Sept. 12, 2014

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LIFE CENTRAL MICHIGAN

REMEMBERING SEPT. 11, 2001

FRIday, SEPT. 12, 2014 | MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH. | ISSUE NO. 9 VOL. 96

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Construction for a commercial hotel on Central Michigan University’s campus will begin this fall. The 18-month project is scheduled to start with a Nov. 1 groundbreaking , said CMU President George Ross at the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Outlook Luncheon. The six story, 148 room hotel will feature a 250-person capacity conference room and is being paid for and built by Lodgco, a hospitality company which builds hotels. He said the Courtyard Marriott hotel will be located east of Kelly/Shorts Stadium and the university will not provide funding. CMU is leasing the land for the hotel to developer Lodgco for 30 years and will receive leasing revenue from the land for the duration of the lease. Ross said hospitality students will be trained in the facility and hoped the hotel would provide an added on-campus venue for visitors to Mount Pleasant.

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On-campus hotel construction begins in November

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Rawls making the most of final college football season

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first 1,ooo fans at Saturday’s football game will get a foam finger

Rush for greatness

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Life in brief

Adrian Hedden, Managing Editor

STUDENT LIFE Central Review is seeking for submissions Central Michigan University’s Central Review is accepting submissions for the Fall 2014 edition. The Central Review, an undergraduate literary journal, gives undergraduate students the opportunity to share their work with peers. Zachary Riddle, Coldwater senior and Central Review editor, explained the Central Review accepts many different kinds of creative works. “We accept any kind of photography, poetry and fiction. For each submission, a student can include the following: five paragraphs, five poems of any length and three pieces of fiction no longer than 3000 words,” Riddle said. Students can send their submissions to cmucentralreview@gmail.com. “We accept one submission a year from students , which includes the five photographs, five poems and three fiction pieces,” Riddle said. “These submissions can be emailed in separate parts so long as the student identifies themselves in the header of the email, indicating the kind of submission they are sending us.” Students should also include a short autobiography, no longer than 300 words, when they email their creative pieces. The deadline for submission for the Fall semester is midnight Oct. 13. No submissions after that time will be accepted. Students with published work in Central Review will attend the Reading and Release party planned for 6 p.m. on Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. in the Baber room. Andrea Peck, Staff Reporter

CM-LIFE.COM

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By Dominick Mastrangelo Sports Editor

With a football in his hands and his hometown in his heart, Thomas Rawls is on a mission to make his last chance at achieving his childhood dream count. The Flint-native and University of Michigan gradate transfer student has taken the spotlight through the Central Michigan University football team’s first two games. In those games, Rawls ran for 276 ATTEMPTS 56 yards and three Rushing yards 276 touchdowns on 56 Receiving Yards 57 attempts. Touchdowns 3 Two of Rawls’ Yards per carry 4.9 touchdowns came on 155 yards and 31 *Thomas rawls carries last Saturnumbers through day in CMU’s 38-17 two games this year upset victory over Purdue. Those numbers were good enough to earn Rawls Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. Rawls’ tendency to fall forward and his knack for working a play to its completion are what he said sets him apart from past CMU runners. “One thing I pride myself on is I finish my runs,” he said. “I’m a violent runner. I want my last carry to look like my first one. It’s starts to wear on you, but I want to be the one wearing on the defense.” But the recent success has not come easy to Rawls, who has dealt with heartache and utter despair through his childhood and young adult life. “Flint is rough, man,” Rawls admitted. “I just lost a cousin of mine a couple of weeks ago. There is a lot of violence in the city. “ Yet Rawls said he is lucky in the face of immense suffering and twisted football misfortune. After playing as a middle linebacker in high school, Rawls sat on the bench at U-M and thought of someone hundreds of miles away: Dan Enos. Rawls recalled the several visits he made to Mount Pleasant to visit CMU’s coach during his time at Flint Northern High School. “Coach Enos is just such a great person. I’ve always liked him right from the first time I met him,” Rawls said. “He really cares about his players. He wanted to hear my story. Not many other people have wanted to hear me like that. He wants to give me a chance.”

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Making STEM a priority at CMU In just one year, 23 percent more students have signed majors in STEM disciplines By Malachi Barrett & Megan Pacer Senior Reporters

As America’s economy is increasingly technology based, the demand for more people working science, technology, engineering and mathbased fields is rising. In response, Central Michigan University is making an effort to improve its programs in STEM fields. “Student success is a major component of the (College of Science and Technology) strategic plan and our objectives include improved first to second year retention, increased graduation rates and shorter time to graduation for our students,” said Ian Davison, dean of the College of Science and Technology. This can best be reflected in the on going construction of the

$95 million Biosciences Building. However, this is just one of the actions taken by CMU President George Ross and Davison. “To meet these objectives we have implemented several initiatives such as the new Active Learning Classrooms in Dow and the CST Student Success Center that provides college-based academic advising and career services,” Davison said. Within the last academic year, there were 2,176 signed majors in STEM disciplines in CST and 645 undergraduate degrees were awarded. This is a 23 percent increase in majors and a 38-percent increase in undergraduate degrees from five years ago.

A three-pronged approach

Colleges on CMU’s campus aren’t

the only ones trying to reinvigorate STEM degrees – it has valuable partners off-campus, as well. The CMU Research Corporation and Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance work closely together to develop business talent in both Mount Pleasant and Isabella County. CMURC not only provides support programs for existing companies, it works to create new companies and eventually bring them to mid-Michigan. The addition of Charter Communications to the Mount Pleasant SmartZone district is the first major development for STEM in seven years. Located on the south end CMU’s campus, the SmartZone provides a geographical advantage for entrepreneurs and researchers to use CMU assets to assist their endeavors. These SmartZones include technology business accelerators, much like the CMURC, that use resources from universities and private enterprises to facilitate the commer-

cialization of technology brought about by research. Michigan has 15 SmartZones, but only CMURC serves the Central Michigan area. Erin O’Brien, president and CEO of CMURC, said the organization will be taking a different approach to bringing in companies after its shell building sat empty. They are looking to put together a “concentrated plan” to acquire tenants who will eventually be able to move into their own space in the SmartZone. Beginning that process, CMURC aims to create focus groups comprised of young professionals who are starting technology companies to find out what their needs are, O’Brien said. They plan to go to city officials and the CMU Board of Trustees for pre-approval of occupants in SmartZone buildings after conducting focus groups with developers and investors. This will help them determine what makes financial sense. w STEM | 2


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Sept. 12, 2014 by Central Michigan Life - Issuu