration is scheduled for July 22-24 as part of the Ag Expo. Farmers and other guests will be able to learn how to compost manure of various sizes and by different methods such as static, windrow and in-vessel.
A 100-pound cylinder of chlorine gas, a substance that destroys the respiratory system if spilled on campus, could spread miles across MSU within hours.Depending on how the wind blows, getting out alive wouldn't be as simple as getting away from the contamination.
Plans for construction additions to the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Engineering Research Complex will be up for debate during the MSU Board of Trustees meeting when the 2003-04 budget and tuition increase will be decided Thursday.The College of Veterinary Medicine plans to add an Oncology Center and Isolation Facility.
Although interest rates have reached historic lows, university officials say MSU students will be seeing greater savings for the next academic year.On July 1, federal student loan interest rates are expected to drop from 4.06 to 3.42 percent.
The Master Gardener demonstration is scheduled for July 22-24 at the Ag Expo.The demonstration will focus on learning how to start and support container gardens, small-scale vegetable gardening and growing plants which fight pests when planted next to each other, also known as companion plants.A tent also will be a part of the demonstration, where guests can ask gardening questions to Master Gardener staff members.The demonstration will run from 9 a.m.
Ingham County Circuit Court will hear the cases of two more MSU students charged for the March 28-30 disturbances.Tony Warren waived his right to a district court preliminary examination Friday in the East Lansing 54-B District Court, 101 Linden St., before Judge Richard Ball.Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Marie Wolfe said Timothy Ricker, also being charged, would be waiving his right to a preliminary examination later this week.Both Warren and Ricker are being charged with unlawful assembly and preparing to burn less than $200 in property.The disturbances followed MSU's men's basketball team March loss in the NCAA tournament.
The 35th annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop will be held from June 8 to July 19 at Van Hoosen Hall. The workshop is sponsored by the College of Arts and Letters. It will host six nationally recognized science fiction and fantasy authors including: • Howard Waldrop • Nalo Hopkinson • Richard Russo • Kelly Link • Scott Edelman • Maureen McHugh • James Kelly Editors from SCI FI and Science Fiction Weekly also will be on hand for the Writers-in-Residence workshop. For more information go to www.msu.edu/~clarion. Stephanie Korneffel
Empty seats in ASMSU's conference room will be a theme at the start of the fall, despite the reinstatement of 10 representatives to MSU's undergraduate student government. The All-University Elections Committee announced May 15 that they rejected the appeal of about 28 other ASMSU candidates after they were disqualified for being endorsed by political organizations in the March election.
You've got new mail. Students, faculty and staff members totaling 26,390 have upgraded to the new MSU e-mail system, mail.msu.edu, since its March launch. But the transition has been bumpy, computer lab officials say.
Kelley Hart watched friends do mock court competitions in the MSU-Detroit College of Law moot court room, but on Tuesday she was the one in front of the judge. Hart and eight other MSU-Detroit College of Law graduates were sworn into the State Bar of Michigan by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Steven Markman. "Usually when I go to the courtroom people are at each others throats," Markman said.
An open forum was recently held at the Owen Graduate Hall lobby to discuss racial hostility after a graduate law student found offensively written remarks in the hallway. The student, who did not want to be identified, said he walked by a bulletin board on the hall's fourth floor when he noticed the comments, which were anti-Semitic and anti-Arab in nature.
The internal vice president for the Residence Halls Association has chosen to leave the position. Chris Harper, former Wilson Hall General Assembly representative, decided to leave MSU.
James Ciszewski has stepped down as president for the Council of Graduate Students. Ciszewski, who resigned for personal reasons, had been reelected as COGS president in April. The position has been filled by mathematics graduate student Kimberly Yake. Yake will serve as COGS president for a year, ending her duties as the council's former treasurer. President commitments include chairing COGS meetings, acting as a student liaison with the MSU Board of Trustees and participating in various academic council committees. The council represents all graduate students in the academic governance system and provides services to students such as copying and loans. Stephanie Korneffel
The Horticulture Gardening Institute has joined forces with the American Horticultural Society to provide an online learning environment for gardening devotees. Since 2002, the institute has matched experts in the field with gardeners through the online experience. The institute is a collaborative effort among MSU Extension's Master Gardener Program, the MSU Gardens, MSU Global Institute and the Department of Horticulture. The new program allows the society to undertake online education opportunities as well as certification. The society is one of the oldest member-based gardening organization in the nation, which offers gardening resources through its self-published magazine The American Gardener, a book program and Web site, www.ahs.org. The first project formed by the collaboration is "The Art and Science of Container Gardening." The project will play host to the society's experts, a checklist of activities, potential resources, a review of the project and a co-branded certification of the project. For more information on the container project visit www.gardeninginstitute.com Stephanie Korneffel
The MSU International Food Laws Certificate Program received the 2003 National Award for Excellence in College and University Distance Education. The award comes from the American Distance Education Consortium, a collaboration of state and land-grant institutions offering educational programs through the Internet. The MSU Institute for Food Laws and Regulations was the first worldwide program to provide international food laws through a Web site.
Pamela Beemer will become the new assistant vice president for human resources in MSU's Office of Human Resources.Beemer has worked as MSU's director of benefits since 1999 after serving a 20-year tenure in other areas of human resources.Beemer earned her bachelor's degree in employment relations and psychology and her master's degree in labor relations and human resources from MSUShe gained valuable human resource experience while working for Oakland University in Rochester, in the private sector and at Lansing's Sparrow Hospital as director of compensation and benefits.Beemer will be in charge of supervising development, implementation and administration of various human resource initiatives on campus, as well as advise on human resource strategy with the offices of the president, vice president for finance and operations and the provost.She replaces Keith Groty who rejoined the faculty in the School of Labor and Industrial Relations after serving 30 years in the position.