
Dear Colleagues:
We are at the close of fall semester. It has been a wonderfully productive few months for our campus community—students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Before we close for the holidays, I want to take just a few moments to recap some of our accomplishments and look ahead to some happenings that will mark the coming new year.
With the Board of Trustees endorsement of the medical school planning process at its November meeting, we’ll be moving swiftly ahead into the next phase of work on that front. We’ve also received an anonymous gift of $1.8 million to help us continue our efforts.
Soon after the start of the new year, we will initiate a search for a dean pro tem and meet in Chicago with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to begin the accreditation process. This is an initiative that is still in its beginning stages, but we’re looking at a step forward that, if taken, has tremendous potential to both build our University and boost our region’s economic development.
The past few months have brought significant progress and recognition for our sustainability efforts and our focus on the environment.
In October, Congressman Fred Upton came to campus to announce that our green manufacturing work would receive a $1 million earmark from the federal government.
Dr. John Patten, chair of manufacturing engineering and director of the WMU Center for Manufacturing Research, directs that work, which is focused on collaborating with area manufacturers, especially smaller businesses, to help them build greater energy efficiency into their manufacturing processes and promote recycling of materials to further reduce costs.
Also in October, the annual Sustainable Endowments Institute Report Card placed WMU in an elite cadre of 80 institutions nationwide that it calls ‘Campus Sustainability Leaders.’
The University is one of only two Michigan universities in the group.
In November, we learned that ongoing geosciences work in carbon sequestration on our campus will see a $601,158 boost in federal support for research that could help Michigan become one of the nation’s leaders in capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions below the earth’s surface.
That work is led by Dr. Dave Barnes with Drs. Bill Harrison and Duane Hampton, and graduate students and staff in the Department of Geosciences and the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education.
And we’ve just learned that our campus has been recertified by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus. We’re one of just two campuses in the state to hold that coveted designation, which honors those schools that have made a “major commitment to protecting, caring for and adding to their campus forests.”
Our Landscape Services group deserves our thanks for making our campus both beautiful and eligible for this award.

Contributions soar past our campus goal.
This is the season of giving and this year’s economic problems have created huge pockets of need in our community. With that thought in mind, I could not be more proud of this campus community’s response to the increased need in our area. The University’s contributions to the Greater Kalamazoo United Way soared past our campus goal of $240,000 and surpassed the $260,000 mark.
Our campus truly showed what it means to “Live United,” and I thank you for your generosity. That spirit of generosity and sharing continues to be in evidence on the campus this holiday season in a number of other ways.
Commencement is this weekend, Dec. 19, and, as is always the case, I’m looking forward to celebrating this milestone of success with our students. I am deeply appreciative of the number of faculty members who have committed to being at their respective college ceremonies. Faculty presence makes the day even more meaningful for our graduating seniors. Time and again families tell us how moved they are by that showing of care and commitment.
Saturday’s noon commencement ceremony will include a graduate with a compelling personal history. Tererai Trent, who will receive her doctoral degree in interdisciplinary evaluation, is from Zimbabwe and has overcome incredible obstacles to reach the level of achievement she will celebrate on Saturday. Her story has been chronicled on the pages of the New York Times, in a new book, “Half the Sky,” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and on the “Oprah Winfrey Show.” It’s a wonderful story, and I invite you to familiarize yourself with it and share it widely.
Before our spring semester is even under way, our students will be busy competing and demonstrating their accomplishments in two venues.

“Good Death,” an original piece, from the Department of Theatre.
Linda and I wish you all the very best this holiday season. Enjoy the time away and take advantage of the opportunity to rest and recharge. Our Board of Trustees and I hope to convey that message to you in person at the campus holiday reception set for 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, in the Bernhard Center ballrooms.
John M. Dunn
President