Ask Granholm a Question

I called into ask Governor Granholm a question, too bad the response was just vague rhetoric.  It’s at about 34:40 into the podcast. It’s hard to watch Western receive a disproportionate low amount of funding, when we compare in our research efforts and have created incentives for students to “graduate on time” through the Western Edge. For Information on the latest budget Higher Education in Michigan click here.Update here is what President Dunn thinks.

Links 12-20-2007

• I came across this news article on the WMU website.  Its about some of the research the university is doing on Blind Pedestrians.  I have been a part of the research, through the Noise and Vibration Lab, done with regards to the low noise output of hybrid vehicles.

Catwalk Photo

I went back to the catwalk and got some nice images of Gold Company in their sneak preview show.

Privileged to Photograph

The past year or so I have had the honor to be in some pretty amazing places. Two summers ago I decided to make the investment into a digital SLR camera, the kind I always had camera envy for. With my new piece of equipment I applied to be a staff photographer for the Western Herald and as part of the job I have the opportunity to get into places I normally would not be admitted.

Covering events on campus I have a different perspective of the university that most don’t see. I use the medium to tell the story of the institution. Bringing to sight what others may pass by or don’t have the access to experience themselves.

With that I take the approach of finding a striking image that brings a reader to the page. This is often hard to find because the events happen often in the same locations with the same bad lighting. This week I covered the president’s state of the university. In a medium sized auditorium with high ceilings and only stage lighting. This would be fine to produce an average image from the house with just a bit of fill flash.

To bad it could not have been more striking. After the event I walked into the cat walk. Had I been there the whole time I would have had a unique angle with plenty of light to play with. It was too late but I’ll remember the location for next time.

To the right are two trustee members talking after the event taken from the catwalk above with only ambient light.

Homecoming: Campus Classic

This is my second time running in the Homecoming 5k, Campus Classic, and my third 5k race ever. They give a pretty cool break down of how well you ran, I don’t have anything to compare it to but I thought I would share.

Overall: 221
Chiptime: 23:58
Class: M 20-24
class_pos: 45
total_pace: 7:44/M

The part that really surprised me was my pace with a 7:44 min mile. In high school I don’t think I could run 1 mile much faster than 8:00 min.

It was a lot of fun to run the race again and this year my brother joined me and was part of the thousand or so others running through campus. It’s a great event and I to be able to do it at least another year.

“Today we dine in Lansing”

That’s right students from across the state of Michigan descended on its capital to let its legislators know one thing, stop putting the financial burden on the backs of the students.

The message was heard buy legislators in the form of a rally held on the capital lawn and talking with them in their offices.

I spent the morning with about a dozen Western Michigan University students lobbying legislators in their offices then joined hundreds of my peers on the lawn of the capital.

We can only hope that our message will be taken to heart and action and an investment in Higher Education will be taken.

links 09-24-2007

• Stop putting the financial burden on the students and fund higher education fairly.

Live Earth

Remember a little while back Live Earth, well here is a great interview with the guy who produced the television broadcast.  By the way he is a WMU alum too.

Tuition Raises at Universities

In the state of Michigan we have been in hard financial times for a while now and the Higher Education system has felt the hard times too. The Universities in the state have systematically been raising the tuition at their school on average 10%, the University of Michigan even called their 9% raise in tuition to be a “moderate tuition increase“.

Today however Western Michigan University set the bar low, in fact the lowest in the state with an overall tuition increase of 5.7%.

With a new president at the helm of WMU it feels good to know that we are heading in a good direction. Also announced today was an innovative plan to help students make there time at WMU more efficient with the introduction of the Bronco Edge. We will wait to see were this takes us, but we have started with a strong footing.

Summer 2007 thus far

I’m nearly two months into summer and have really enjoyed the opportunity I have had. Ending this week, for all practicality, is my time with the WMU orientation. The first month was all training and team building. I have never participated in such a well organized and developed program. Every activity had a greater meaning all orchestrated in such a way to prepare us for the next objective.

The second month has been with the incoming freshmen, taking them around campus and giving them a glimpse into what student life here at WMU has to offer. The last half of summer I am taking a class until RA training begins and working.

It will be a sudden change of environment. Going from constantly having the other leaders around to having to step outside our bubble and live in the “real world”. It’s been a lot like going away to camp, I have had little time to know what is going on in the rest of the world and every day seems like it could have been three.

The summer class I am expecting to be a nice change of pace. I am excited to slow down and learn some new material. As well, this will be one of the first times that I will be in school with little outside activities. Like RA or clubs and meetings galore. I will have the chance to focus on just school work for a while.

With about two more months left until fall semester there is still plenty of time left to do a whole lot more.