Teaching the teachers
Public school teachers from the Grand Rapids area and throughout Michigan are learning how to improve their teaching by promoting discussion and addressing inequities in the classroom through TeachingWorks training programs developed at U-M. In this video, teachers and TeachingWorks founding director Deborah Ball, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education and professor of education, discuss how the program supports the development of skillful teaching through direct work on teaching practice.
Aspen logging at the Biological Station
In a hardwood forest at the northern tip of the state’s Lower Peninsula, U-M scientists are testing ways to make the region’s forests more resilient to climate change. About 12,000 mature trees — mostly aspen — are being cut on 77 acres at the U-M Biological Station near Pellston. In this video, Luke Nave, assistant research scientist, and John Den Uyl, research specialist, both in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, explain why the Adaptive Aspen Management Experiment is replacing some of the century-old aspen with a mix of tree species and age groups that may be better equipped to handle a warming climate, extreme weather events, and stresses such as insect pests.
D-SIP showcase
Amanda Saleh, an incoming junior at UM-Dearborn’s College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, and an intern at UM-Dearborn, presented her fundraising project at the annual Development Summer Internship Program showcase Aug. 2 at the Junge Family Champions Center. Saleh interviewed alumni, gathering success stories for UM-Dearborn's 60th anniversary oral history project. She’s speaking with Ann Blakeslee, a professor at Eastern Michigan University and a member of the Dobson Committee, which selects the nonprofit partners that host D-SIP interns. Saleh was one of 22 interns participating in D-SIP this summer. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography)
Faculty/Staff Spotlight
“I think men are handed a rulebook just like women. I would love to be one of the people who helps rewrite the rules for us all.”
Daphne Watkins, associate professor of social work
Michigan in the News
Comments by Marlon James Sales, a research fellow in comparative literature, were featured throughout a story about the overlooked Spanish influence on the Philippines, a country ruled by Spain for more than 300 years through the late 19th century.
“We cannot criminalize free speech, but we can make it socially and politically unacceptable to fan the flames of division for political gain. As a society, we have used social pressure to discourage drunk driving, bullying, and uttering racial slurs. Is it too much to ask the leader of the free world to stop exploiting differences of race and national origin, to protect our national security and public safety?” wrote Barbara McQuade, professor from practice at the Law School.
Donald Grimes, an economist with the U-M Economic Growth Institute, argues that the minimum wage should vary by state, hitting a sweet spot of about 60 percent of the state’s median wage. That standard, he says, “will ensure that our lowest-wage workers will have the same standard of living no matter where they live and will minimize any potential loss of jobs due to a higher rate.”
According to research by Peter Alsip, ecological modeling data analyst at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, and colleagues, Asian carp are likely to find enough food to spread farther if they establish breeding populations in Lake Michigan, reinforcing the importance of preventing the invasive fish from gaining a foothold.
“When you’re dealing with senior citizens with some degree of memory or other cognitive impairment, PARO is ideal — it’s an embraceable, novel animaloid that they can interact with,” said Jennifer Robertson, professor of anthropology and history of art, commenting on a Japanese robotic pet designed for therapeutic uses with the elderly.
