News from other Michigan public universities and U-M peer institutions across the nation.
STATE UNIVERSITIES
WMU becomes tobacco-free campus
Western Michigan University on Monday became a tobacco-free campus. By policy adopted by the WMU Board of Trustees in December, the campus became tobacco-free in time for the official start of the fall semester today (Tuesday). The policy applies to all WMU-held property in Kalamazoo and around the state and extends to anyone working or studying on campus and all visitors.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
UC Berkeley Haas Pavilion to get $10M in enhancements
With a goal to enhance both the fan and student-athlete experience on the University of California, Berkeley, campus, Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion will soon undergo a major renovation that will include a new center-hung scoreboard, upgraded sound and lighting systems, and modernized video production facilities. The project, estimated at $10 million, will be made possible through gift from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund. Construction is expected to begin in May 2015 and be completed by fall 2015.
University of Texas helps form regional innovation hub
The University of Texas at Austin, Rice University and Texas A&M University have received a three-year, $3.75 million grant from the National Science Foundation to become a regional innovation hub that translates academic research into useful technologies with commercial applications. The hub offers potential partnerships with 33 institutions in the southwest region representing more than $600 million of NSF funding in fields such as bioscience, K-12 education, materials energy research, geosciences, engineering, psychology, oil and gas, water filtration and entrepreneurism.
UNC at Chapel Hill offers safety app
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is providing an app that turns cell phones into personal safety devices. The Rave Guardian Campus Safety App, a joint initiative between Student Affairs and the Department of Public Safety, is available to students, faculty and staff for free. With the app, people can create an online safety network where they can check in with family, friends and public safety officers. The app can be downloaded on both Apple and Android devices. Once the app is downloaded and people have created their profiles, their cell phones will display “UNC Guardian.”
