State legislators to attend TRIO Day
Feb. 13, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- Six state legislators from Southwest Michigan will join WMU in "Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Planning for the Future" by participating in TRIO Day 2001 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19, in the Fetzer Center.
Scheduled to attend are: Rep. Patricia Birkholz of Saugatuck, Rep. Alexander C. Lipsey of Kalamazoo, Rep. Mary Ann Middaugh of Paw Paw, Rep. Mark Schauer of Battle Creek, Sen. Dale L. Shugars of Portage, and Rep. Jerry Vander Roest of Galesburg.
More than 170 students, higher education personnel and community members were invited to be part of this year's celebration, which will feature a luncheon, student awards ceremony, and keynote address by Tendaji Ganges, executive director of Educational Opportunity Initiatives at the University of Michigan.
WMU is sponsoring TRIO Day in collaboration with Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor and Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac. Dr. Elson S. Floyd, WMU president, will address the gathering along with Dr. Richard J. Pappas, president of LMC, and Dr. Marshall E. Bishop, president of SMC.
WMU has been playing host to the event since 1999. It showcases a series of seven federally funded educational opportunity programs--collectively called TRIO--as well as recognizes students who have excelled in the TRIO programs offered by WMU, LMC and SMC.
All TRIO programs are designed to help students overcome class, social, academic and cultural barriers to higher education. The only requirement is that more than two-thirds of participating students come from low-income families, where neither parent graduated from college. Several higher education institutions around the nation have contract to provide the programs in their respective areas.
WMU offers four TRIO programs. The Academic Skills Center directs the Student Support Program, which is for WMU undergraduates, while the Division of Multicultural Affairs directs the Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math/Science programs, both of which support ninth through 12th grade high school students, and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Scholars Program, which supports undergraduate WMU students who plan to pursue graduate degrees.
Media contact: Jeanne Baron, 616 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu