This is the first segment of an ongoing series focusing on the outstanding work being done by LSSU faculty and students. Watch in future editions for submissions from other areas of excellence at Lake State.
Front-line workers in the pandemic
The School of Nursing received notification that the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) Board of Commissioners acted at its meeting on September 22-25, 2020, to grant accreditation to the Baccalaureate degree program in Nursing at Lake Superior State University for 10 years, extending to December 31, 2030. Officially recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a national accreditation agency, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is an autonomous accrediting agency, contributing to the improvement of the public’s health. CCNE ensures the quality and integrity of baccalaureate, graduate, and residency programs in nursing. CCNE serves the public interest by assessing and identifying programs that engage in effective educational practices. As a voluntary, self-regulatory process, CCNE accreditation supports and encourages continuing self-assessment by nursing programs and supports continuing growth and improvement of collegiate professional education and nurse residency programs.
Cross-disciplinary learning: Dr. Jason Swedene, Director of the Honors Program, is coordinating an Honors Freshman COVID seminar. Professor Cynthia Butcher from the School of Nursing has been working with the students in this course to address current viral issues related to Covid-19. The students were able to collect cultures of high-touch areas like stairway railings, elevator buttons, and paper money and worked with Dr. Martha Hutchens (School of Science and Medicine) in preparing the agar for the cultures. Dr. Hutchens then incubated the Petri dishes for the students for two weeks, and the resulting cultures were used to demonstrate to the students how to protect themselves from COVID. The cultures were suitably stunning, and likely visually conveyed the importance of handwashing and mask-wearing.This is an excellent example of faculty from various disciplines collaborating across curriculums to engage Honors students in applied learning, relevant to the current pandemic.
Saturday, October 10th was the first Great Lakes Aquaculture Day (GLAD) 2020. A great day of talks was capped with an Aquaculture Seafood Challenge hosted by Elliot Nelson and Titus Seilheimer. Three finalists did a live cookoff in the spirit of Iron Chef with a secret ingredient ginger. One contestant was from Ohio and cooked farmed raised shrimp, the second from Ann Arbor cooked farm raised rainbow trout, and the third Mike Hatten from LSSU cooked Atlantic salmon raised at the LSSU hatchery with basil grown in the Aquaponics Learning Lab. Although Michael did not win, he showed great talent in his cooking skills and choice of ingredients.
LSSU Cannabis Program Update
Since Fall 2019 the inception of Cannabis Business and Cannabis Chemistry Programs…
- 75 LSSU students in Cannabis-related programs have declared this area as their primary or secondary major
- 41 incoming students have a cannabis related primary major.
- An advisory board for the cannabis chemistry program has been established consisting of nine members from cannabis compliance and processing companies, the board will offer guest lectures, fund raise and develop curriculum.
- The advisory board for the cannabis business program has been established with seven members from businesses in the cannabis space including law, environmental compliance, finance, marketing, sales, cultivation, extraction, and law.
- Faculty members in the cannabis chemistry program, Professor Ben Southwell and Dr. Adam Mosey, have offered several cannabis focused courses in their areas of expertise this year, including Cannabis Plant Sample Preparation and Cannabis Separations Chemistry.
- Lukenda School of Business has a new faculty member Dr. Koral Fritz with experience in the cannabis industry through her law practice.
- Agilent Technologies helped equip the LSSU Cannabis Center of Excellence with over $2 million dollars in instrumentation
- LSSU has hosted several guest speakers throughout the semester including; Cambium Analytica of Traverse City, MI, .Steadfast Labs of Hazel Park, MI, LSSU Alumnus Jeff Bolin of Dragun Corp, Kevin Blair of Honigman LLP, Justin Pullin of Advanced Nutrients, Andrea Russel, Cameron Johnson and Jessica Giddings of Hungerford Nichols
- 42 Degrees Processing of Kalkaska, MI a cannabis extraction facility, toured the Cannabis Center of Excellence
- Andrew Brisbo, the Executive Director of the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency, spoke on Marijuana Regulation in Michigan and virtually for an advisory board update on Marijuana in Michigan during the Pandemic.
- There is a Cannabis Studies club made up of students from many majors across campus
Scot Lindemann ’89, of Holland, MI was appointed CEO of Mission Design and Automation, leaving JR Automation’s co-CEO position.
Founded in 2004, Mission Design and Automation designs, builds and integrates custom intelligent automation solutions for a variety of industries, including food and beverage, medical device, transportation/automotive, consumer goods and more.
Lindemann brings with him more than 30 years of leadership in Automation and Robotics. Scot’s passion for intelligent automation, leadership development and customer service will support Mission as they continue their successful growth as a leader in the industrial automation sector.
A Lake Superior State University (LSSU) graduate in Robotic Systems Engineering, he continues to be a great supporter of robotics at LSSU and represents the university well in his directorship of the Robotic Industries Association (RIA). Scot is also one of a limited number of recipients of FANUC’s President’s Circle award. This award, according to FANUC, “This most prestigious award recognizes individuals whose long-term commitment, technical, sales and marketing contributions, and industry leadership have resulted in record-breaking sales and robotic industry growth.” Scot’s community commitment is extensive as well, he was appointed by the governor of Michigan to the LSSU board of Directors and ultimately served as its Chairman. He has also served as a board member and as Chairman of the Board for Lakeshore Advantage, a West Michigan nonprofit economic development organization.