News from other Michigan public universities and U-M peer institutions across the nation.
STATE UNIVERSITIES
Wayne Law’s dean youngest woman to head U.S. law school
Jocelyn Benson, who has served as interim dean of Wayne State University Law School since December 2012, has been appointed permanent dean. At age 36, Benson becomes the youngest woman ever to lead a U.S. law school. WSU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Margaret E. Winters announced the appointment, which took effect June 16. Benson, who joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2005, was selected for the permanent deanship after a national search. She becomes the law school’s 11th dean and the second woman to hold the job since the founding of Wayne Law in 1927.
Lake Superior State releases 40,000 salmon
The Lake Superior State University Aquatic Research Laboratory recently released 40,000 Atlantic salmon into the St. Mary’s River. The annual stocking culminated months of work by students and staff to provide hours of recreational opportunity for anglers. Atlantic salmon released by the lab are always marked with clipped pectoral or ventral fins. Although many of the fish stocked this summer will be of legal size, lab staff encourages anglers to release young fish and keep only mature fish of 15 inches or larger.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
Stanford faculty-student committee to advise on sexual assault issues
A new Stanford University faculty-student committee will be convened to suggest ways of improving educational efforts around sexual assault and to provide advice on Stanford’s disciplinary process for reported cases of sexual assault, Provost John Etchemendy recently told the faculty senate. The committee will be asked to review and make suggestions on a number of related issues. The first suggestion is to expand educational efforts for students around sexual assault and harassment.
UChicago to submit proposal for Obama library
After months of consultation with a broad set of community and university partners, the University of Chicago was scheduled June 16 to submit a proposal to the Barack Obama Foundation in support of locating the Barack Obama Presidential Library on Chicago’s South Side. Community members and organizations have expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for the potential of a presidential library to make a substantial economic impact on the South Side, and to create a vital cultural destination drawing visitors from around the globe.
University of Illinois experiments with farm drones
This growing season, crop researchers at the University of Illinois are experimenting with the use of drones — unmanned aerial vehicles — on the university’s South Farms. Dennis Bowman, a crop sciences educator with U. of I. Extension, is using two drones to take aerial pictures of crops growing in research plots on the farms. For farmers, aerial photographs taken by drones offer a quick and easy way to check on the progress of crops and determine where they may need to replant or direct pesticide applications.
