University Counseling Center to hold suicide prevention workshop

An event taking place Monday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 2270 of the Kirkhof Center will highlight ways in which people can help prevent suicides. It will teach students misconceptions about suicide, warnings signs that someone may be planning to attempt to take their own life and how to use the QPR method (question, persuade, refer) of suicide prevention. It will also examine suicide from both a social and multicultural standpoint. 

This event is LIB 100 approved. For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/events/qpr-question-persuade-refer-1:6/. 

New GV program to help students become more innovative thinkers

A new Grand Valley State University program entitled the Design Thinking Academy will seek to help students become more innovative thinkers and problem solvers and implement those skills with the design thinking process. The program will begin during the fall 2017 semester with 15 inaugural members known as Design Thinking Academy fellows.

The initiates will have to first participate in a design thinking “deep-dive” session, which will challenge them to solve intensive puzzles and introduce them to the system of design thinking. These students will be in charge of helping solve problems in the community or on campus in small teams of one fellow and five students. Members of the program will also take field trips to different organizations that utilize design thinking.

The academy will also be hosting topical sessions throughout the 2017-18 school year with different speakers from companies that use design thinking in their business models. The speakers will talk about different ways in which people and companies can employ the strategy.

If a student is interested in joining the program, they have until Friday, May 5, to submit an application at www.gvsu.edu/designthinking/dta.

ACES, GVPD to host marijuana education program

To educate the Grand Valley State University community on the facts, myths, effects and legal implications of marijuana use, Alcohol & Other Drugs Campus Education Services (ACES) will partner with the GVSU Police Department to host “Marijuana: Truth, Lies and Consequences.” 

The program, which will be held Tuesday, April 11, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 1104 of the Kirkhof Center, will also include resource information for individuals who want to address or change their marijuana use.

For more information, contact ACES at [email protected] or (616) 331-2537.

‘Understanding the Japanese Sword’

Several departments at Grand Valley State University will partner to host an educational event about Japanese swords Wednesday, April 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the L.V. Eberhard Center Multipurpose Room.

Markus Sesko will lecture on the production of Japanese swords and their myths and histories and will also give a demonstration using swords from the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s archives.

This event is free and LIB 100 approved. For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/events/understanding-the-japanese-sword/.