Torch News Briefs

Vice president for student affairs announces retirement

Daniel Burcham, vice president for student affairs, has announced his retirement after serving more than 40 years at Ferris. It will take effect March 31, 2013.

Throughout the 43 years Burcham has served Ferris, he has held a number of positions including developmental education department head, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, dean of enrollment services and acting provost.  

Nationally-known educator to visit Jim Crow Museum

On Thursday, Nov. 15, Henry Louis Gates Jr. will visit Ferris’ Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia to film a piece of a six-part series “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” for PBS.

According to University Advancement and Marketing, “Gates is a nationally-known educator, cultural and literary critic, scholar and writer.”

For the segment filmed at Ferris, “Gates plans to focus on reconstruction, the Jim Crow era and the lynching of African Americans as a form of economic and political terrorism.”

Native American Heritage Month celebrated

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, the Office of Multicultural Student Services and the Circle of Tribal Nations will host the event “My Culture Is Not a Costume: Perceptions and Perspectives,” which is designed to provide an understanding of the diversity, perspectives and traditions of Native American tribes.

According to University Advancement and Marketing, “the event will be a facilitated open discussion about Native American perceptions and perspectives in the media and the community.”

It will begin at 11 a.m. in IRC 120.

Award-winning artist featured at Rankin Art Gallery

“Journey: Life from the Inside Out,” an exhibit of works by award-winning Kendall College of Art and Design graduate Shelley Newman Stevens, is now showing in the Rankin Art Galley.

The exhibit will last until Nov. 20 and will feature figurative oil paintings.

Stevens graduated with her Masters of Fine Art from Kendall in 2004. She now works as an assistant professor in the Fine Arts Department at Central Michigan University and is a studio artist at Golden Apple Studio in Mount Pleasant.