Pictured are, at left, Miloš Topic, vice president and chief digital
officer, and B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment Development
and Educational Outreach.
Photo Credit:
University Communications
In the News
B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment
Development and Educational Outreach, was one of 40 community members
selected for the Leadership
Grand Rapids Class of 2022. The program is sponsored by the
Grand Rapids Chamber.
Miloš Topic, vice president and chief digital
officer, is a finalist in the "Large Corporate" category for
the Michigan CIO of the Year ORBiE
Awards. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on
October 8.
Kimberly McKee, associate professor of integrative
studies, was a guest and discussed the Netflix series "The
Chair" on the
Academic Aunties podcast.
TRIO program earns grant Grand Valley's TRIO
Educational Talent Search programreceived a five-year, $1.99 million grant from the U.S. Department
of Education.
Sarah Keranen-Lopez, program director,said the grant
allows staff members to expand services to Godwin Heights Middle and
High Schools, Wyoming Junior High School and Grand Rapids Public
Schools' Southwest Community Campus.
Educational Talent Search staff members already provide resources and
services to 719 student participants at these Kent County schools:
Innovation Central, Union, Ottawa Hills, and Wyoming high schools; and
Burton, Westwood and Riverside middle schools.
Keranen-Lopez said services include college application and financial
aid application assistance, career services, academic study skills,
SAT test prep, financial literacy and pre-college activities and
workshops. Staff also assist with re-entry to high school completion
programs and GED and re-entry to undergraduate completion programs.
"These are students who would be first in their families to
attend college and our pipeline program encourages them to graduate
from high school and continue on to, then complete, postsecondary
education," she said.
Retired faculty member dies
Walter Foote, an English professor emeritus who co-founded the Latin
American Studies program, died on August 25, 2021.
Foote joined GVSU in 1968. He co-founded the Latin American Studies
minor in 1993 and was its first coordinator. He also was instrumental
in the founding of the GVSU Writing Center. He retired from GVSU in 1997.
Sketches
Faculty and staff members who have given virtual presentations or had
their research published are detailed below. The campus community can
self-submit
a sketch online for future publication.
Richard Rediske, professor of water resources, was
appointed to the Community Advisory Work Group of the Michigan PFAS
Action Response Team and gave a presentation, "Plankton and Algae
Issues Related to Drinking Water Treatment," at the regional
meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the American Water Works Association.
Al Steinman, director of the Annis Water Resources
Institute, was inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Freshwater
Science at the organization's annual meeting.
John Weber, professor of geology, received a grant
from the American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund for a
project, "Toward Resolving Some Caribbean-South American
Tectonics and Petroleum Systems Problems through Using Detrital Zircon
Geochronology, Raman Spectroscopy, and Clumped Isotope Analysis,"
and was a co-author of an article, "Strain
Partitioning and Interseismic Fault Behavior Along the
Caribbean-South American Transform Plate Boundary,"
published in the journal Tectonics.
Tim Penning, professor of advertising and public
relations, gave a presentation, "The Public Relations of American
Presidents in the Expansion Era," at the International History of
Public Relations Research Conference.
Adrienne Wallace, associate professor of advertising
and public relations, was named assistant editor of digital
communication for The
Journal of Public Relations Education.
Leanne Kang gave a presentation about research and oral histories of former GRPS students, staff and faculty at a community event. The project was funded by the Kutsche Office of Local History.
Motivational speaker Darrell "Coach D" Andrews spoke to hundreds of GEAR UP students; a sociology professor received a Distinguished Scholarly Publication award for his book.