Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Alumni News University Archives 2017 Eastern Magazine, Fall 2017 Eastern Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/alumni_news Recommended Citation Eastern Michigan University, "Eastern Magazine, Fall 2017" (2017). Alumni News. 258. http://commons.emich.edu/alumni_news/258 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni News by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. w z N <( C, <( l: EASTERN tv11CHIGAN UNIVERSITY I FALL 2017 AROUND CAMPUS EASTERN MAGAZINE FALL 2017 VOL. 14 I ISSUE 2 EDITOR Darcy Gifford ART DIRECTOR Sue Shine Eastern magazine (ISSN 2150-4679) is published twice a year by the Division of Communications at Eastern Michigan University, 1215 N. Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti, Ml 48197-2351. All rights reserved. The views presented ore not necessarily those of the editor or the official policies of the University. CONTAC T THE EDITOR: 15 Welch Holl Ypsilanti, Ml 48197 734.487.5375 [email protected] ADDRESS CHANGES: 234 McKenny Hall Ypsilanti, Ml 48197 734.487.0250 [email protected] ALUMNI AS SOCIATION: PRESIDENT Matt Mortier(BS09 , MA12) PRESIDENT ELECT Nlklaus Schlllack (BBA98) PAST PRESIDENT vacant SECRETARY Jenita Moore (BS93) TRE ASURER vacant PARLIAMENTARIAN Ruth Halsey (BSOl, MBA12) DIRECTORS Tom Borg (BS79, MA09) Linda Edwards-Brown (MLS86, MSW95) Thomas Charoneau, Jr. (BBA76) Sarah Fall (BS07, MAlO) Mary Jane Fallott (BS80, MA86) John Godre (BS67) Michael Gomez (BBA82) Alex Landen (BS13, MA15) Lucas Langdon (BS03) Tina Lonski (BA64) Kevin McKay (BS91) Desmond Miller (BS15) EMU students took in Nino Monea (BS14) the Aug. 21 solar eclipse Paul Nucci (BS94) Jacqueline Page (BS95) outside of Welch Hall, Gabriela Salagean (BS15) thanks to special eclipse Ebony Walla (BSW14) glasses distributed by Allen Williama (BS04) President Jim Smith. Claudia Young (MBA02) PHOTO BY COURTNEY CARROLL EMERITUS DIRECTORS William Malcolm (BS76) Vicki Reaume (BS91, MA96) W. Fred Roberta (BAS6, MA68) Harold (Bud) Schlmmelpfenneg (BS68) 4 I FALL 2017 I EASTERN MAGAZINE FEATURES INSIDE 6 From the President 8 10 Things You Didn't Know WRITING HER OWN 10 Meet AD Scott Wetherbee WAY 12 Professor Judy Davis pens book By Chris Azzopardi 13 Professor Andrew Cornett and swim research EMU alumna Ayanna 32 Bill Shepard will guide EMU through its next Floyd Davis proclaimed fundraising campaign herself a Hollywood writer. 33 Kenyatta Bynoe is one of the most powerful Then she became one. women in sports 34 Patrecia Ross leads Wounded Warrior Quilt 20 Project META'S GIFT 37 Late bloomer Jim Sargent now a prolific writer 38 Jodi McMoster creates innovative woy to teach By Jeff So moray long vowels How 45 acres of land in 40 Best and Brightest: EMU's Alumni Award northern California have Winners helped hundreds of EMU biology students. 4,. In Memoriam 46 From the Archives EASTERN MAGAZINE I FALL 2017 I 5 FROM THE PRESIDENT Welcome to a New Academic Year Highlights include large incoming class, strong focus on international initiatives The start of fallclasses on a university campus is always exciting. Many alumni participated in move-in activities. fust as important as your strength in carrying boxes, small refrigerators and TVs, was the warmth of the smiles and the kind words that I witnessed. Thank you for making our new community members feel welcome. As we begin the new academic year, there are many exciting items to share as we continue to enhance our great university: First-year student enrollment We are proud to report that this fall Eastern Michigan University has enrolled the third largest entering first-year class President Jim Smith's recent visit to China included a session at Shenyang Institute of in our 168-year history. The entering class Technology, where he observed an English class co-taught by an English native speaker in the classroom and a Chinese teacher who was in the U.S. and was teaching via online continues our momentum of recent years, learning technology. in which the University has grown in first­ year enrollment in the face of declining Honors College growth to China to build further ties with Chinese demographic trends for high school The Honors College, which accepts universities. All told, Eastern enrolls nearly seniors in the state of Michigan. Since fall students entering with typically at least a 1,000 international students from more than 20 l l, Eastern's entering class has grown by 25 ACT score and 3.5 high school GPA, 80 countries. Students from India, China 31 percent. continues to grow. Enrollment in the Honors and Saudi Arabia repre ent more than half The entering first-yearclass also College enrollment is nearly double fromsix of our internationalpopulation. displays solid academic preparation years ago. To meet this continui11g global with higher ACT scores and high school opportunity, Eastern will work to hire Increasing diversity GPAs, reflectsan increase in the number more faculty with a global focus, expand The entering class also underscores the of international students and spotlights collaborative research with universities continuing level of diversity at Eastern. the strong level of diversity to be found around the world, and identify more The number of newly enrolled African on Eastern's campus, with 30 percent of multinational partnerships to engage American, Hispanic, ative American and our new first-year students representing students and faculty. At the same time, we Asian American first-yearstudents, totaling diverse communities. are committed to expanding tudy abroad more than 800, makes up 30 percent of the opportunities for current students to create Higher GPAs and ACT scores entering first-year class. impactful internationalawareness that In addition to near record numbers, will benefit their futurecareer beyond More international and strong this year's incoming first-yearclass is well graduation. regional growth prepared academically, representing the As always, I welcome your comments highest average GPAs and ACT scores in International student enrollment in and suggestions at office.of.the.president@ recent history. The average GPA of the the entering freshman class showed a emich.edu. new incoming students is 3.29, an increase significant increase as well, rising more from 3.12 in 2011. Average ACT scores than 40 percent. The increase is attributed have increased to 22.4 from 21.06 six years to a variety of factors,including our ago. The largest number of new first-year #YouAreWelcomeHere can1paign, directed students fallinto the 3.5 to 4.0 high school at supporting international students, and a GPA category, increasing more than 7 strategic effortto recruit more international fames M. Smith, PhD percent fromlast year. students as evidenced by my trip last spring President, Eastern Michigan University 6 I FALL 2017 I EASTERN MAGAZINE CAMPUS NEWS Eastern's Edison Connection Telescope used by scientists during 1878 solar eclipse came from Michigan State Normal School If you watched the recent solar eclipse, estimate the temperature of remote you likely used special solar filterglasses. objects. Edison hoped to measure But to see this rare astronomical event the heat of the sun's corona as the as it passed over North America in 1878, photosphere was blocked by the moon. you needed some serious equipment. Edison's instrumc,nt failed,as it was Eastern'sSherzer Observatory has an too sensitive to handle the extreme example of one of these rare instruments, temperature changes during the made even more special by the man who eclipse. Thescientists also didn't find used it. Vulcan, since it doesn't exist. But the In the late 19th century, astronomers group, including Edison, did view the were puzzled by the strange orbit of eclipse through a brass Alvan Clark the planet Mercury. Today, we know it & Sons refractor tele cope borrowed odd oblong path is due to the curvature from Eastern (then called Michigan of gravity. But back then, scientists State ormal School). theorized that an undiscovered planet The telescope has remained with called Vulcan caused the aberration. Eastern as a proud po session in the To test the theory, a group of observatory officessince its return. prominent scientist traveled to Luckily, it survived a fireat the original Rawlins, Wyoming Territory, to see ob ervatory in Sherzer Hall in 1989. EMU's 4-inch Alvan Clark refractor telescope if they could spot Vulcan during a Alvan Clark instruments remain was a gift from the citizens of Ypsilanti. total solar eclipse. Thomas Edison, highly sought after by collectors and who had become nationally famous amateur astronomers. But there are for his recently patented phonograph, few with the famous provenance of accompanied the group. He wanted to Eastern's example. test his "tasimeter;· a new invention -JeffSamoray that could detect infrared light and EASTERN MAGAZINE I FALL 2017 I 7 CAMPUS NEWS 10 things you didn't know... 1. Stuff that in your six-shooter The Wild West wasn't just about cattle rustlers and gunslingers, says Kathleen Chamberlain, EMU history professor emerita. "Women actually had far more opportunity in the west than they did the east," she says in Sex in the Old West, a recent American Movie Classics documentary. "There was the need to manage a ranch, or to manage a farm. A woman could set up a small business. In fact, women in the west got the vote way before women east of the Mississippi." 3. Food for thought In response to a student survey, Eastern has brought Chick-flt-A to Mc Kenny Hall (one of just a handful of locations in Michigan) and moved Starbucks to a larger location on the first ftoor of the Student Center.