GRAND VALLEY
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ADMINISTRATION
VP for enrollment development, longtime GV employee retiring BY RACHEL MATUSZEWSKI RMATUSZEWSKI@LANTHORN.COM
Other requirements include having a “demonstrated record of leading a large complex organization at the most senior level,” as well as advanced degrees. Bowman, a GVSU senior, is the lone representative from the student body. During Haas’ retirement address, Bowman said that “it has been an honor for me this past year in my position working with him and directly seeing the legacy he will leave behind.” Bowman believes that Haas’ eventual replacement has large shoes to fill. “The legacy that President Haas has will carry on beyond his time here,” he said. Haas will retire after
Lynn “Chick” Blue, vice president for enrollment development at Grand Valley State University, announced her intention to retire from the university at the end of 2018. Her retirement will conclude a 50-year journey at GVSU. “I’ve lived my whole life here and (have) effectively (grown) with the university,” Blue said. “The university’s needs changed with each decade. I effectively matured with the school, trying to bring along all the good stuff and apply (it) going forward.” One of Blue’s biggest projects at GVSU involved taking cashiering from Lake Michigan Hall and combining it with records at the Student Services building to create the one-stop service areas. Her team also updated databases to increase convenience for students, and she helped implement TouchTone Registration, making GVSU the first university with an automated registration system before it was accessible online. Yet, helping to improve the environment of student life never stopped her from looking at a student’s first priority: their education. Blue worked as an adviser for students who attended a new charter school in Detroit. As the students she mentored began applying at GVSU, she became familiar with the Robert and Ellen Thompson Foundation stationed in Plymouth, Michigan. Blue and Ellen Thompson created a scholarship for Michigan high school graduates coming from working families. This year, Blue has brought 100 new freshmen to GVSU on the Thompson Scholarship. Next year, the scholarship will extend to 400 students. Blue’s own scholarship, the Blue Working Family Scholarship, has already brought two freshmen to GVSU. Blue is from a working family herself, giving her firsthand knowledge of the working-family ethic. “I’ve found it incredibly rewarding to help a person who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to come to college,” she said. Blue’s support of students has left an impression on other administrators, too.
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REPLACEMENT NEEDED: GVSU President Thomas Haas speaks during his retirement address on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Following his retirement announcement, the GVSU Board of Trustees named 14 individuals to the presidential search advisory committee. The committee consists of 18 members. GVL | SHEILA BABBITT
Big shoes to fill Search committee for President Haas’ replacement named BY ARPAN LOBO NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
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s Grand Valley State University President Thomas Haas announced his impending retirement in February, the GVSU Board of Trustees announced that the search for his replacement was underway. On Tuesday, March 20, the members of the presidential search advisory committee (PSAC) were announced. The committee consists of members of GVSU faculty and administration; administrative and professional staff; and a representative from each of the bargaining units, the student body,
alumni and the public staff. The new members will be joining Board of Trustees Chair John Kennedy, Mary Kramer, Megan Sall and Kate Pew Wolters. The members of the committee are as follows: Felix Ngassa, professor of chemistry and chair of the University Academic Senate; Majd Al-Mallah, professor of modern languages and literatures; Sean Lancaster, professor; Samhita Rhodes, associate professor of biomedical engineering; Deborah Bambini, professor of nursing; Kate Remlinger, professor of English; Ellen Schendel, assistant vice president for academic affairs; Diana Lawson, dean of the Seidman College of Business; Kyle Caldwell, executive director of the Johnson
Center for Philanthropy; Daniel Hurwitz, assistant vice president for community giving; Cheryl Bouwman, assistant in the office of University Communications and member of the Association of Professional Support Staff; student senate president Jonathan Bowman; alumna Selma Tucker; and Grand Valley University Foundation member Mitchell Watt. Kennedy will chair the committee, whose members were selected by the Board of Trustees. The committee has several leadership criteria listed. The university is seeking an individual who can be described as a visionary, academic leader, effective administrator, community developer, resource acquirer and role model.
FEATURES
IndyStar reporter who broke Nassar scandal to speak at GV BY JAMES KILBORN JKILBORN@LANTHORN.COM
Grand Valley State University will host the return of journalism alumna Marisa Kwiatkowski, who will share her experience breaking the Larry Nassar/USA Gymnastics story while working as an investigative reporter with The Indianapolis Star. Kwiatkowski will speak Monday, March 26, at 6 p.m. in the DeVos Center Loosemore Auditorium, located on GVSU’s Pew Campus. The same day at 1 p.m., she will participate in a Q&A session at the Keller Black Box Theatre in the Haas Center for Performing Arts. The talk is titled “Local Reporting, National Impact: Marisa Kwiatkowski on Breaking the USA Gymnastics Story.” The event is sponsored by the GVSU School of Communications. The story has dominated all facets of media and resulted in the USA Gymnastics board resigning, as well as Michigan State University’s athletic director and president stepping down. “The impact on this project has been tremendous,” said Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, assistant professor of multimedia journalism at GVSU. “You’ve seen it in the impact statements of more than 150 young women and some of their family members made in the conviction of Larry Nassar, the resignation of the president and the athletic
director at Michigan State, the resignation of the board of USA Gymnastics, the passage of legislation—the list goes on and on. “This has been an incredibly impactful investigation that is really the result of Ms. Kwiatkowski staking out investigative territory where she’s very committed to bringing the voices of vulnerable people out.” Kwiatkowski’s breaking of the story has shaken up the world of athletics, bringing to light a scandal that might have otherwise gone unknown. “If it had not been for Ms. Kwiatkowski’s investigation, would we have ever known?” said Len O’Kelly, assistant professor of multimedia journalism. “Think of some of these big stories just in Michigan that have broken: the Nassar case, the Flint water crisis, things that happen in schools that we never find out about. If there’s nobody there to tell the story for those people, the story’s never going to be told.” Kwiatkowski, as well as the rest of the team at the IndyStar, had to work arduously to break the story. “Here’s a story that Marisa came upon via a tip about some legal filings happening in another state, and she jumped on it,” said Eric Harvey, assistant professor of multimedia journalism. “Her and her colleagues acquired a lot of material that they were worried would be sealed after a particular lawsuit was filed.
“Getting this information, slowly poring over it, figuring out what the stories are, and responsibly contacting and talking to victims, it’s exactly the type of thing journalists should be doing, which is holding people in power accountable, speaking up for people who might not have a voice. It really checks every box of what you want with good investigative journalism.” Harvey sees Kwiatkowski’s message as an opportunity to encourage students to pursue their stories even if there are difficulties along the way. “As a professor, you want students to understand that things don’t happen immediately, that stories like this take a lot of time and work and probably involve a lot of dead ends along the way,” he said. The professors within the multimedia journalism program see Kwiatkowski’s talk as an opportunity for students to hear from a professional within the field who has experience breaking a huge journalistic exposé. “She went to Grand Valley, she took journalism and other humanities classes, she worked for the Lanthorn, she had an internship and then got a job with the Grand Haven Tribune, ... so it’s definitely possible to do that type of highly impactful work,” Kelly Lowenstein said. “It takes a lot of discipline, it SEE INDYSTAR | A2
PROFILE: Marisa Kwiatkowski, GVSU alumna who helped break the Larry Nassar/ USA Gymnastics scandal, will speak at GVSU. COURTESY | HUB.KELLEY.IUPUI.EDU