News and Notes
October 2010
MSU's Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED) was selected as an Awards of Excellence Finalist by the University Economic Development Association for efforts that address regional economic planning in the 21st century. Recognition in this national competition comes as a result of a two-year partnership between CCED and three regional planning agencies—the Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning and Development Commission, the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments, and the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments—which together represent 21 of Michigan's 83 counties. The MSU team collaborated with community members to identify or develop 32 knowledgeeconomy indicators in seven categories. The project was funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration and MSU. Additional information is available at http://knowledgeplanning.org.
This is the second time in three years the CCED has been named an Awards of Excellence Finalist.
January 2011
C. Kurt Dewhurst, MSU Museum curator of folk life and cultural heritage, was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Specialist grant this year. Dewhurst was in residence February through March at the Anthropology Department at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he researched the artifact and documentary collections of the Museum of Ethnology and the university's larger archival collections to help construct a museum redevelopment plan.
Diane Doberneck, research specialist with the National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement, received the H. Paul Roberts Award for Distinguished Service in Study Abroad Programs from MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
February 2011
Rex L. LaMore has been involved in community and economic development at MSU for almost 35 years. In consideration of LaMore's many years of service in applying the World Grant ideal to the community, with a particular focus on the needs of the economically disadvantaged, persons of color, and other minority groups, MSU honored him with its Distinguished Academic Specialist Award.
March 2011
Anna Orsini, a junior in MSU's Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, is one of six college students in Michigan to receive Michigan Campus Compact's Outstanding Community Impact Award. The award recognizes students who have made an effort to strengthen the partnership between campuses and communities. During Orsini's sophomore year she started "Leaders of the Pack," a lunchtime club that taught leadership skills, for sixth graders at Whitehills Elementary School. From that experience she developed an afterschool leadership program at MacDonald Middle School, where the students worked on a service project for Haven House, a homeless shelter in East Lansing.
April 2011
MSU's Community Evaluation and Research Collaborative (CERC) received the 2011 John A. Seeley Friend of Evaluation Award from the Michigan Association for Evaluation.
August 2011
Laurie Van Egeren of MSU's Community Evaluation and Research Collaborative, along with co-investigators Christina Schwarz, Norman Lownds, Holly Brophy-Herb, Steven Pierce, Hope Gerde (all MSU) and Bradley Morris (Grand Valley State University), received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to evaluate whether an early childhood science education program, Head Start on Science, produces measurable impacts for children, teachers, and parents in low-income preschool settings. Eight Head Start programs in Michigan, serving a diverse group of African American, Latino, American Indian, and White children in 72 classrooms, will participate in the study.
