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From the Alumni Director
On Campus
Applause
Hometown Bus Tour
Building a Better Voting Machine
Lights, Camera, Learning
Ferris Dedicates Granger Center
Rosie the Injection Molder
Bulldog Bites
Who Helps the Dawgs Out
Trial by Nursing
Navigating the Academic Waters
Profile of a Bulldog
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Distinquished Alumni
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Officer of the Year
In Memoriam
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On Campus

Bulldog Radio Seeks Alumni Input
by Zack East, station manager

Former Station Manager Michael Koonce (B'70) broadcasts the news as documented in the 1969 Ferriscope.

   Bulldog Radio, formerly WFSU, is working to make its way to being a broadcast FM station. We need the help and support of the Alumni members of our past radio stations at Ferris, including the original WHFR, WFRS and WRKX, in addition to WFSU. At one time Ferris operated an AM station, as well.
   Currently, Bulldog Radio is a Registered Student Organization operating through closed-circuit cable on campus cable channel 22. Only on-campus residents living in the halls are able to listen to the station. Bulldog Radio leans toward contemporary trends in music, from alternative rock to hip hop, metal and pop. However, its programming also includes classical music and sports talk.
   Programming new music is in keeping with Bulldog Radio’s beginnings. In 1956, two students from Helen Ferris Hall set out to broadcast the newest music to students in their dormitory through station WHFR. Competing Masselink Hall then began broadcasting its own signal from what is now the study lounge. All equipment was handmade and the music was played throughout the respective dorms.
   In 1958, a group of electronics students combined the two stations, forming Ferris’ first actual campus station, WFRS, which was broadcast from a studio in Masselink Hall, where Bulldog Radio operates from today.
   Bulldog Radio is seeking private support to begin its transformation to an FM broadcast station. As part of this process, we’re looking for information about past stations at Ferris State. We’d love to hear from Alumni as to how those stations operated in the past.
   The station was quite an important part of Ferris, especially in the late ’50s through the ’70s.
   If you were involved in the past with a student-run radio station at Ferris, please contact me at east19@fsuimail.ferris.edu. You can also visit http://bulldogradio.tripod.com, or call (231) 591-2912 for more information.

Michigan College of Optometry Offers OrthoK

Dr. Bruce Morgan of the Michigan College of Optometry displays some of the equipment needed to help patients correct their vision without glasses or surgery.

   Until recently, LASIK surgery was the only option for people wanting clear vision without the aid of glasses or contact lenses. Now, Orthokeratology, a non-surgical and reversible procedure, provides an alternative to LASIK surgery—and the procedure is available through Ferris State’s Michigan College
of Optometry.
   Orthokeratology, also called Corneal Reshaping or OrthoK, can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses during the day. OrthoK utilizes specially designed contact lenses, worn during the night, to gently reshape the front of the eye. The process is similar to the use of a retainer to keep teeth straight.
   “Unlike refractive surgery, OrthoK is completely reversible,” explains Dr. Bruce Morgan of the MCO. “If nightly use of the corrective contact lenses is discontinued, the eye returns to its original shape.”
   The best candidates are those with low to moderate nearsightedness and minimal astigmatism. MCO offers a free screening as the first step in determining if corneal reshaping is the right option for a patient.
   “Athletes, patients with contact-lens-related dry eye or allergies, children with progressive nearsightedness, and public-service providers such as police, firefighters and paramedics have especially benefited from Orthokeratology,” says Morgan.
MCO patients who have made use of OrthoK have reported very impressive results from the procedure.
   “It has been nice to be free from contact lenses during the day. I have on two occasions gone overnight without putting the lenses in and by the end of the second day my vision was still good, says OrthoK patient Josh Lotoczky. “I see very well, a strong 20/15 throughout the day.”
   More information about OrthoK can also be accessed through MCO’s Web site at www.ferris.edu/mco/orthok.

Career Fair Highlights Opportunities in Rubber Products Industry

A grant from the RMA helped nearly 300 high-school students learn about opportunities in the industy at Ferris' career fair last fall.

   Nearly 300 high-school students attended Ferris State’s first-ever career fair showcasing education and job opportunities in the rubber products industry last fall. The event, co-sponsored by the General Products Group of the Rubber Manufacturers Association, was held at the University’s National Elastomer Center on the Big Rapids campus. RMA is the national trade association for the finished rubber products industry.
   “An abundance of job opportunities in the rubber industry is available to young adults today,” said Kevin Ott, GPG vice president. “At the career fair we showed students the educational path needed for good-paying jobs, and afforded high-school students the opportunity to talk to people in the industry who are seeking educated workers.”
   “It was very exciting to showcase our laboratories and the career opportunities available to graduates of our plastics or rubber program,” said Robert Speirs, chair of Ferris’ Plastics and Rubber Department. “The polymer industry is the fourth largest industry in the United States and there is a need for specially trained technologists to assist in developing products for the future.”
   Students were welcomed by Ferris President David Eisler, toured the National Elastomer Center where they observed laboratory demonstrations, listened to presentations, viewed exhibits and learned about Ferris State’s two-year and four-year degree programs in both rubber and plastic manufacturing.
   The career fair was made possible by a $4,000 grant secured by RMA from the Center for Workforce Success at the National Association of Manufacturers. The Center is a division of NAM that works with the U.S. manufacturers to address the critical need for a highly trained 21st century workforce. Additionally, RMA and its members provided financial support for the event.
   RMA has partnered with Ferris State for several years to promote careers in the rubber industry, mainly through $50,000 in RMA-sponsored scholarship funds.

Michigan Construction Hall of Fame Inducts First Members

Ferris President David Eisler (left) and Construction Association of Michigan President Kevin Koehler present John Marshall Harlan with an award for being inducted into the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame.

   On Oct. 23, 2003, at the Big Rapids Holiday Inn and Conference Center, Ferris State inducted the inaugural class of Distinguished Constructors into the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame. The MCHF will be housed in Ferris State’s new Granger Center for Construction and HVACR. The Granger Center will be officially dedicated this spring, with a physical presence for the MCHF slated to be unveiled this coming fall.
   Individuals selected to receive the Distinguished Constructor Award and membership in the MCHF have distinguished themselves at the highest levels of the construction industry through leadership, service and innovation.
   The inaugural group to be inducted into the Hall is composed of John Marshall Harlan, Thomas E. Dailey and Albert A. White.

• John Marshall Harlan is president of Harlan Electric Company in Southfield, Mich. In his more than 49 years with Harlan Electric, he built the company into the
  sixth largest electrical contractor and 10th largest specialty sub-contractor in the nation.
• As president of T.E. Dailey & Co. in Southfield, Mich., Thomas E. Dailey is remembered for more than three decades of involvement in the national
  Associated General Contractors of America. His
  concept of negotiating contracts for trade unions
  collectively became a blueprint for similar programs
  throughout the industry.
• Albert A. White spent more than 45 years as a real
  estate developer, builder and realtor, significantly
  impacting the residents of the greater Lansing, Mich.,
  area, where he built a number of exclusive projects such
  as Whitehills Estates, Carriage Hills and Whitehills Woods.

   A panel of professionals representing a wide range of organizations, including the Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General Contractors of America, the Construction Association of Michigan, the Michigan Road Builders Association, the Michigan Association of Home Builders, the Michigan Department of Transportation and Ferris State University selected the awardees.
   State Rep. and Alumnus John Pastor (T’84) gave the event’s keynote address.