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Welcome to the first issue of Alumni News from your college, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). Founded in 2004, CLAS was born when the Divisions of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Science and Mathematics were merged into a dynamic and diverse College which represents the very heart of the liberal arts education at Grand Valley State University. Read on for nuggets of Alumni, Student and Faculty news as well as a feature on our move to new premises.
Alumni News
Fall 2007 saw the first meeting of the Alumni Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Science. Dean Frederick J. Antczak invited 15 prominent and enthusiastic alumni to provide a real world perspective on everything from internships and co-ops to events, publicity and development. See the Board here.
President George W. Bush has nominated Grand Valley State University alumnus John Beyrle (French major) to become the next U.S. Ambassador to Russia. read more
Argentines of African descent played an important role in Argentina’s history, but today they account for just a few thousand of Argentina’s 40 million population. Grand Valley State University graduate and current Florida International University doctoral student Erika Denise Edwards, the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright scholarship, will spend a year in Argentina studying its history. read more
It's hard to know how to file this news item--under alumni or faculty! Shannon Biros graduated from GVSU in 2001 (BA Chemistry, BS Biomedical Sciences). While at GVSU she was a summer NSF/REU research student at Columbia University and was selected as the Outstanding Chemistry Major for her graduating class. She went on the get her PhD from the Scripps Research Institute (2006) and did post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley (2006-2007). Her passion for teaching and for GVSU brought her back to her alma mater first to take a position as a visiting professor and the Chemistry Department is happy to announce that she is now a tenure-track Assistant Professor.
Alumna Jen Haberling has been nominated for Michigan High School Teacher of the Year and is one of 5 state finalists. She is an adjunct professor in the English Department. She also teaches at Hudsonville Middle School. read about Jen in the GR Press
Award-winning independent filmmaker and Grand Valley State University alumnus Dante James will direct and produce Grand Valley’s 2008 Summer Film Project. read more
Get the scoop on our very newest alumni! The more than 1,500 graduating seniors were recently asked about their future plans. Over 100 have responded so far. Results of this survey can be viewed on the CLAS website here.
Student News
A Grand Valley State University trumpet ensemble, under the direction of Associate Professor of Music Richard Stoelzel, won first prize by unanimous vote at this year’s National Trumpet Competition --Trumpet Ensemble Division. The competition was held March 13-16, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. read more
When 20 Grand Valley State University theatre students arrived in Milwaukee for the Region 3 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, they were only another group in a sea of competition. "By the time we left, Grand Valley was a known name in the world of theatre," said student Katrina Niemisto, who directed one of the 10-minute plays. read more
Passion & Innovation sit behind the wheel. Experience & Leadership steer. Stops are not included. Based partly on this 15-word tagline that promotes her talents, and a required 250-word essay, Grand Valley student Karina Moy was selected by the American Advertising Federation as a finalist in the Most Promising Minority Student program. Moy, advertising and public relations major, was among the 50 students nationwide invited at AAF's expense to New York City for the honors luncheon. read more
Bill Ryan, like any musician, would love to receive a letter from his recording label saying that his group’s six-month-old CD is the darling of Pulitzer Prize winning critics, in its unprecedented second printing despite an industry downturn, and has received 75,000 hits for its video on Youtube. But for Ryan, a professor of Music at GVSU, the letter has a special sweetness because Innova Recordings' Director was writing about the work of his students, the New Music Ensemble, who this year performed and recorded a notoriously difficult and seminal work by Steve Reich entitled Music for 18 Musicians. read the article in GV magazine
There were six presentations given by students from GVSU's Chemistry Department at the 18th Annual Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering and Mathematics & the Central States Universities, Incorporated Research conference held November 2-3, 2007. read more
Faculty News
James Goode (History) has been awarded the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize for Negotiating the Past: Archaeology, Nationalism, and Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1919-1941. read more
A Grand Valley State University associate professor of Sociology, Joel Stillerman, has accepted a U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hayes Faculty Research Abroad grant for a research project read more
On Tuesday, April 22 a reporter from Channel 13 news (WZZM) consulted our Annis Water Resources Institute on material floating on Muskegon Lake after the alarm was raised by boat owners. Bopi Biddanda analyzed the material, concluding that it is a natural mat of small organisms one would normally find on the bottom of the lake. read more
On the third Thursday of each month, Shelley Irwin of WGVU radio interviews a member of the CLAS faculty. These interviews are posted on our website. Among the recent interviews are Hermann Kurthen of Sociology (who climbs mountains) and William Levitan of Classics on his recent book and Jodee Hunt of Biology on her Nicaraguan research. hear more
Robert Hollister (Biology) will spend most of this summer with four GVSU students in Arctic Alaska. “I am studying the effects of warming on tundra vegetation to document changes due to climate change help improve forecasts.” He’s promised to return with the whole story and pictures in the Fall.
Want to know what CLAS faculty have been publishing lately? Books, DVDs and CDs are highlighted here.
We're on the Move
Soon after you receive this newsletter, the College Office will relocate from offices in Padnos and Lake Superior Halls into a unified space on the fourth floor in the new addition to Mackinac Hall. You will be able to find us at the same phone number ( ph 616-331-2495).
The space we vacate in Padnos Hall will allow better use of this premium location for labs and science faculty offices. In the vacated offices in Lake Superior Hall, the School of Communications will be able to consolidate and make better use of easy-access ground floor space.
Also moving to the new Mackinac Hall addition at this time are the Philosophy Department (to the third floor), the Movement Science Department (to the second floor), the Modern Languages and Literatures Department (also to the second floor), and the Geography and Planning Department (to the fourth floor).
All of the departments involved welcome alumni visits.
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Alumni News, Spring 2008
www.gvsu.edu/clas
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