News - 2009
Family and Consumer Sciences
College of Education and Human DevelopmentNews
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2009
Junior Kirsten Strauss was awarded third place in the 2009 Michigan American Society of Interior Designers student competition. The competition consisted of an eight-hour charette in which students designed an 800 square foot vacation home that demonstrates good use of universal 
design principles and, in the case of the bathroom, full ADA accessibility. All projects were to showcase sustainable technology and material applications. Students specified materials, furnishings, and fixtures and designed custom millwork. Kirsten’s concept was influenced by the seaside and made effective use of reclaimed and post-consumer recycled materials. Kirsten received her award as part of the Student Career Day at the Michigan Design Center.
Students in the Fall 2009 FCS 4600 Medical Nutrition Therapy class taught by Dr. Carolyn Webber, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, held a poster session in December. Students, working in groups of three, formed a research question having to do with nutrition and complementary medicine, dietary supplements, or botanicals (herbs). Topics researched included relationships between leutin and age-related Macular Degeneration, gluten-free diets and autism, dark chocolate and blood pressure, and vitamin C and the common cold.
Linda Powell, instructor, arranged for CTE 5130 students to travel to the Youth Advancement Academy where Buster Bronco joined them. The high school students and college students worked together to learn about the role of a college student. CTE students worked on a spring cleanup outside the building getting rid of winter trash, raking, and planting flowers. Even Buster Bronco helped! It was a rewarding experience for the CTE students knowing that these students qualify for the Kalamazoo Promise and one day, may take a class in Kohrman Hall.
Associate professor Berni Proeschl submitted an entry for the AIA’s 2009 Committee on Design competition. The project was developed for the original site of the Rachel Raymond house in Belmont, MA. The concept draws its inspiration from architect Eleanor Raymond’s experimentation with solar heating systems and her use of vernacular materials such as plywood. There is also consideration given to her "three fields" of a house to help organize the exterior and interior living areas. For example, the integration of a green roof deck can be considered as both exterior and landscape; it is provided for both relaxation and as a source for seasonal herbs 
and vegetables. The basic massing and forms recall some of the basic attributes of the original 1931 Raymond residence: its terraces and open areas, sailcloth awnings, fireplace flue and the horizontal rectangles that inform window, rail and interior details.
This house follows the Living Building Challenge mandates that a building generate all of its own energy with renewable resources and the capture and treatment of its water. The stair tower is literally and figuratively an expression of a power core. It contains the battery storage systems that are fed by the solar "sails" of the deck awnings, the solar panels on the tower roof, the transparent polymers in the upper tower windows and the operable "shadow-voltaic" fins along the moment frames. All of the collector surfaces integrate organic photovoltaic technology. The on-site retention pool allows the use of pond loops for the house’s ground-source heat pumps and also permits the occupants to take full advantage of captured precipitation for the closed loop water systems.
Student organization MODA hosted MODA Glamour Dec. 4-5. Proceeds benefited the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. 
Patti
Borrello, history of fashion instructor, showed her 1860’s collection of historic reproduction clothing in Kalamazoo’s Bronson Park, on August 22 as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. Design students Cristina Hogarth, Renee Raliegh and Elianna Marble, as well as Stephany Sheppard a high school student from Portage Central, worked this summer with Patti on historic reproductions. Students researched and constructed garments for the show using historic techniques. WMU students Courtney O’Neal and Alana Nelson organized and dressed the models for the show.
What Is Peace? A Look At Children’s Drawings
Children express their ideas and feelings through various means and one way is through drawing. Students of Dr. Larissa Frias, assistant professor in family studies, had 37 children from 4 states and South Korea, ages 8-13, draw pictures that represented peace and verbally describe the image they produced. From the drawings, seven over-arching categories of themes were found: 
- Negative peace (e.g., end of war, ordinary daily activities)
- People involved in peace (e.g., self, family, friends, presidents, leaders, people from different races or countries)
- Non-human images (e.g., symbols, pets, nature)
- Positive feelings (e.g., happiness)
- State of quietness (e.g., calm and quiet)
- Positive social interactions (e.g., helping each other, shaking hands, making friends, playing together, celebrating holidays)
- Beauty (e.g., beautiful things such flowers).
It was concluded that children know a number of things about the abstract concept of peace. They incorporate their own experiences in their understandings. Children’s representations focused on images that they may have seen in media or those that are found in their environment.
Meet Alana
Alana is a junior in Textile and Apparel Students: Fashion Design who was invited to blog about her experience.
Alana's blog is one of nine undergraduate student blogs at WMU.
Project MODA is a mentorship program partnering WMU textile and apparel studies majors with high school students from the Kalamazoo area. The program provides high school students with the opportunity to learn about fashion design and career 
opportunities in the fashion industry, and to encourage high school students to pursue a college degree. Sponsored by the student organization MODA, the project was piloted in 2007, after MODA members learned that many Kalamazoo area high school students attended semi-annual MODA fashion shows, and were interested in becoming involved in the program.
The first mentorship program paired 4 area high school students with WMU Fashion Design majors. In 2009, the project applied for and received a Good Neighbor grant for the 2008-09 year, which enabled expansion of the program to 13 high school students, who were selected by their teachers based on academic and personal readiness, and economic need. Fourteen students, selected from among 27 applications, will participate in the 2009-10 mentorship program.
A Kalamazoo Community Foundation Good Neighbor grant and support from the university and community provide fabric, sewing supplies and a field trip for the high school participants. College student and community mentors meet weekly on the WMU campus with high school participants to provide instruction and guidance on apparel design and construction techniques. The program also focuses on building self confidence, responsibility and communication skills among both mentors and mentees. High school participants design and construct an original garment and present them in the annual Spring MODA fashion show.
Interior Design Student Work Open House and Exhibition was held on Thursday, Nov. 19 in Kohrman Hall. The Interior Design Student Organization hosted this event.
Dr. Marlene Breu, professor emerita, gave a presentation titled Expressions of Faith and Identity: Sacred Artifacts in the Armenian Orthodox Churches of Istanbul in New York City on Saturday, May 16.The presentation, based on research conducted in collaboration with colleague Dr. Ron Marchese of the University of Minnesota at Duluth,was given at a day-long symposium, “The Armenian Community of Istanbul: Perspectives on Past and Present” sponsored by the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) in New York City.
"Redefined" A Fashion Show: Collections by Liza Nay
All proceeds from the show on June 27 went to Project MODA and to the WMU Textiles and Apparel Studies Program.
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences and MODA participated in the second annual WMU Day at the Capitol which featured dozens of WMU programs and projects.
Lateshia Agnew, master's student, is the recipient of the 2009 STAR Award in the category of College Volunteer. The STAR (Sharing Time and Resources) Awards, honoring community volunteers, are given annually by the Kalamazoo Gazette and the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo. John Davis, community-resource coordinator for the Michigan Department of Human Services, nominated her for her hours spent in the Children's Corner in the DHS office. There she read stories, played games and made art projects with children who accompanied their parents to appointments. Agnew also worked with the Kids' Connection mentoring program, organizing group activities for children in the program and serving as an energetic volunteer recruiter at events such as Western Michigan University's Bronco Bash and the Black Arts Festival.
She also has volunteered with ISAAC, an interfaith social-justice group, and served on the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force.
Richard Zinser, associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Daniela Schröter of the WMU Evaluation Center are collaborating on a new project funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Their job will be to evaluate the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education’s effectiveness and performance on measures from the Government Performance and Results Act. The National Center, located at the University of Louisville, conducts and disseminates research, and provides technical assistance and professional development to states. The process to evaluate the Center’s accomplishments involves convening expert panels and gathering data from key stakeholders across the United States. The evaluation contract is for $300,000 over 3 ½ years.
Congratulations to senior Liza Nay honored as a 2009 Presidential Scholar, the highest academic award that WMU can bestow to an undergraduate. Liza was selected by faculty members as the most outstanding senior in the Textiles and Apparel Studies program. Selection is based on the students' general academic excellence, academic and/or artistic excellence in their majors, and intellectual and/or artistic promise.
Associate professor Barbara Frazier, Ph.D., received a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative National Research Initiative. Dr. Frazier is co-principal investigator on the project with researchers from Iowa State University and Ohio State University. The 3 year, $500,000 project will investigate the social and economic impacts of local retailers on rural communities. The project will identify ways that the retail sector in rural communities contributes to and enhances economic development. The research team will use results of community research to develop experiential learning projects that engage college students with rural community leaders and business owners in order to expose college students to rural entrepreneurship opportunities and help communities understand how to attract and retain younger residents.
The third and final senior interior design show was held until April 3 and featured the work of Amy Vinson, Trisha Latta, Shannon Krushlin, Kaitlyn Simonsen, and Mary Farnsworth.
"Fusion 2009" is a runway-style fashion show, sponsored by MODA with support from Ansara Restaurant Group. The collections of 24 WMU student designers will be featured.
The show took place on April 3-4, at the Radisson Plaza in Kalamazoo. Half of the proceeds of the event benefited local breast health outreach programs and national breast cancer research projects.
Dr. Breu’s Research Uses Grant from Eulalia Toms Endowment Fund
In June, Dr. Marlene Breu completed data
collection in a study of sacred historical
artifacts in the Armenian Orthodox
Churches of Istanbul, with the help of a
grant from the Eulalia Toms Endowment
Fund. Along with colleague, Dr. Ron
Marchese of the University of Minnesota
at Duluth, Dr. Breu spent over 8 years
studying textile and non-textile artifacts in
the Istanbul churches. The material had
never before been studied or published.
Dr. Breu and Marchese have numerous
publications and papers on the topic, the
most recent a paper scheduled to be
presented at the 11th Textile Society of
America Biennial Symposium, September
24-27, in Honolulu. Their book on the
textile collection is scheduled for
publication by fall of 2009.
Design Major Receives Scholarship
Textile and Apparel Studies Design and Development major Dora Theodoropoulos has been awarded a scholarship from the International Textile and Apparel Association to study fashion design at American Intercontinental University in London. The scholarship competition requires students to submit examples of their design work and write an essay on their career plans. Dora is from Kalamazoo, and plans to develop her own designer label after graduation.
Patti Borrello Helps Rescue Historical Military Uniforms
Patti Borrello, graduate teaching
assistant in Textile and Apparel
Studies, attended the 34th Annual Meeting
and Symposium of the Costume Society
of America in New Orleans May, 2008.
Patti attended classes on the conservation
and preservation of textiles and
participated in an activity as part of the
CSA Angels Project to restore over 125
historical uniforms belonging to the
Jackson Barracks Military Museum
damaged in Hurricane Katrina. The
uniforms stood under 17 feet of water for
three weeks in the museum following the
hurricane. Member Mary Ann Hutcherson
said, “This and all museums in the U. S.
Army museum system support the training
and education of military personnel, serve
as a repository of the material culture of
the U.S. Army, support research and
development, and serve as a bridge for
common interest areas among military and
civilian communities.” The CSA members
formed teams to begin the conservation
and preservation process. Patti is working
on a master’s degree in the Textile and
Apparel Studies concentration.
A senior show featuring the work of Sara Ponstein, Cheryl Behnke, Erin Genrich, Laura Syth and Kristin Rahn took place in the Kohrman Hall gallary on Jan. 23 to Feb. 6
On Jan. 20 the WMU Interior Design Organization hosted a Mongolian BBQ Fundraiser to support our campus and community activities!!!