Newell Rubbermaid's new Design Center includes product testing by consumers is one part of the A-to-Z design process that takes place in its BTR Park facility.

WMU’s Center for Integrated Supply Management and Advanced Purchasing Dynamics of Plymouth, Michigan, recently formed an alliance to deploy a series of purchasing workshops.

The WMU Alumni Association recently announced several members elected to one-year-term leadership positions. The announced elections were effective beginning July 1.

The coalition builds on a program called American Honors to create, in community colleges, honors programs with competitive admissions. WMU is the first institution in the state to join the alliance.

During its July 23 meeting, the WMU Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Thomas Marks as head of the center. Marks had been serving as interim director of CELCIS since July 2013.

The "Last Coming Standing Live" tour, featuring the show's season 8 winner as well as the top four finalists, is coming to Miller Auditorium at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8.

The 14-member WMU team qualified its car by passing the requirements of scrutineering, then completed the 1,700-mile cross-country race that began in Austin, Texas, last week.

The summit is set for 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Aug. 7, and will include reviews of various student employment policies and procedures at WMU. Registrations are due by Monday, Aug. 4.

Acting at its July 23 meeting, the WMU Board of Trustees approved the retirements of two faculty members and six staff members. The board also signed off on several other personnel items.

The board authorized WMU's administration to negotiate and execute an extension to an existing set of development agreements covering a four-block parcel of land it owns in downtown Kalamazoo.

WMU's Board of Trustees set room rates for WMU's new residence halls at their July 23 meeting. Double room rates for the halls in the Center Residential Neighborhood will be set at $5,599 for the academic year.

The University's first submission to the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System—known as STARS—resulted in a gold rating, a designation only achieved by 20 percent of participating institutions.

LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—certification accredits buildings that meet rigorous standards for sustainability, water and energy efficiency, resource selection and environmental quality.

The Board of Trustees will welcome a new trustee, James Bolger of Whitehall, during its next formal session at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, in Rooms 157-159 of the Bernhard Center.

WMU's Sunseeker solar racing team finished the Formula Sun Grand Prix Powered by Austin Energy tied for third. The team is now racing from Austin, Texas, to Minneapolis in the American Solar Challenge.

Dr. Mary Anne Bunda, professor emerita of educational studies, died July 17 at age 70. A memorial mass will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 24, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 936 Lake St., Kalamazoo.

Lynn Kelly-Albertson, executive director of professional and career development, has been elected vice president-higher education for the Michigan Career Educator and Employer Alliance.

Attendees from around the world will be on campus Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 14-16, for WMU's International Conference on African Development in Brown Hall. The event is open to the public free of charge.

Sophomore Ysaura Ramirez Pena and senior Marilyn Bean will use the Gilman scholarships to study foreign languages overseas during the 2014-15 academic year.

Students, alumni and a faculty advisor from WMU's integrated supply management program are working with city officials to identify operational efficiencies and devise lean systems to improve the city's bottom line.

Open forums are planned for noon and 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, to update members of the WMU community on the University's Sept. 1 move to become a tobacco-free campus.

The 30-second television commercial, set to the music of the "William Tell Overture," earned its creators a 2014 silver Communicator Award from the Academy of Interactive Visual Arts.

The team taking the Sunseeker solar race car to this year's American Solar Challenge in Austin, Texas, consists of 14 WMU students. The race begins July 21 and runs through July 28.

Kalamazoo's annual Ribfest, featuring live music and some of the best ribs in the country, will run Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 7-9, at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place downtown.

WMU will launch the first doctoral program to be offered in the Dominican Republic in fall 2014. The program will include courses taken in the D.R. and a study abroad component.

Three doctoral students and one master's student in engineering have been working on the project for two years. The sensor can be implanted in a football helmet to monitor the severity and location of blows to the head.

Three dance students performed "Entrechat," a ballet choreographed by WMU's Sharon Garber, during the 2014 annual conference of Corps de Ballet International, held June 20 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

WMU's Dr. Maarten J. Vonhof  and Dr. Robert Eversole received more than $200,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study a fatal fungal infection afflicting hibernating bats in eastern North America.

WMU's Sunseeker solar car racing team heads for Texas July 12 for the 2014 American Solar Challenge. The cross-country race runs July 21-28; cars will travel from Texas to Minnesota.

WMU student Adam Nolan and recent graduate John Cook designed the phone app for the upcoming festival, set for July 10-12 at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place in downtown Kalamazoo.