ROTC hero / Carter Center internship / Diversity award / 

Neuroscience poster competition / Social injustice posters

ROTC cadet featured as hero in war on terror

CMU Army Cadet and Warren senior Clarence Ketterer was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to be featured on “Heroes in the War on Terror,” a program that highlights military men and women who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in the global war on terror.

 

Ketterer received a Bronze Star with Valor in October 2005 for saving numerous lives when he came to the aid of Iraqi soldiers who had been attacked by a suicide bomber and were then the target of an ambush.

 

He organized a defensive position to fight back while helping to evacuate injured soldiers from the kill zone, lifting them into an ambulance he led in and out of the battlefield. Ketterer also was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal for his efforts.

 

“It feels pretty good to be selected for this program, although I think there are a lot of other soldiers that are more deserving,” Ketterer said.

 

He began his Army career in CMU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in 1999 and served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from June 2005 to June 2006 with the 1^st Battalion, 125^th Infantry Regiment of the Michigan Army National Guard.

 

“From his role as a Staff Sergeant, Cadet Ketterer is a great trainer, the best we have in our program,” said Army Maj. Gregg Mays, chairman of CMU’s department of military science. “His experience has made him more savvy than most of our other cadets, and he alone is impacting all of the others in our program. Through their interactions with him, he is teaching them about what it is like to be deployed.”

 

Ketterer will graduate from CMU in August with a double major in sociology and history. He will become a second lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps for at least three years and also plans to pursue a master’s degree in hospital administration.

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MPA student selected for prestigious Carter Center internship

When graduate student Kebenzikato Adjeya, Pawubadi (Jay) moved to the United States in 2001, he couldn’t exchange simple greetings in English. Now he is completing an internship with the prestigious Carter Center in Atlanta.

 

The Carter Center, which aims to advance human rights and alleviate unnecessary human suffering, was founded by former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

 

“I chose the Carter Center because they are doing an outstanding job in democracy and health programs in the West African regions where I am from,” said Jay, who will graduate from CMU in July with a Master of Public Administration degree.

 

As an intern for the center’s Democracy Program, some of his responsibilities include monitoring the progress of ongoing projects in Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Guinea; writing political and social news updates; writing program progress updates; serving as a French/English and English/French translator in official meetings with foreign government officials; and translating documents.

 

A native speaker of French, Jay worked tirelessly to learn English with the goal of enrolling in an American graduate program. He achieved that goal in 2006 and enrolled in CMU’s off-campus program in Atlanta.

 

“I didn’t want to take online classes. I wanted a traditional school setting in a format that would still allow me to keep my work schedule, and only CMU fulfilled those requirements,” he said.

 

Born and raised in a rural part of the West African country of Togo, Jay learned English through a combination of reading books, watching the news and immersing himself in the language.

 

“The TV is an amazing tool to learn English,” he said.

 

Jay has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public and international law from the University of Benin (now called University of Lome) in Togo. He taught at an international institute in Lome and worked in the media before coming to the U.S.

 

After graduating from CMU, Jay plans to continue working in the United States for an international nonprofit organization and hopes to eventually secure a job with the Department of State.

 

“My enrollment in CMU’s MPA program opened the door to a whole new world: the American society and a new teaching style that gives you not only academic training but also real life experience,” said Jay. “The latter aspect of the training is an amenity of the U.S. educational system that I value the most. I am really happy that I went back to school.”  

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Recent graduate wins CMU diversity award

December political science graduate Gloria Owens, MPA ’07, of Detroit received CMU’s President’s Diversity Excellence Award in recognition of her efforts to advance diversity on- and off-campus.

 

In addition to serving on the university’s diversity and multicultural board, various planning committees and panel discussions, Owens organized a reception for incoming graduate students. She also was a keynote speaker for one of CMU’s “Speak Up Speak Out” forums and has advocated diversity within curricula and on-campus organizations.

 

“It’s always exciting to be recognized for your talents, but as a true advocate for diversity it was my pleasure to participate and be a voice for minority students,” said Owens, who plans to work with student affairs at the university level.

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Neuroscience student places second in national poster competition

Psychology senior Matt Bombard of Commerce Township was awarded second place in a national neuroscience poster competition for his research on genetically engineered stem cells during the Society for Neuroscience Conference in San Diego in November.

 

The competition, sponsored by the German Graduate Schools of Neuroscience and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, included 92 posters from undergraduate students across the country.

 

The top five finalists were selected by judges based on each poster’s methodological approach, degree of difficulty, verifiability of data, contribution to new knowledge, layout, design and the student’s ability to answer questions.

 

“It was truly shocking to do so well in this prestigious competition. This award has formed connections and communication with other researchers that will only foster further research success here at CMU,” Bombard said.

 

Following graduation, Bombard plans to pursue a master’s degree in neuroscience at CMU, followed by medical school to pursue a career as a neurosurgeon.

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Posters examine social injustice

A poster exhibit featuring works by students in Central Michigan University’s ANT/SOC 101: Social Justice in a Global Society course were on display in December in the Charles V. Park Library Extended Study Hours area.

 

Each of the posters summarized the students’ semester-long assignment of researching a social injustice and taking action to address it. The topics included human trafficking, poverty, global warming and child soldiers.

 

The course, taught by Tara Hefferan, is part of the new Global Justice minor offered through the sociology, anthropology and social work department.

 

 

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