12/3 briefs YUH

Student Senate syllabus resolution 

Student Senate recently voted to approve a resolution to post all curriculum syllabi online for student viewing prior to registering for classes. The resolution, which only saw one opposing vote, was approved by Student Senate on Nov. 29. It is based off GVSU’s psychology department which has been posting all of its syllabi online for the past three years. 

This resolution is a form of recommendation that will be sent to all university departments urging them to publish syllabi online for each course. Senate hopes that this will assist students during class registration so they know what each course entails. An individual site that would house all course syllabi is currently in the research and planning stage. 

GVSU, Mercy Health and MCC to open nurse-managed health center 

On Nov. 27 a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to honor the new Muskegon Community College Health and Wellness Center. Located on MCC’s campus, the center holds a health simulation lab, classrooms, a fitness center and gymnasium and a nurse-managed primary care center. 

This collaborated facility is a 10-year project between GVSU, Mercy Health and MCC. With eight exam rooms, a treatment room and a lab, the wellness center will provide Grand Valley nursing students with opportunities for clinical experiences. The center will be open to the public in January and will offer primary care services administered by a nurse-managed staff. 

GVSU founder dies at 91

Grand Valley State University founder and long-time supporter, Richard Kaufman, died Nov. 27. The GVSU community mourns the death of Kaufman who passed at age 91.

Kaufman and his wife, Sylvia, promoted diversity and interfaith acceptance at the university and helped support the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, established in 2007. The institute houses GVSU’s campus interfaith resources that supports and celebrates religious, secular and spiritual diversity on campus. It was Richard and Sylvia’s vision and over two decades of work that helped shape campus interfaith program values to be understanding and accepting.

The Kaufman Interfaith Institute offers a variety of dialogue and interfaith resources and hosts many events and lectures to bring the university’s community together. It also houses the inter-institutional interfaith cohort which brings students from Hope College, Aquinas College, Calvin College and GVSU together in cooperation to improve interfaith relationships in west Michigan. This cohort also helps facilitate the Made In Michigan Interfaith Lab each year.

Kaufman’s work with interfaith also span beyond GVSU as he spent his lifetime actively supporting engagement and connection among different religions and beliefs. He served in a leadership position on the Shalom Hartman Institute board in Israel which promotes strengthening Jewish identity and pluralism. He was also active in national nonprofit organization, the Interfaith Youth Core.

“Dick was a great friend to Grand Valley from the very beginning, working with Bill Seidman to help launch our university,” said GVSU President Thomas J. Haas. “As a lifelong learner and champion of inclusion and equity, he became a role model for our students and our community. He will be deeply missed.”