Grants to WMU topped $13 million in September and October, WMU trustees learned at their Dec. 18 meeting. Grants for research garnered the biggest share of externally funded awards, exceeding the $9 million mark.

Dr. Debra Lindstrom has been chosen to receive the American Occupational Therapy Association's Roster of Fellows Award. The honor will be presented at the organization's annual conference in April.

Charles F. Woodward, assistant professor emeritus of industrial and manufacturing engineering, died Dec. 12 at age 81. Memorial guestbook entries can be made online.

In the U.S., the population of managed bee colonies has been declining for several years. A group of concerned WMU students created an apiary to study this at-risk insect.

Marketing student Daniel Floyd has obtained a patent for his invention SpeechMasterPro, a device that assists those with speech impediments, as well as anyone else seeking to improve articulation and elocution.

Chinese culture courses being offered this spring by WMU's Confucius Institute will begin the week of Jan. 26. The 12-week, low-cost courses are taught in English and open to adults age 18 or older.

Sophomore students Logan Vines and Lauren Wingard recently met a TRiO program academic challenge to get top grades and won a lunch with President John M. Dunn and Provost Timothy J. Greene.

The two-person team composed of Asad Khaja and Alexa DeVos finished fifth in a field of 40 universities competing in this year's Russ Berrie Institute National Sales Challenge.

WMU trustees have approved the name Valley Dining Center for the new state-of-the-art facility planned for construction in the Valley Residential Neighborhood. The center is expected to be complete by fall 2016.

WMU's Board of Trustees approved rate increases for on-campus apartments and apartment-style residential units that will result in monthly rent changes of up to $18 per month, with some units seeing no increase.

In their final meeting of the 2014 calendar year, WMU trustees agreed on Thursday, Jan. 22, as their next meeting date, and the one designated as the Board of Trustees annual meeting.

"Home: An Artists and Writers Project" is on display in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts' Kerr Gallery from Thursday, Jan. 15, through Friday, March 6. A reading event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19.

The exhibit "Nature Loves Courage" is on display in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts' Monroe-Brown Gallery beginning Thursday, Jan. 15, through Friday, March 6.

WMU was one of only 10 schools and individuals nationwide to be honored, and was named the 2014 Best of Green Schools recipient in USGBC's higher education category.

Campus apartment rental rates for the 2015-16 fiscal year and a recommendation to name a new campus dining hall will top the agenda during WMU's Board of Trustees' formal public session this week.

The temporary One Stop Convenience Center will open on the second floor of the Bernhard Center Jan. 9-14, offering an assortment of campus services in one location. The center will close over the weekend, Jan. 10-11.

Professor Emeritus William M. Cremin, a key member of the Department of Anthropology for more than three decades, died Sept. 10 in Marshall at age 72. Cremin retired in 2007 after 32 years of service.

Some 550 Grand Rapids-area students will take classes at WMU's Graduate Center-Downtown while renovations are completed. The East Beltline location will reopen in August 2015.

Dr. Frank Robinson, a former WMU faculty member and former head of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, died Dec. 1 in Kalamazoo. He was 100.

Except for essential and emergency services, WMU will be closed beginning Thursday, Dec. 25, and will reopen Monday, Jan. 5. Residence halls reopen Saturday, Jan. 10, and classes resume Monday, Jan. 12.

Two Western Michigan University alumni have been named to new terms on WMU's Board of Trustees by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Both appointees will serve eight-year terms.

The previously announced Dec. 18 meeting of the WMU Board of Trustees will be a conference call meeting originating from 157-159 Bernhard Center. The meeting time and agenda are to be announced.

Dr. Jean E. Lowrie, a former WMU administrator and an influential leader in librarianship and elementary education, died Nov. 9 at age 96. She retired in 1983 after 32 years of service.

Two high-profile national sustainability awards WMU won earlier this year were awarded to a team led by WMU President John M. Dunn during a fall event in Boston.

Commencement ceremonies will be staged at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, in Miller Auditorium for WMU's fall graduating class. President John M. Dunn will preside over the ceremonies.

A screening of the film "Pilot Error" that will recognize the film's WMU connections has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, in the Kalamazoo 10 theatre in Oshtemo. 

President John M. Dunn will join hundreds of college presidents and other higher education leaders at The White House College Opportunity Day of Action. View a live stream of the event here.

WMU's men's soccer team boasted a 3.41 GPA, the third straight season the Broncos have carried one of the top three team GPAs among Division I schools.

WMU President John M. Dunn heads to Washington, D.C., this week, answering an invitation from the White House to take part in a Dec. 4, event that will focus on expanding access to college.

Miller Auditorium will host a special pre-show Heroes Night event before the 7:30 p.m. performance of Disney’s "Beauty and the Beast" on Thursday, Jan. 22. The event will honor veterans and active duty military.