Volume 7 - Issue 1 - Home Page

Featured MSU Engaged Scholars

Engaging the Saginaw Bay Community Around Dioxin Contaminant Cleanup

Engaging the Saginaw Bay Community Around Dioxin Contaminant Cleanup

The Tittabawassee River in Michigan's Saginaw Bay area is a site of significant contamination with a class of environmental pollutants termed dioxin-like compounds. Production practices routinely used to manufacture certain chlorinated compounds during the early and mid-1990s resulted in the unintentional generation of varying levels of dioxin-like compounds that ultimately contaminated the sediment of the 20-mile-long river. This contamination can lead to animal and human exposure to dioxin-like compounds.

"The dioxins associated with the river bottom sediment can be transferred up the food chain as larger organisms consume smaller organisms," Kaminski explained in user-friendly fashion. "For example, micro-organisms are eaten by small fish; small fish are eaten by bigger fish. Those that consume fish from the Tittabawassee River can be exposed. To avoid exposure to potentially harmful levels of these contaminants, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality sets fish advisories to provide guidance on game fish consumption from the river."

Kaminski leads an interdisciplinary team of more than 25 investigators from MSU, the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, State University of New Jersey, Rutgers University, Purdue University, University of Texas A&M and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ... read more


Our Michigan Avenue Corridor Project Builds Strong Community Connections

Our Michigan Avenue Corridor Project Builds Strong Community Connections

The rapid rise of technology is dramatically affecting how people learn, work, and function in their everyday lives. These developments are occurring in a relatively brief amount of time as it relates to historical perspective. The World Wide Web celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding in March 2014. Facebook celebrated its 10th anniversary the month before, in February. Twitter is eight years old. Instagram is not yet four.

John Monberg conducts engaged research that addresses the impact of technology in society. This includes new media and public deliberation, globalization and the creative economy, and practices of research design.

"My work focuses on new resources, and the new kinds of infrastructures needed for community deliberation adequate to meet the challenges of globalization," said Monberg ... read more

MSU Priorities

Community and Economic Development in the 21st Century

Scientific Evidence Points to Positive Impacts of the Federal Travel Promotion Act

Scientific Evidence Points to Positive Impacts of the Federal Travel Promotion Act

When the Travel Promotion Act of 2010 was signed into law by President Barack Obama it was widely regarded as controversial. Two MSU researchers and a Cornell University researcher, coming from different directions regarding the potential impacts of the legislation, worked together to create and implement a scientifically measurable evaluation that addresses the 2010 Act and its impact on the hospitality industry and international tourism in the United States.

Mark Johnson focuses on the impact of government regulations on the market value of firms. He teaches about mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, derivative asset pricing, and the market for corporate control.

His MSU colleague, A.J. Singh, is a leader in the field of solutions for issues and problems related to international lodging operations and the U.S. lodging industry ... read more


Looking for Community Partners

Collaboration and partnership with communities are at the core of engaged scholarship. In all of its work, University Outreach and Engagement emphasizes university-community partnerships that are collaborative, participatory, empowering, systemic, transformative, and anchored in scholarship. If you are a faculty or academic staff member wanting to establish a community partnership, University Outreach and Engagement may be able to help you. Our staff and researchers have connections across the state in areas such as education, mental health, human services, business, and government. For more information, contact Burton Bargerstock, Executive Director of the Office for Public Engagement and Scholarship, at (517) 353-8977 or bb@msu.edu.


Feedback

We would like to hear from you. Contact us with comments, suggestions, announcements, or "engaged scholar" project information for future e-newsletters. Send to: engaged.scholar@msu.edu.

Resources

MSU Graduate Certification in Community Engagement
This program prepares graduate students for careers that integrate scholarship with community engagement. It offers students a transcript notation indicating that they have completed the program.

Community Engagement Toolkits
Designed by the Center for Community Engaged Learning to guide and support MSU faculty, students, staff, and community partners.

Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement Series
Available from Michigan State University Press

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