June 2021 WMU News

WMU secures $1.92 million for interprofessional workforce development

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded Western Michigan University faculty members a grant of $1.92 million to support the development of a culturally and linguistically responsive behavioral health workforce. It is the third HRSA grant WMU has received in recent years to support behavioral health workforce development.

Interim head of research and innovation appointed as Western plans search in fall

The Board of Trustees approved the appointment of administrator and faculty member Dr. Steven Carr as interim vice president for the Office of Research and Innovation. The University will be launching a national search to secure a permanent leader for the Office of Research and Innovation. A search firm will be selected in the coming weeks, and a search committee will be assembled in the fall.

Grad student who lost sight finds hope in transforming rehabilitation for the blind

After losing his vision in a home invasion, Robert Parsons has found hope and purpose in helping others who experience blindness and low vision. He will receive master's degrees in rehabilitation counseling and vision rehabilitation therapy from Western and has aspirations to set the standard for training rehabilitation counselors.

WMU Foundation receives historic gift in excess of a half-billion dollars, the largest ever for a public higher ed institution

Visionary Western Michigan University graduates have donated to the WMU Foundation $550 million, the largest gift for a public institution of higher education in U.S. history. Forward thinking in design, scope and size, this historic philanthropic contribution will be known as the Empowering Futures Gift. The donors, alumni who have chosen not to be named, earmarked their record-breaking contribution to WMU and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).

Brontosaurus will take Western's dinosaur park to new heights

Western Michigan University is taking a walk into uncharted territory with a park straight out of the Mesozoic era. The Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences has big plans in the works for developing the dinosaur park, which is already drawing buzz around the community.