February 11, 2013
Universities innovate, cut costs as state aid drops
LANSING — Public universities in Northern and West Michigan are trying to become smarter with their money as state appropriations continue to decline and other revenue sources fail to pick up the slack. Money-saving efforts range from reducing energy use at Grand Valley State University to smarter energy purchasing at Northern Michigan University and Ferris […]
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Grand Valley set to debut new master’s program
Grand Valley State University will unveil a new speech-language pathology master’s degree in August. The program will be finalized later this week and will become part of the department of communication sciences and disorders in the university’s College of Health Professions when classes begin. Speech-language pathology is a relatively new field of study at GVSU. […]
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Tablet computers springing up in more classrooms
LANSING — How do you keep students interested? Novelty. As the burgeoning tablet market reaches into the under-tapped field of education, iPads and other tablets are finding a happy home in tech-starved schools across the state. And some teachers say they may have the sought-after solution to the problem of student engagement as their districts […]
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Change Ups: Librarian awarded academy fellowship
Tim Gleisner, Grand Rapids Public Library’s history and special collections supervisor, is one of 24 librarians across the nation who were awarded a fellowship by the Public Library Association to attend the PLA Leadership Academy, March 4-8 in Chicago. The academy’s intent includes developing skills needed to work with local government and community partners to […]
Public Record
Feb. 8 — MORTGAGES Selected mortgages filed with Kent County Register of Deeds PETERS, Cynthia M. et al, Wells Fargo Bank, Condo-Arbor Hills Site Condominiums, $262,324 FISCHER, Sharon L. Trust et al, Huntington National Bank, West Way Woods No. 1, Lot 10, $417,000 CEBELAK, Jeffrey S. et al, ChoiceOne Bank, West River Business Center, Lot […]
What’s the sincerity level of your message?
When someone tells me to “have a nice day,” I don’t think they mean it. I think they’re just saying it as a kind of mundane, almost impolite, form of politeness — forced nicety, said out of habit, not sincerity. To me, it’s not just thoughtless, it’s also meaningless. Heck, half the time people don’t […]
Learning to succeed by altering the perspective
The world has become a place in which change is the only constant. If we stand firm without seeking to improve ourselves or increase our contributions, we may find ourselves on the outside looking in. While many seek work, the sense of security offered by a solid job can become a prison from which one […]
Street Talk: Hill no longer home to some great minds
The Van Andel Institute has been able to bring some of the biggest names in scientific research to the home of Hope on the Hill. George Vande Woude, founding research director at VAI, holds multiple honors and credentials, including Distinguished Scientific Fellow and professor, Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, director of basic research for […]
Report paints promising philanthropic picture
The predicted philanthropic impact of the upcoming generation could be so huge that its legacy might have Tom Brokaw hailing it as the greatest generation of philanthropists. According to a recent survey by Grand Valley State University’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy and 21/64, a nonprofit consulting division of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, the […]
Hotel tax revenue sees double digit rise
The unaudited figures show tax revenue to the lodging excise account rose by 13.4 percent in 2012 from 2011. The gain reflects increases in occupancy and room revenue of Kent County hotels, and the fact that two suburban operators made their tax payments current. Kent County Fiscal Services Director Stephen Duarte reported last week that […]
Kent County looking to collaborate with GRAR
Kent County commissioners will decide this week whether to renew a surveying agreement with the city of Grand Rapids. They also will determine whether to enter into a new contract with the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors. The proposed contract with GRAR is a one-year collaborative information-sharing agreement regarding residential property that has been […]
Core curriculum changes deter vocational training
LANSING — High school students are locked into a tougher core curriculum, leading to a drop in vocational program enrollment. Students have less time to leave their high school building to attend a career tech center program that provides career-oriented courses. Career tech center enrollment decreased 30 percent the first year the new Michigan Merit […]
Energy contracting can offer big savings
Energy performance contracts offer unique opportunities for building owners to significantly improve their energy efficiency at little to no long-term net cost due to the energy savings created by these improvements. The practice, which has been around in some form for decades, allows industrial and commercial building owners, colleges and universities, municipal and state governments, […]
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GVSU engineering project can save lives in Africa
(As seen on WZZM TV 13) There’s no substitute for experience, and three graduate students in Grand Valley State University’s School of Engineering have just had the priceless experience of designing and building a photovoltaic emergency power system for a medical clinic in Malawi in southeastern Africa. That project snowballed, with other students from the […]
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City approves next stage of Michigan Street planning
The city’s effort to resolve the congestion along the Medical Mile on Michigan Street took another step forward last week when Grand Rapids city commissioners approved the project’s third-phase work. The board’s approval allows city Planning Director Suzanne Schulz, who is heading the effort on the city’s behalf, to enter into a contract for up […]
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Succession plan includes Employee Stock Ownership Plan
QST Consultations Ltd. in Allendale has announced it is now a partially employee-owned company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan executed Dec. 18, in which 36 percent of company stock was purchased on behalf of QST employees. QST is a clinical research company specializing in clinical study design, data management, statistical analysis and medical writing […]
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Heeren Brothers to build new, larger facility
Heeren Brothers Produce, a third-generation family-owned business in Grand Rapids, recently broke ground on its new 150,000-square-foot building on 47 acres at 1055 Seven Mile Road in Alpine Township. The structure will serve as the company’s headquarters and will offer plenty of distribution and production space for the wholesaler and distributor of fresh fruits and […]
Michigan outpaces nation in exporting manufactured goods
Economic growth unfolding around the globe affects business and consumer spending, and through purchases of foreign goods shapes up Michigan’s exports, jobs and overall economic development. In its newly released Global Economic Prospects annual report, the World Bank estimated that the global economy grew at an anemic rate of 2.3 percent in 2012, compared with […]
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First Comic-Con has modest goals
Come Oct. 12, Mark Hodges intends to populate a building in Wyoming with Stormtroopers, Spider-Man, Batman, and a host of other superhero and sci-fi characters, at the inaugural Grand Rapids Comic-Con. Hodges said he is using a slow-and-steady approach to build attendance in the years to come, but the promoter predicts Grand Rapids Comic-Con will […]
Brookstone increases investment in project
The Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority agreed last week to revise the brownfield plan for a new mixed-use project to be built on a vacant lot at the downtown corner of Ionia Avenue and Williams Street SW. Brookstone Capital, a Midland-based development firm, is planning to put up a seven-story structure at 240 Ionia Ave. […]
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Brewery is an integral piece of The B.O.B. expansion
After about a decade’s worth of planning, the first stage of the expansion of The Gilmore Collection’s The Big Old Building at 20 Monroe Ave. NW will get underway in a few months. And that stage will take only a few months to complete. The first phase remodels and expands the ground floor on the […]
Kent County-GRAR agreement could ‘lift all boats’
The agony of the blackest days of the housing market meltdown during the Great Recession appear to be fading to a still-painful memory, and while there are high expectations, caution comes in the words of the Federal Reserve: Expect interest rates to rise by year-end. There have been many victims in the meltdown, especially considering […]
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Western Michigan University interns explore growing aviation industry
As a boy, Alan Foster wanted to become a pilot so he could fight the Nazis. The 23-year old Western Michigan University senior now laughs about his heartbreaking discovery that the “best bad guys” already had been beaten. He may never get into a dogfight with the Luftwaffe, but Foster’s passion for aviation has remained […]
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Inside Track: Product of sex trade returns to right some wrongs
Nicholas Popma is a slave-born slave liberator. Popma, a Grand Valley State University senior, is the founder of Save India’s Youth, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit with a mission to assist India’s women and children who are shackled in human trafficking and bring global awareness to the issue. India’s sex trade is an especially personal issue […]
