New Title IX coordinator

Theresa Rowland will replace Dwight Hamilton as Grand Valley State University’s new Title IX coordinator.

Rowland was named the Title IX coordinator through the Association of Title IX Administrators. The promotion comes after the news months earlier that Hamilton planned to withdraw from the position.

As Title IX coordinator, Rowland will assist in overlooking the university’s Title IX compliance and help conduct training and education for students and faculty on campus.

Rowland was previously the Violence Against Women Act grant coordinator for GVSU. She is also involved in the Campus Violence Prevention Team and the Sexual Assault Response Team.

For more information, contact the Title IX office at 331-9530.

Final Writers Series

Author Samuel Park is set to headline the final Grand Valley State University Writers Series this semester to talk about his most recent works.

Park is currently an associate professor of English and creative writing at Columbia College Chicago. His book “This Burns My Heart” was awarded Best Book of the Year by Amazon, NpR.org, Kirkus Reviews and BookPage. He is also responsible for directing the short film adaptation of his work “Shakespeare’s Sonnets.”

Additionally, Park has articles published in journals such as Shakespeare Bulletin, Theatre Journal and Black Camera.

The final Writers Series is free for everyone and goes from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on March 12 in the Cook-DeWitt Center. For more information, contact Oindrila Mukherjee at (616) 331-8034 or [email protected].

Technology Symposium

The Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium will include more than 30 faculty presentations, all of which revolve around the fusion of technology and methods of teachings. The event will occur from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11 inside the DeVos Center.

The symposium will discuss for the very first time the widely-used Blackboard website and highlight what users can expect in the future.

Derek Bruff, director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, will give a keynote address at the symposium at 1 p.m. Following Bruff’s speech, Associate Professor of Mathematics Robert Talbert will receive the Pew Teaching with Technology Award. Faculty presentations will take place shortly after.

The symposium is sponsored by the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center as well as the Instructional Design for eLearning. For more information, visit www.mibug.org/events.

Women’s History Month

Grand Valley State University has planned a number of events to celebrate March as Women’s History Month.

Events include:

1. Celebration of International Women’s Day from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on March 10 in Area 51.
2. Find Your Voice: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 13 in the Eberhard Center.
3. Celebrating Women as Community Builders from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on March 19 at the Alumni House.
4. Fireside Chats: Vulnerability in Higher Education: a Woman’s Journey from noon to 1 p.m. on March 25 in Room 1201 at the Women’s Center.
5. EqualiTea, starting at 3 p.m. on March 26 inside the Grand River Room of the Kirkhof Center.
6. Annual Celebration Women Awards from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 31 in the Kirkhof Center, room 2204.

For more events and details, go to www.gvsu.edu/women_cen.

Kenneth Verburg passes away at 82

Kenneth Verburg, Grand Valley State University Director of Personnel and Purchasing from 1961-1967, died on Feb. 21 at the age of 82.

Verburg was a graduate from Grand Rapids Christian High School, Calvin College and Michigan State University. In addition to working at GVSU, Verburg was a published author and a professor at MSU.

The memorial service was held on Feb. 28 at the River Terrace Church in East Lansing.

Reeds Lake exploration successful

Following the announcement of the mission on Feb. 16, a team of Grand Valley State University students, faculty and community members successfully observed sunken steamboats hidden in Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids.

The exploration, which took place on Feb. 20, sought to study the steamboats S.S. Hazel A. and the S.S. Ramona. By cutting through the ice and gathering sonar images, they concluded that the wreckage is in one piece on the bottom of the lake.

Mark Schwartz, associate professor of anthropology, and Mark Gleason, assistant professor of tourism and hospitality management, led the group. The team has become the first academic research team to explore the wreck.

For more information, contact Mark Gleason at (616) 331-8828 or Mark Schwartz at (616) 331-8518.