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Rosie the Injection Molder
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Who Helps the Dawgs Out
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On Campus

Sarah Raymond (left) and Mary Cairns display the Homecoming 2004 logo at its unveiling last spring at an event on the Campus Quad.

“And the Winner Is…” Homecoming 2004
    This October the phrase, “And the winner is…” will be heard as students take part in such popular events as the lip sync competition and pep games, with Homecoming 2004 taking on an awards show theme.
    “We’re really looking forward to increasing student involvement with the awards theme this year,” said Sarah Raymond, publicity chair of the Student Homecoming Committee. “Our goal is make sure that students and alumni alike have a great Homecoming.”
    Laura Webber, the committee’s graphic artist chair, designed the logo.
    The committee plans to pair local events with their more famous counterparts – such as an MTV-style event for the lip sync competition and Heisman Trophy-like presentation for the pep games, culminating in an Academy Award-style Homecoming dance.
    “We’re looking for even greater participation this year by making everything more theme-driven,” said SHC chair Mary Cairns. “We have Williams Auditorium as a venue for some of our events, which gives us the leeway to have larger audiences.”
    Homecoming events are scheduled to take place the week beginning on Sunday, Oct. 17. Homecoming itself takes place Saturday, Oct. 23, with a parade at noon, the Bulldog football team versus Michigan Tech at 2 p.m. and the annual dance at the Holiday Inn beginning at 7 p.m. (see schedule here)

From left to right, Student Government President Amanda Umlandt, Vice-President Leslie Harrison, Rankin Art Gallery Director Carrie Weis-Taylor, Biology Professor Douglas Fonner and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Matthew Klein unveil the work of photographer Sheila Metzner in Ferris’ Science Building.

Art Becomes Part of the Ferris Experience
    A selection of works by noted photographer Sheila Metzner from Ferris’ Canadian Collection is among the first to be displayed in a move to bring art to more of the University’s public buildings.
    The project brings together University administration and students in a joint effort to make art an integral part of the public space on campus.
    “We tried to involve students and faculty in the selection process, instead of just making independent decisions,” said Matt Klein, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We started with the Arts and Sciences building. It’s our hope that we’ll have a large amount of the Canadian Collection on display in areas of the campus so folks can feel that art is part of their collegiate experience.”
    Rankin Art Gallery Director Carrie Weis-Taylor put together a Power Point presentation of possible choices for the committee overseeing selection of the work.
    Students Leslie Harrison and Amanda Umlandt agree that the process worked in terms of increasing their awareness and appreciation of art.
    “I’ve gotten more interested in art,” said Harrison, a Communication senior. “I’m taking an art class next semester, and I go to art galleries just for fun, because I enjoy it.”
    The Starr building is next in line for a selection of work from the 1,500-piece Canadian Collection—a remarkable gift the University received in 2000. To view pieces from the collection, many of which can be purchased, visit www.ferris.edu/gallery.

Click to see larger view

Michael Harris is Ferris’ new Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Harris Named VPAA
    Michael Harris, associate provost and professor of Political Science from Eastern Michigan University, is Ferris State’s new vice president for Academic Affairs.
    Harris was selected from among five finalists who were chosen from a national search. In announcing Harris’ appointment Ferris President David Eisler said, “Dr. Harris brings to Ferris State University a very strong academic background and experiences that fit precisely with many of our institutional needs.”
    In accepting the position, Harris said, “I’m delighted and honored to have been chosen as Ferris’ chief academic affairs officer. There is a tremendous sense of energy and potential for growth at Ferris, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of that.”
    Most of Harris’ career in higher education has been spent at Eastern Michigan University where he has been a faculty member and head of the Political Science department, undergraduate studies coordinator and most recently associate provost. He also has taught at Tel-Aviv University in Israel and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
    Harris has authored three books and published widely on the topics of leadership, budgeting, public policy and public administration. He also is a political commentator for radio and television.
    Prior to entering higher education in 1993, Harris spent 19 years in leadership positions in the fields of marketing, finance, agriculture and the furniture industry in Israel and the United States. He also spent four years in the Israeli Defense Forces where he held the rank of major.
    Harris received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Indiana University, his master’s degree from Tel-Aviv University and his undergraduate degree in Economics and Business Administration from Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. He is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Management Development program.
    Harris and his wife, Tal, have three boys ages 15, 17 and 22.

Svitlana Biletska (left) spent time at Tot’s Place with Manager Lori Johnson to exchange ideas on child-centered education.

Ukrainian Fulbright Scholar Visits Ferris
    In February, Ferris State hosted a visit from Svitlana Biletska, associate professor of Comparative and History Education at Kharkov State Pedagogical University in Ukraine.  Biletska, who is finishing up a stint as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Minnesota–Morris, spent time with Ferris faculty to discuss developments in child-centered education and work on a joint grant proposal to the U.S. Department of State.
    Biletska and Rick Van Sant, associate professor of Education, had met previously at international conferences in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. The two are interested in pursuing a grant targeted at helping Ukraine develop a more “child-centered” approach to education, an approach that is of particular interest to Biletska whose area of expertise is the historical context of such education and the contemporary debate over its implementation.
    “I’m trying to understand how the ideas of child-centered education became planted in your schools and family life,” said Biletska on a visit to Tot’s Place day-care facility on the Ferris State campus.  “We have opposite systems.  Ukraine is a former Soviet republic, so it’s more authoritative.  We pay a lot of attention to academic achievement.  In general our system is not too child-centered; it’s more teacher-centered.”
    Biletska cited such educational pioneers as John Dewey, Maria Montessori and Lev Vygotsky from Russia in developing the tradition of child-centered education. 
    “We have a very powerful tradition of child-centered education in Ukraine, but that was before Stalin.  Now we’re trying to combine Western experience with our own history, which would be perfect for the Ukrainian system.”
    It’s not just Western experience flowing toward Ukraine, noted Van Sant.
    “It’s from people like Vygotsky and Vasyl Sukhomlinsky that we evolved the much more whole-child approach to education,” says Van Sant,  “although it disappeared from Ukraine for a number of years under the Soviet Union.  One of the things the West can do now is help re-establish that tradition there.”