6/27/2003

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A recent inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame will be the new director of the Michigan State University School of Journalism.

The MSU Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Jane Briggs-Bunting as new director of the school at its meeting today.

Briggs-Bunting comes to MSU from Oakland University, where she has served as a faculty member and director of the journalism program since 1982. That includes a nine-year stint as chair of the Department of Rhetoric, Communication and Journalism.

"Jane Briggs-Bunting has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, a professor and a defender of press freedoms and citizen access to public information," said James D. Spaniolo, dean of the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences. "We welcome her with great enthusiasm."

Briggs-Bunting also is a media law attorney and has authored three media law books. In April 2003 she was inducted into the prestigious Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.

She earned both her bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Detroit.

Briggs-Bunting's appointment, which includes a tenured professorship in the School of Journalism, is effective Aug. 1.

Bids and contracts awarded

The Board awarded a contract in the amount of $1.9 million to Lansing-based Superior Electric for a lighting renovation project. The project involves the installation of new energy saving fluorescent lamps, as well as electronic fluorescent ballasts and lamp sockets. Savings from the project could total more than $200,000 annually.

The Board also awarded a contract worth $4.7 million to the Christman Co. of Lansing for renovation work on the Physics-Astronomy Building. The building is being renovated to house the Department of Psychology. The building has been vacant since the Department of Physics and Astronomy moved to the new Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building last year.

In addition, the Board approved the hiring of SmithGroup of Detroit to serve as architect/engineer for construction of a livestock research facility. When completed, the 9,200-square-foot Animal Science Laboratory will be vital to MSU research in animal genomics and biotechnology.

Externally funded research

The Board accepted gifts, grants and contracts, donated to the university between May 24 and June 17, totaling $25 million. That brings the amount of gifts and grants to MSU for fiscal year 2002-03 to $295,552,606.

Among the larger grants accepted by the Board:

• A grant of $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Education to help fund a federal work study program.
  
  
• $535,100 from St. Mary's Mercy Medical Center to the Department of Psychiatry for a residency program.
  
  
• A National Science Foundation grant of $512,124 to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering for a software development project. The goal of the project, which is directed by Betty H.C. Cheng, professor of computer science and engineering, is to develop techniques and tools to support the development of correct software.
  
  
• $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to the School of Criminal Justice to fund the Regional Community Policing Institute. The Institute is a partnership between MSU and police agencies across the state. Its mission is to help develop community policing programs within Michigan communities.