The Confucius Institute at WMU will host a free Chinese New Year Gala from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, in the Bernhard Center East Ballroom to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Dog.

Music ensemble Birds on a Wire will perform, free and open to the public, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.

Elissa C. Kedziorek, editor-in-chief of WMU's student newspaper, the Western Herald, will head to Washington, D.C., in mid-March as the 2018 Michigan Fellow for the National Newspaper Association's News Fellows Program.

For their work in renovating Heritage Hall, WMU alumni Jonathan Rumohr and Jesse Hendershot have received the ASHRAE 2018 Award of Engineering Excellence, an honor bestowed upon international building projects only five times over the past 30 years.

This long-running academic support program will pick a student design to use in the commemorative poster it will hand out during a homecoming 2018 banquet.

Graduate teaching assistants as well as all faculty and staff members are invited to attend the free March 16 event. Registration for the luncheon is required by 5 p.m. Friday, March 9.

"Black Lives, Black Words," free and open to the public, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, in the York Arena located inside the Gilmore Theatre Complex on WMU's main campus.

Clara Van Eck, a retired WMU accounting clerk, died Jan. 29 at age 96. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 12, at Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Westside Chapel, 3926 S. 9th St., in Kalamazoo.

Area small businesses can apply for matching funds to help them hire WMU student interns in STEM disciplines. Funding applications to hire interns for this summer are due by Thursday, March 1.

Except for essential and emergency services, Western Michigan University is closing and canceling classes on its main Kalamazoo campus beginning at noon Friday, Feb. 9, due to severe weather. For information on the status of regional locations, visit the Extended University Programs website.

University closings due to severe weather are rare. In the event of a closure, a notice will be posted on the WMU home page and an email will go out to all students and employees.

The music scholarship benefit concert is set for 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, in Miller Auditorium. Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for seniors and $5 for students with a valid ID.

Spring Convocation will include Discovery Symposia, professional development workshops, a recognition luncheon, and convocation and awards, followed by a Gold Gathering reception.

The WMU men's soccer team has a recently announced spring schedule that includes four home matches: 3 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24; 6 p.m. Friday, March 16; and 6 p.m. Friday, March 23.

Richard F. Raklovits, associate professor emeritus of health, physical education and recreation, died Nov. 21, 2017, at age 89. Services have taken place.

Teri Ashley, of Punta Gorda, has been named director of outreach and corporate engagement for WMU Extended University Programs' growing Florida initiatives.

Author, film critic and New Yorker staff member David Denby will talk about the abandonment of truth and the impact of ideology in a free, public event at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in 3508 Knauss Hall.

A majority of the funding will support $10,000 stipends for 28 students each year, allowing the students to focus on their research and make the most of their final-year clinical experiences.

Applications are due by Thursday, March 1, for up to $75,000 in Student Sustainability Grant funding to support student research, activities and initiatives that will foster a culture of sustainability at WMU.