Online
Index of Articles
December 1995
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A Chat With Jim & Anne Duderstadt
President James J. Duderstadt and the University's first lady, Anne M. Duderstadt, share with Michigan Today's readers some of their thoughts as the president prepares to step down from the University's helm next June 30 after nearly eight years in office.

Preserving the Observatory
Plans have been launched for the restoration of the second oldest building on campus. The Detroit Observatory, built in 1854, was so named because the University's first President, Henry P. Tappan, wished to recognize the contributions of the major donors from Detroit who provided the funds for the Observatory.

Class of '99 Profile
The profile of the University's 5,149 first-year students reflects continuing changes in US society as well as in academic life.

Winter Commencement
Journalist Neal Shine, who retired this December as publisher and president of the Detroit Free Press,nd historian Hayden White, the University Professor and Professor of History of Consciousness (Emeritus) at the University of California at Santa Cruz, received honorary degrees at U-M's winter commencement Dec. 17, when approximately 2,000 students on the Ann Arbor campus graduated in a Crisler Arena ceremony.

Minority Enrollment
A breakdown of the Ann Arbor campus's total enrollment of 36,687 revealed that minority student enrollment (students from federally designated ethnic backgrounds) numbered 8,108, or 24.8% of all studentsundergraduate as well as graduate/professional---up from last year's total of 7,927 ( 24.2% of enrollment ).

New Institute to Focus on Women and Gender
Establishment of an interdisciplinary Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University was approved by U-M Regents in September.

What Do Faculty Do?
Many members of the public have the impression that faculty in major research universities do little teaching and devote many hours to spare time or to research projects that may not be related to university responsibilities...a professor's responsibilities extend beyond the classroom. Faculty also invest time working with students outside of class, preparing, or doing research and keeping up with developments in their field.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Sharp Global Change
U-M research scientist Enriqueta Barrera is using evidence from some of the world's tiniest marine crea tures to learn more about what the world was like 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.

U-M's Research Expenditures Reach Another All-time High
Research expenditures at the University of Michigan exceeded the $400 million mark in 1994-95 for the first time in the University's history.

Regents Will Hold Public Forums on Presidential Search
The University of Michigan Board of Regents elected Regents Nellie M. Varner and Shirley M. McFee as co-chairs of the Presidential Search Committee to replace outgoing President James J. Duderstadt and announced that it would hold a series of nine public forums in December and January to hear from the University community, as well as the general public, on the selection of the University's next president.

Stemming the Tide of Cancer
The problem Bernhard Palsson faced was how to create outside the body the conditions that occur naturally inside it. Resting on his promising solution is the well-being not only of the 15,000 to 20,000 patients who receive bone marrow transplants each year, but also of thousands of patients with other cellular and genetic disorders.

Their Brains Just Won't Quit
For a lot of people the idea of retirement conjures up pictures of rest and relaxation---endless rounds of golf, a home in the Sunbelt, a few well-earned shopping sprees and vacations. But there are people for whom retirement is a mere technicality of the tax form---an opportunity not so much to stop their work as to re-arrange their work schedule. Michigan Today talked with five such "retirees" (for lack of a better term) ranging in age from their 60s to the century mark, and each seems to have sailed by the port of retirement without even glancing at the shore.

Michigan's Champion Orator
Forty students were vying for the two positions (on the University's oratorical competition team), and among those who caught the attention of the Daily was Eugene Joseph Marshall of Detroit, a senior in the law department and one of 28 African-American students at Michigan in the academic year 1902 (only four of whom were women).

New Student Code of Conduct on Ann Arbor campus
The University's Board of Regents passed in November a Code of Student Conduct for the Ann Arbor campus by a vote of seven to one, with an amendment that it be reviewed again in three years.

Human Rights in Europe: Fruition and Frustration
A half-century after the Nuremberg Trials, civil society wrestles with success and failure under the rule of law.

Hangin' With Mr Cooper
If you own a television you've seen Hal Cooper's work. Even if you don't believe in watching television, you've at least heard of Hal Cooper's work.

Ironman Adventures
When PhD candidate Fan Zhang entered the 19th Gatorade Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii this October, he said his goal was just to finish "and set a precedent for one billion Chinese."

Not All Paintings of Moby-Dick Look Mighty Like a Whale
Through his creation Ishmael, Herman Melville declared in 1851 that the great white whale Moby-Dick was a creature of such complexity and unknowability that it would necessarily remain "unpainted to the last," despite the various representations of whales that proliferated in Melville's time as they do in ours.


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