October 2021 WMU News

New Native American Affairs Council aims to build relationships, understanding across campus and in community

A collaborative, interdisciplinary effort is underway to honor Western Michigan University's Indigenous roots and establish Native American programming and curriculum at the institution. The new Native American Affairs Council will work "to support, elevate and advocate for Native American perspectives” on campus, according to its charter, with a focus on fostering relationships between the University and tribal communities both on and off campus.

He’s back: James Rhodes’ 40-year WMU story

James Rhodes has a long history with WMU, one that launched his computer engineering career and resulted in four degrees. Now you will find him in the classroom as not only a Ph.D. student but also as a faculty specialist, teaching technical skills to future engineers and sharing life lessons from a 40-year IT career.

Podcast examines ethical issues regarding COVID-19 and race

A new Western Michigan University podcast is gathering campus and community voices to address ethical issues such as race equity, democratic governance, health care and wealth inequity as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WMU students encouraged to seek campus sustainability grant funding

The 2021-22 WMU Student Sustainability Grant competition, which supports student research, projects and initiatives that have the potential to advance the University’s campus culture of sustainability, is open. Applications for the fall 2021 grant allocations cycle are due on Thursday, Nov. 18, by 11:59 p.m. Awards will be announced by mid-December 2021.

Dr. D'Jaris Coles-White awarded Presidential Innovation Professorship

Dr. D'Jaris Coles-White, an innovative speech-language pathology researcher and practitioner, joins the Western Michigan University community as a Presidential Innovation Professor. A new hire in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, her research focuses on multicultural issues in speech disorders and development of social language skills in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Miles, Zeng honored with Distinguished Service Awards

Drs. Ann Miles and Ying Zeng will be presented with Western Michigan University's Distinguished Service Award, recognizing their exceptional service in areas that reflect innovative and effective programming, increase Western's stature or extend the University's impact and presence into the community.

Digital marketing students immersed with real clients, real budgets

What would you do with an extra $10,000 to boost your organization? WMU digital marketing students found out firsthand by participating in Google’s Nonprofit Marketing Immersion Program. The program pairs student teams with qualifying nonprofit organizations around the country and gives them a generous grant to apply toward Google search ads that benefit their clients.