Submitted by: Michael Wright, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
PUBLIC RELATIONS
The following is a compilation of highlights of recent media coverage of Wayne State University.
The Wayne State University Board of Governors voted unanimously to select Allan D. Gilmour, former chief finance officer at Ford Motor Co., as interim president. “Allan is one of those people who comes to us at the right time at the right place,” said WSU Board of Governors chair Richard Bernstein. Gilmour said in his acceptance speech, "I've done research on Wayne State, and one of the things I've learned is that it's a powerhouse research university. Research is the key to turning around this area." His goals are continuing the success of the university’s research initiatives, its community engagement and creating a collaborative culture on campus. Board members Paul Massaron and Debbie Dingell are quoted in the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News articles respectively. Gilmour appeared on WJR’s Paul W. Smith Show Aug. 12 talking about his plans as he takes the leadership role at the university officially on Aug. 30. He also was a guest on WILS- AM’s Terry Conley Show. CFO Magazine ran a feature story on Aug. 12. Numerous media outlets nationwide ran versions of the story.
In an Aug. 15 editorial, Crain’s Detroit Business praises the decision by the Wayne State Board of Governors to appoint Allan Gilmour as the university’s interim president. The business magazine suggests that his experience as a CFO at Ford Motor Co. will translate swiftly as he transitions to his new role. “He has financial chops and the skills to keep WSU's many critical initiatives in motion, including expanding research and medical education and entrepreneurship programs, and partnering with hospital systems nearby to rebuild Detroit's Midtown into a vibrant, walkable district,” according to the editorial.
U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed audience members at Wayne State University as part of a three-day Conversation with the Country tour to the midwest discussing needs of returning troops, their families, and how community leaders can support them. CNN correspondent Barbara Starr conducted an exclusive interview with Mullen at WSU’s Community Arts Auditorium following the Town Hall and Young Person’s Round Table. Other news outlets providing coverage on Aug. 26 and 27 included: United States Department of Defense, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, WWJ-AM and WSMH-TV.
According to a recently released report by the Washington, D.C.-based Education Trust, Wayne State University is rated one of the lower universities in terms of graduation rates of black students. Michigan State University also was ranked among the nation’s lowest for graduation gaps between students of color and whites. According to the Detroit News story that ran on Aug. 23, WSU officials say they are working to retain and graduate more students, tailoring their efforts to Detroit students who tend to be less prepared with more financial needs. Howard Shapiro, associate vice president for student services and undergraduate affairs, comments in the piece. Several media outlets in the region ran the item.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS AGENDA SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
Submitted by: Michael Wright, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
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Wayne State University Law School Dean Robert Ackerman commented in an Aug. 23 Crain’s Detroit Business story about job prospects for law school graduates. Wayne State reports 83.1 percent of its 2009 graduates who responded were employed, compared with 86 percent of the 2008 class in early 2009 and 88.3 percent of its 2007 grads. A sidebar of various data including applications, enrollment, placement and tuition is provided.
Barbara Redman, dean and professor at Wayne State University’s College of Nursing, wrote an Aug. 3 Detroit News op-ed explaining the importance of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its ability to expand nursing's role in primary care.
An Aug. 25 Metro Times article on eco-friendly practices at area universities mentions that Wayne State recently established a new Office of Sustainability. It notes that Wayne State’s Committee on Environmental Initiatives has implemented several successful sustainability programs, such as an e-waste collection that recycled more than 250,000 pounds of unused electronics last year. Some of the university’s most impressive green improvements may be renovations that have incorporated energy conservation measures at three major campus buildings. Carol Miller, chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, comments in the story.
Nearly 400,000 people at 11,000 Michigan companies are employed in high-tech, advanced-manufacturing jobs, demonstrating that manufacturing is alive in Michigan, according to a report released by the state's three largest universities. This work is supported by Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Michigan State University, which collaborate to accelerate economic development through the University Research Corridor, which commissioned the report. The Detroit News, Crain’s Detroit Business, Business Week, Lansing State Journal, Boston Globe, San Francisco Examiner, CanadianBusiness.com, Xconomy.com, MLive.com, WJBK-TV, WDIV-TV, WWJ-AM, WUOM-FM, WLNS-TV, WKAR-FM and WJRT-TV covered the announcement in their July 21 issues.
A July 19 Detroit News feature story profiles Wayne State University’s Math Corps summer camp. The six-week camp teaches mathematics and life skills to more than 400 Detroit Public Schools students each summer. Wayne State professors Steve Kahn and Leonard Boehm comment.
Engineering professor Carol Miller was interviewed on WJR’s July 27 installment of “Environmentally Sound,” where she discussed the role that WSU and other universities can play in pacing society toward greener goals.
Wayne State’s Institute for the Study of the African American Child (ISAAC) addressed the academic achievement gap affecting African-Americans at a conference July 17. The initiative, titled "The Situation, The Solution, The Strategy," aims at reversing patterns of failure among African American children. WDET-FM featured ISAAC director and Wayne State University professor Janice Hale during The Craig Fahle Show. WDIV-TV and WWJ-AM provided pre-event spots.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS AGENDA SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 Submitted by: Michael Wright, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
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Four researchers from Detroit’s Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University will receive a total of $1.2 million from Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help advance research to better detect, prevent and eliminate breast cancer. Great Lakes IT Report ran the July 27 story.
Wayne State University police will be patrolling campus on two new Segway personal transporters, according to an extensive feature that aired Aug. 26 on WXYZ-TV. Wayne State police officer David Karoly demonstrates the eco-friendly vehicle and Chief Tony Holt comments.
WWJ-AM ran a July 15 segment noting that Margaret L. Campbell, assistant professor of nursing in Wayne State’s College of Nursing, received $73,784 from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation to determine the benefit of routine oxygen administration to terminally ill patients who are near death.
A July 13 Detroit News story on Detroit’s food culture and burgeoning local-food movement highlights Wayne State’s SEED Wayne program, whose mission is to build "sustainable food systems" in the city. The article mentions that SEED Wayne’s Wednesday Farmers Market generated nearly $250,000 in sales and averaged 1,000 visitors a week last year. SEED Wayne Director and urban planning professor Kami Pothukuchi comments, and a photo from the market accompanies the story.
A local company hopes to use medical technology developed by cardiologists at Wayne State to help clean up the areas affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to July 11 stories running in the Detroit News, Examiner.com and WWJ- AM, using technology to get oxygen into the bloodstream, the company is looking to do the same thing to the Gulf waters—replace the oxygen used by the oil, allowing bacteria to consume the oil. The Examiner article also contains an embedded Wayne State University Division of Research YouTube video.
WWJ co-anchor Greg Bowman featured a July 20 “Making the Grade” segment on Wayne State’s “Get Schooled” program. Monita Mungo, community engagement@wayne manager at the Irvin D. Reid Honors College, and director of the program designed for at-risk 8th to 12th-grade students, is interviewed.
Metromode Media ran an Aug. 26 feature story about Wayne State University Press establishing itself as a leader in publishing academic books, and more recently, its overtures in discovering local talent and topics beyond the scholarly realm. "There is a community of not only people who are artists, writers, and musicians, but a community of people who value all of that," said Jane Hoehner, director of the WSU Press.
The Aug. 12 edition of Arab American News included a story about Wayne State’s Journalism Institute for Media Diversity (JIM), a program that started in 1984 in response to the need for diversity in newsrooms and other media outlets. Ben Burns, director of journalism at WSU and former executive editor of the Detroit News, and current JIM director Alicia Nails are quoted.
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Dr. John Flack, chair of Internal Medicine at Wayne State’s School of Medicine, is the study investigator for a research project designed to determine whether aspirin can help older adults avoid physical and mental disabilities and live longer, healthier lives. The study, Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly, or ASPREE, is billed as the largest study of its kind conducted in partnership with other U.S. researchers and Monash University in Australia, where the initial pilot study was developed. WJBK-TV and WWJ-AM ran stories on July 21; and the Windsor Star on July 15.
Mitechnews.com and Great Lakes IT Report ran Aug. 24 articles about Wayne State’s new certificate in Engineering Entrepreneurship. Beginning this fall, undergraduate students at Wayne State University will have the opportunity to study ventures engineering and earn a certificate in Engineering Entrepreneurship. Nancy Philippart, executive-in-residence of the College of Engineering's Engineering Ventures Program, is quoted. WWJ-AM aired a story on Aug. 26.
Wayne State University student and Iraq war veteran Robert Guttersohn describes the difficult transition many soldiers experience when moving from the battlefield to the classroom. The article, which ran on Aug. 25 in Metro Times, refers to Wayne State’s Student Veterans of America (SVA) organization and the university’s many efforts to help ease the transition. Wayne State SVA vice president Jason Wagner comments in the story.
Cervical length is the most powerful predictor of spontaneous preterm delivery of singletons or twins, according to a meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health headquartered at Wayne State, and his colleagues. Reuters reported this story on July 27.
AnnArbor.com reported on Aug. 25 that shooting has wrapped on "Appleville," a film produced entirely by students from Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. It was a project of the newly created Michigan Creative Film Alliance, a collaborative effort by the three universities to produce talent for the state's film industry.
Nancy T. Artinian, associate dean for research and director of the Center for Health Research at Wayne State University’s College of Nursing, discusses the long term benefits of lifestyle changes for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Her comments ran July 12 on WWJ-AM, WebMD, SunHerald.com and YahooNews.com.
Professor Cynthia Bir appeared as a studio guest during an Aug. 1 WJR-AM “Champions of Care” segment with host Lloyd Jackson. She discussed the latest happenings within the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS AGENDA SEPTEMBER 29, 2010