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GV LOOKS AHEAD TO THE FUTURE NEW DEVELOPMENTAL PLAN SETS GOALS UNTIL 2021
Envision: Grand Valley State University, President Thomas Haas, faculty and students are looking ahead to the coming years and the direction the university will take as it continues to expand. The previous strategic plan will end in 2015, and the new plan will increase the focus of the university to it students and the curriculum. BY AUDRA GAMBLE NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
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s Grand Valley State University begins to look ahead to the upcoming fall semester and the return of the bulk of its students, the university is also looking even further into the future. The university is finalizing its developmental plan for 2016-2021, as the current developmental plan will end in 2015. According to a recent interview President Thomas Haas did with MiBiz.com, the university will focus more on its students and curriculum. A committee has been working on the new plan since the fall of last year.
“We have made very good progress in the past four years on our eight goals,” said Julia Guevara, associate vice president of academic affairs, accreditation, assessment and strategic planning. “Current feedback suggests all will be met on schedule. Moving forward into the 2016-2021 period, we believe five outcomes will provide another strong framework for action and allow us to be even more united in our focus.” A mix of individuals has been involved in creating the long-term plan for the university. “Our strategic plan starts with the board of trustees,” Guevara said. “After that, the process engages students, faculty, staff and institutional ad-
ministrators, under the guidance of an institution-wide strategic positioning committee led by the associate vice president of assessment, accreditation and strategic planning. The SPC has membership from across the institution at all levels including students. Students are an essential group in the creation of the plan.” President Haas is planning on being at GVSU for a long time, so he is invested in making sure the future of GVSU is bright. “We have drafted a vision statement that actually turns our former vision statement completely around,” Haas said to MiBiz.com. “Before it was focused just in the university per se, but now what we have in our vision statement is, first
and foremost, a focus on our students and student success. That’s going to lead us very well into these next five years.” Some of the focuses of the new strategic plan are to increase diversity, create an inclusive learning environment, internalize the curriculum and maximize learning opportunities for students. Additionally, many of the goals for 2016-2021 will be result-oriented so that university community members can track visible improvement in the university. “There are many areas in which the 2016-2021 strategic plan will be aspirational, where the university will be looking for measurable growth and change in its performance, including the performance of its
undergraduate and graduate students,” Guevara said. While the plan is still under construction, students will soon see the university act in a manner that corresponds with its new vision. “Look at how we spend our money, who we hire, who we recruit and admit as students, the degrees we offer, who graduates and how teaching and learning are supported and you will see our strategic plan in action now and for the foreseeable future,” Guevara said. For Haas, he’s focused on a stronger support for GVSU students and their long-term success. “We’re going to provide a commitment to our students with an inclusive learning environment,” he said.
“We’re going to look at the skills necessary for life-long, productive careers. “As a university, we’re going to be known as innovative, and for our outstanding teaching and scholarships and especially community engagement and the stewardship of our resources.” As for where the developmental plan creators see the university at the end of 2021, they see GVSU as a cuttingedge institution. “GVSU will continue to be one of the key hubs for knowledge creation and learning in Michigan,” Guevara said. “(GVSU) will remain on the cutting edge of technologies driving learning and teaching. (The university) will be fully SEE FUTURE ON A2
Reinventing ramen OneBowl at a time “As a kid and growing up, I didn’t really spend much time building things besides Legos – I did love those,” Herd said. “My mentality, rather, has always been to solve problems. Whenever I experienced something that was annoying, too slow, or too hard, I would come up with a solution. If it worked for me it could work for everyone else too, and there you go, you have an invention.” The OneBowl allows people to cook, strain, eat and store food all in one bowl. It is microwave safe with a built-in strainer and a snap on lid. Keeping in mind his burnt fingers from the days of straining water with a fork – Herd never owned a strainer, saying it took up too much space – he created the bowl with a rotating handle. When turned 45 degrees, the handle opens up the strainer at the bottom of the bowl
BY CARLY SIMPSON
ASSOCIATE@LANTHORN.COM
COURTESY | JUSTIN HERD
L Entrepreneurial spirit: The OneBowl, invented by GVSU alumnus Justin Herd, can cook, strain and store noodles.
ike many other college students, Justin Herd had his fair share of ramen noodles and mac and cheese while in school. The Grand Valley State University alumnus calls it the “ramen every day” diet. Recently, Herd developed a bowl he hopes will make this diet a little bit easier for other college students also on the noodle regimen. During Herd’s senior year at GVSU, after a packet of chicken-flavored Maruchan ramen noodles, he began to wonder why he needed a pot, a strainer, a bowl and a Tupperware container just to make one packet of noodles. He grabbed a napkin and started sketching an idea. Eight months later the OneBowl was created.
GV students receive $163,000 from GRCF BY SARAH HILLENBRAND EDITORIAL@LANTHORN.COM
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or students preparing to attend or currently enrolled at a university, there are many scholarship opportunities available. The Grand Rapids Community Foundation awards numerous scholarships to Grand Valley State University students – especially those who live in the area or have financial need. This year, GVSU students have received $163,000 in GRCF scholarships out of the roughly $1 million that was given by the foundation – the largest amount awarded to any
Michigan university. “Most of our scholarships focus on Kent County residents because donors want to focus on helping students in the area,” said Ruth Bishop, the education program officer for GRCF. Bishop said that since many Kent County residents attend GVSU, it makes sense that the university would give more scholarships to those students instead of those at other Michigan universities. She also added that the foundation receives many more applications from GVSU students than from students of other universities. Lori Dykstra, the public relations and marketing in-
tern for the GRCF, said that about 80 percent of scholarships awarded went to students from Michigan colleges. The foundation received 2,167 scholarship applications this year, and has awards ranging from $500 to $10,000. “None of our scholarships are specific to Grand Valley,” Bishop said. “Many donors want to support students from the area who attend local colleges.” Students apply for these scholarships by completing a general online application that is on the GRCF website. Different selection committees then SEE SCHOLARSHIP ON A2
to drain the noodles while keeping the hot water away from his hands. “I think this product will appeal to college students because we know how much of a staple noodles are to starving students on a budget,” Herd said. “It is my hope that they will enjoy the convenience of the product, saving storage space and washing less (sic) dirty dishes.” Herd thought of the idea for the OneBowl a few days before starting ENT 350: Entrepreneurial Business Plan with professor Sam Hogg. He contributes much of his product’s success to the class, which helped take him through the steps from ideation to reality. Herd worked with a product design engineer at GVSU to make a computer aided design (CAD) model for the original prototype, SEE ONEBOWL ON A2
GV involved in lawsuit BY AUDRA GAMBLE
NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
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rand Valley State University is currently involved in a pending lawsuit in which two students are suing the university for what they feel was a wrongful accusation of academic dishonesty. The two students, Ashley Strong and Erin Jurek, were taking MTH 345, Discrete Mathematics, together in the summer of 2013 when their professor accused them of working together on a take-home exam.
The students are also accusing the professor, Jonathan Hodge, of sexual harassment. According to a statement the students’ lawyer made to the Grand Rapids Press, the students had similar answers on the exam because they had studied together previously. Hodge refused comment on the litigation, stating it would be inappropriate to speak about a pending case. However, Mary Eilleen Lyon, associate vice president of university communications issued the following statement: “We have students who
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were found to have violated the academic honesty policy. The university intends to vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit.” At the time of publication, the students’ lawyer, Scott Erskine, has not commented to the Lanthorn about the case. Short and Jurek were both placed on “disciplinary probation” for their remaining time at GVSU. Additionally, Jurek was suspended for the entirety of the fall 2013 semester. The lawsuit was filed on May 27 at U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
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