Kids and Education

Wind turbine class winds up for round three

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May 13, 2010

Kalamazoo Valley Community College is looking for a home for the wind turbines created by its first two classes. And for more students who want to learn how the first two classes did it.For the third time, KVCC will offer a course beginning in September that teaches wind turbine design, how to fabricate its components, assemble the power-generating unit and make sure it produces electricity. There are no technical prerequisites. The course that combines lecture and lab work is open to 18 students on a first-come, first serve basis. Students learn machining, drafting and design and welding and fabrication. "The goal is to produce a functioning wind turbine that generates one to three kilowatts of electricity," says Howard Carpenter, instructor and project leader.The students perform the basic functions and tasks in the design, critical machining and welding phases that produce shafts, blades and other components.The more detailed and complex jobs are handled by the instructors and advanced students."It's the process that is important for the students to see and understand," Carpenter says. "The turbine we build will produce electricity, but that's not the main function. Its function is to demonstrate the basic design, manufacturing, welding and electrical skills that are needed in making a turbine."To register for the course, go to the school's website or contact Sue Hills at 269-488-4371Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Howard Carpenter, KVCC

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President Obama coming to Kalamazoo Central commencement

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In The News

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May 6, 2010

Talk about a "wow factor" that puts Kalamazoo front and center in the national spotlight. The White House announced this week that President Barack Obama will be the graduation speaker for Kalamazoo Central High School June 10.Central was declared the national winner of the Race To The Top High School Commencement Challenge. The competition included applications from over 1,000 schools. The list of applicants was narrowed down by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Education to six high school finalists. President Obama personally chose the winner among the final three schools. Read all about it on the White House site:Excerpt:Congratulations Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the winner of the 2010 Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge! We received over 1,000 applications that were narrowed down by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Education to six high school finalists. Between April 26th and April 29th, over 170,000 people weighed in on short videos and essay from the six finalists. President Obama selected the national winner from the three high schools with the highest average ratings.Source: thewhitehouse.gov

The proof the arts make a difference is in the data

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Development News

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May 6, 2010

Battle Creek will host an opportunity for arts organizations to get their act together.At the informational event, representatives of arts organizations will learn about the Michigan Cultural Data Project. It's an online management tool designed to build arts and cultural organizations by giving them the information they need to analyze financial and other related information. The information collected allows organizations to put together 70 different reports that can then be used to bolster the case made in grant applications. The information also can be used to seek out funding partners and to keep board members, potential donors, advocates and policy makers informed.After completing an online form each year, nonprofit groups can generate instant annual reports and trend analysis, benchmark performance against other organizations and use the data as part of applications to participating foundations. Michigan launched its Cultural Data Project May 3, the eighth state to do so nationally.Among those attending the Battle Creek informational session will include Jennifer Hill, Director of Special Projects, ArtServe Michigan; Linda Holderbaum, Executive Director, Art Center of Battle Creek; Katie Nelson, Collections Manager, Kingman Museum and Jennifer Sellers, Special Projects Manager, Kingman Museum. The event is 2 - 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, One Michigan Avenue East, Battle Creek. It is one of 14 events ArtServe is sponsoring across Michigan through October.Sponsors of the program include: ArtServe Michigan, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Battle Creek Community Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Council of Michigan Foundations, Frey Foundation, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, MASCO Corporation Foundation, The Skillman Foundation, and Southfield Community Foundation.The Michigan Cultural Data Project is operated by the Pew Charitable Trusts.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Jennifer Hill, Director of Special Projects, ArtServe Michigan

Green manufacturing is topic for two days of events at WMU

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Innovation News

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May 6, 2010

A broad-based group of Southwest Michigan companies came together May 5-6 on the campus of Western Michigan University to pursue green manufacturing projects and programs. Representatives from about 75 companies gathered May 5 at WMU for presentations from a number of Southwest Michigan firms using green practices.The gathering is part of a green manufacturing initiative funded last fall with a $1 million federal award to WMU.The meeting was called to help build a critical mass of West Michigan companies actively pursuing green manufacturing techniques. Executives from Herman Miller, Subaru, Cummins, Perrigo, Kellogg Co., Cascade Engineering and DENSO are expected to offer presentations.The next day a smaller group launched an industrial consortium to explore how to develop greener manufacturing and supply chain. The day of activities was intended to provide the companies attending with an opportunity to learn and network with university representatives as well as companies that represent a broad cross-section of the manufacturing sector and are committed to green manufacturing. The initiative will provide services to help companies become greener. Status reports and updates of some initial projects undertaken by a new university and industry consortium that focuses on green manufacturing were presented the morning of May 6.The reports reviewed work done by WMU researchers and their industry partners at Armstrong International, Burroughs Corp. and Ottawa Gage. Those attending heard presentations by Randal Hountz, associate director of Purdue University's Technical Assistance Program, and Dr. Michael Sharer, WMU's director of intellectual property management and commercialization.A smaller group of industry leaders in green manufacturing also gathered in the afternoon May 6 for the inaugural meeting of the new consortium.The Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium is an industry and university cooperative research and development body modeled after the National Science Foundations successful Research Centers Program.The group's members are companies engaged with the university to collaborate on green manufacturing projects and programs. The consortium will identify and promote projects of mutual interest throughout the manufacturing enterprise. The efforts they undertake will range from focused projects such as material selection in product design and green manufacturing processes to general activities such as waste reduction or elimination in manufacturing (lean manufacturing), and energy conservation, says Dr. David Meade, associate director of the Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium.The Consortium also is supported by the federal funding received by WMU last fall, but is primarily funded through the dues paid by member organizations. Thursday's afternoon meeting will be the Consortium's first official gathering. The afternoon is a closed business meeting for members only. Writer: Kathy JenningsContact: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

Graduates volunteer to show gratitude for the Promise

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In The News

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April 29, 2010

The first group of students to graduate from college with the benefits of the Kalamazoo Promise are grateful for the opportunity and are repaying the gift by volunteering in the community, the Detroit Free Press reports. The story goes on to say more than 1,500 graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools have shared in $17 million given out by the Promise, which covers all tuition for students who have been in the district since at least ninth grade. Excerpt: The recipients are full of gratitude toward the anonymous donors who gave them a shot at a college education. "I don't even know if I could find the words if they were to stand in front of me," said Torian Johnson, a music major at WMU. "To me, it still feels kind of unreal that I go to school for free." To find out more about what students are planning to do after graduation, read the entire story. Source: Detroit Free Press

WMU students support sustainability with their pocketbooks

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Innovation News

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April 22, 2010

Western Michigan University Students have volunteered to pay for something important to them: a campus culture focused on sustainability.Students led the way, asking for a referendum and then voting to approve a new $8 per-semester fee. The fee will generate an estimated $440,000 annually. It will be used to fund student-designed and student-led sustainability initiatives. It also will support a Sustainability Office, a green jobs program for students and student research.Details and logistics for distributing the funds have not yet been determined. To decide the best way to allocate the funds, a committee made up primarily of students will work with the President John Dunn's University-wide Sustainability Committee and Diane Anderson, the vice president for student affairs. The fee referendum appeared on a ballot in a March 15-19 general election sponsored by the school's elected student government organization, Western Student Association.Of those voting, 60 percent -- 1,002 students -- supported the fee, while 40 percent -- 662 students -- opposed it. Western Michigan University trustees have now gone on to give final approval. Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Cheryl Roland, WMU

Derek Jeter devoted to Kalamazoo

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In The News

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April 22, 2010

A recent USA Today story tells of Derek Jeter's commitment to his former hometown. Almost as famous for his good looks as his skills on the diamond, the New York Yankees captain and celebrity formed Turn 2 Foundation, which promotes positive lifestyles in kids and is run by his family, according to the story. Excerpt: Jeter's foundation focuses its efforts in New York, Tampa ... and Kalamazoo. It maintains a satellite office on the Western Michigan University campus and has awarded more than $3.5 million in grants in the area since its 1996 inception. "I don't care if I'm playing and living somewhere else," Jeter says at the Yankees spring training base in Tampa. "Michigan is where I grew up, and it's where I had my first foundation event. It's where I'll continue to keep the foundation going." Jeter, 35, comes to town about once a year, and his father, Turn 2 vice chairman Charles Jeter, tends to foundation business in town every couple of months. The 10-time All-Star surprised about 250 children when he showed up at the Turn 2 holiday party in December. Later, he and girlfriend Minka Kelly, a 29-year-old actress, dropped by his alma mater, Kalamazoo Central High School, to say hello to former teachers. Jeter said he usually makes a point to drive by his old home, a modest split-level that backs up to the school's athletic fields.For more on Jeter's foundation, including comments from Kalamazooans, read the entire story. Source: USA Today

Art Shop Too brightens downtown Battle Creek

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Development News

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April 22, 2010

Officials with the Art Center of Battle Creek are painting a brighter picture for downtown Battle Creek with the May 3 opening of a satellite gift shop and smaller exhibit area at 80 W. Michigan Avenue.Linda Holderbaum, executive director of the Art Center, says road construction in front of the organization's East Emmett Street location prompted the opening of the downtown shop and exhibit area, known as Art Shop Too.The shop will feature the work of 170 Michigan artists, some of whom live in the Battle Creek area.A reception on May 2 for downtown merchants to welcome their new neighbor will precede the opening to the general public the following day. Store hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.Holderbaum says the move will enable patrons to avoid the road construction and make it easier for them to access the Art Center's shop. The move to the downtown is a temporary one, but there is no set date to leave the new site. A seven-block area of roadway along Emmett from Fremont Street to McKinley Avenue is scheduled to be closed until mid-September for street, sidewalk, water and sewer work.As part of a deal worked out between the Art Center and Battle Creek Unlimited, the arts organization will not pay rent for the previously vacant West Michigan Avenue property and will pay only those utility costs which go above what BCU previoulsy has paid to maintain the storefront.Holderbaum says downtown workers or those with a receipt from a downtown eatery will receive a 10 percent discount on gift shop purchases.For more information about the Art Center of Battle Creek, call (269) 962-9511 or visit their Web site. Writer: Jane ParikhSource: Linda Holderbaum, Art Center of Battle Creek

WMU to teach with planes that will offer commercial airline-like experience

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Development News

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April 22, 2010

Western Michigan University is calling its flight training program the most sophisticated in the collegiate world after entering a long-term partnership that will bring a new fleet of airplanes to student pilots and prepare them like no other school for commercial airline flying. WMU's College of Aviation partnership with Brown Aviation Lease Inc. and Avidyne Corp. of Lincoln, both out of Massachusetts, will have the college sending its current fleet of Cirrus aircraft to be retrofitted with new engines and flight deck avionics systems. Avidyne's Entegra II Release 9 flight deck avionics system is "a sophisticated new flight system that will give WMU flight students experience that is easily transferable to commercial aviation," says Cheryl Roland, WMU spokeswoman. For the past five years, WMU has leased a fleet of 26 Cirrus aircraft, Roland says. During the past two, the college has been involved in negotiations to trade the leased planes in for the next generation of Cirrus. The entire retrofit and fleet transition, valued at $8 million, includes the value of the airplanes, new engines and the new avionics. Dave Powell, dean of the WMU College of Aviation, says, "This is a tremendous deal and will allow us to offer our students the most advanced avionic system used in flight training anywhere. We'll continue to offer flight training equipment that keeps us four to five years ahead of every other program -- not just in this country, but in the world."Writer: Kim North ShineSource: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

MBA business center opening celebrated at WMU

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Development News

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April 15, 2010

As business becomes increasingly global Western Michigan wants its students to be prepared.WMU's Haworth College of Business celebrated the opening of the new Master's in Business Administration Program Office and Global Business Center Tuesday, April 13. Members of the University community were there for a ribbon cutting ceremony and to hear remarks from President John M. Dunn.The center, under construction for months, occupies an area in the northeast corner of the large student study lounge on the main floor."Global business is the norm rather than the exception," says Dr. Ajay Samant, interim dean of the Haworth College of Business. "The primary focus of the Global Business Center," Samant continues, "is to facilitate and enhance the internationalization of the curriculum, faculty and students through multiple opportunities, including international internships, study abroad programs, competitions, conferences, partnerships and speaker series."In addition, the suite provides a permanent presence for our MBA program, which has been in existence for more than 50 years," Samant says. "Our graduate students are encouraged to use the space as a meeting place to interact with one another, work on team projects or hold networking events."The goals of the Haworth College of Business include:-- providing an environment supportive of student learning and achievement and faculty scholarship, development and achievement.-- being a strong partner with communities and business.-- advancing diversity and providing a positive work climate for students, staff and faculty.Dr. Zahir Quraeshi, professor of marketing, is director of the Global Business Center, while Dr. Jack Ruhl, acting associate dean for the Haworth College, is program director. Barb Caras-Tomczak is the center's academic advisor.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Valorie Juergens, WMU