@MSU Newsletter | January 2012 Home » @MSU Newsletter
Around Circle Drive
Washington, DC Family Tour
Take this opportunity to visit our nation’s capital with your family.
Give your family a great introduction to our nation’s capital on this insightful three-night tour to Washington, DC, June, 28-July, 01. The package includes a tour of the International Spy Museum with a presentation by MSU alumnus and former CIA spy Burton Gerber, a tour of the U.S. Capitol with MSU alumnus and current Sergeant of Arms for the House of Representatives Bill Livingood and a tour of the Pentagon. It also includes breakfast daily, free time to participate in a two-day unlimited hop-on, hop-off double-decker bus tour, MSU alumni welcome reception and group dinner. With so much to see and do and with history and American culture at its finest, Washington, D.C. is a memorable must-visit destination for the young at heart. Click here for more information.
MSU Senior is Marshall Scholar
She is the 13th MSU student to win the coveted graduate study award.
MSU senior Rebecca Farnum of Mt. Pleasant has been named a Marshall Scholar for 2012, one of only two students from Michigan to receive the coveted award. She is MSU’s 13th Marshall Scholar. A member of both James Madison College and Honors College, Farnum is currently studying how people, organizations and governments can improve food and water shortages in the Middle East and North Africa. “Feeding people can feed peace,” says Farnum, who majors in interdisciplinary humanities in the College of Arts and Letters; international relations in James Madison College; and anthropology, and global and area studies in the College of Social Science. She intends to pursue a master’s degree in water policy and international development at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. The following year, she will study nature, society and environmental policy at the University of Oxford in Oxford.
$7 Million Gift for Geologic Sciences
Anonymous gift will help generate momentum for the up and coming department.
A $7 million gift will help expand MSU's Dept. of Geological Sciences, fostering better understanding of the Earth's systems and resources. The gift, from a graduate who wishes to remain anonymous, will mainly go toward new professorships and graduate research fellowships as the department gathers momentum. "Endowed professorships and endowed graduate fellowships are critical building blocks for excellence in every academic area," MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon says. "Comprehending the forces that shape our world, specifically water and energy resources, requires research leaders who also can carry that knowledge into the classroom.” The search for three early career faculty members for the new endowed professorships will likely begin in 2012. A portion of the gift leverages a scholarship matching fund provided by an earlier anonymous donor and will endow graduate fellowship support for attracting the best and brightest graduate students. The Dept. of Geological Sciences is in the College of Natural Science, the academic home to 4,900 undergraduate and nearly 1,000 graduate students in physical, mathematical and biological sciences.
Revamping Campus Address System
Renaming locations will help enhance emergency responses based on GPS.
To improve emergency response and enhance GPS capabilities, MSU is revamping the campus addressing system by switching to locatable street addresses instead of building names and numbers. The change will affect all buildings on MSU's East Lansing campus, including residence halls, academic halls, administrative buildings, research facilities and athletic venues. While buildings will retain their official names and internal numbers, a street address will be added and used for the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, UPS and other shipping companies. Addresses are being converted building-by-building beginning this month. "The primary reason for this change is public safety," says Inspector Penny Fischer of the MSU Police Department. "With the combining and sharing of public safety resources, specifically the county's 9-1-1 dispatch system, emergency first responders may not always be familiar with the campus layout or common building names.” For more information, visit www.campusaddresses.msu.edu.
Spartans on the Move
Defending the Defenseless
Alumna explains how one can protect and advocate for one’s pets.
Allie Phillips, ’89, a former prosecuting attorney and longtime advocate of pets, has written a thorough book on the myriad ways one can help companion animals. In Defending the Defenseless: A Guide to Protecting and Advocating for Pets (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2011), Phillips provides a comprehensive resource in the growing crusade of pet advocates, with practical tips on how to get involved—donating, volunteering, opposing animal experimentation, raising children to protect animals, transporting shelter animals, preventing cruelty and neglect, animal emergency preparedness and lobbying for animals. Beatrice Friedlander of the Animals and Society Institute calls the book “both a roadmap and a call to action.” Allie has served as vice president of public policy for the American Humane Association and as director of the National Center for Prosecution of Animal Abuse. Click here for more information.
Mrs. Michigan United States
Spartan uses her platform to advocate for autism and juvenile diabetes research.
Since she was named Mrs. Michigan United States 2011 in May, Annette Kelly, '99, has become the spokesperson for Autism Speaks—a group of parents who have children with autism—and also as an advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Annette, 35, lives in Brighton with her husband Daniel Kelly and her two sons, Jack and William. “This year I not only want to change lives, I want to change laws,” says Kelly, who has met with legislators in Michigan about autism insurance reform and who speaks across the nation about “restoring hope for parents who have children with special needs.” Annette is using her title as an opportunity. “This position is more than a title,” she says. “It is an opportunity to provide a year of service to our great state as a public advocate.”
Grant for Service Learning
MSU alumnus heads information systems at University of Purdue Calumet.
Professor Kuan-Chou Chen, PhD '95, director of Purdue Calumet’s Department of Information Systems, has received a $3,000 grant from the Indiana Campus Compact. The grant supports a project that focuses on re-designing and implementing the service learning component of project management classes. “This project will have impact through multiple iterations of the process, which, besides assisting student learning, helps faculty in implementing project-based service learning and creates value for the community,” Chen says. The grant source is intended to support reciprocal partnerships between institutions of higher education and the community. Chen, a resident of Munster, IN, has been a faculty member at Purdue Calumet since 2002. He received his undergraduate and MBA from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.
Sports News
Earl Morrall is Honored
First Pitch Dinner will feature MSU’s former baseball (and gridiron) star.
The MSU baseball program will honor Earl Morrall as its Alumnus of the Year at the seventh annual First Pitch Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, at the Kellogg Center. Morrall was an infielder on MSU’s 1954 Big Ten Championship team. He was also a quarterback on MSU’s 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowl teams. Also to be honored at First Pitch is former Spartan All-American and current Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, recently named the 2011 National League Manager of the Year after helping guide the Diamondbacks to the NL West title. In addition, MSU Head Coach Jake Boss, the 2011 Big Ten Coach of the Year, will introduce the defending Big Ten Champions. Player autographs and a silent auction will start at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the First Pitch Dinner are $20 per person for children and students, $30 for Spartan baseball alumni, and $50 each for adults. For more information, call (517) 353-0816.
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