Alumni Association University of Michigan Winter 2010 : Page 38Helping Yourself, Helping Others School of Kinesiology: Exercise, Nutrition andWeight Control “Walk your dog every day—even if you don’t have a dog,” advises Victor Katch, professor of kinesiology and associate professor of pediatric cardiology, to a diverse group of students. From freshmen to graduate students, pharmacy to nursing majors, many take this kinesiology class because they want to learn how to stay healthy. They learn through the study of body mass regulation, which includes an understanding of food, digestion, metabolism and intervention strategies like diet and exercise. Over the course of the semester, students learn how to assess their own health and what to do to improve it. Today, Katch is daring students—all of whom are lean and trim—to live to be 100. Speaking with energy and enthusiasm, he never stands still as he addresses the large lecture. He explains that they should ignore people who tell them not to fidget because those who do lose about seven pounds a year without trying. He laments the demise of a physical education requirement in many public school systems. He suggests ways to begin habits now that will keep young adults fit as they age: “Develop an interest in winter as well as summer sports,” he advises. And he explains the dating game—that is, how to understand expiration labels on food. His talk is sprinkled with tidbits that surprise: “Five pounds of grapes have the same number of calories as a chocolate chip cookie,” he says. “We can actually use what he teaches,” says kinesiology freshman Andrew Powell, describing a current assignment that requires him to calculate how much he eats on a given day and how much energy he expends. “He leads his life off everything we do,” says kinesiology senior Caitlin Koehlinger. “You can tell he has a love of this subject.” The Responsibilities of Big Business Ross School of Business: The Corporation in Society Class begins with a question, typically one that a student poses from a written consideration of the day’s reading. And the debate is on. Students ask if American corporations are responsible to anyone beyond their investors. Do they see a need to help the world’s less fortunate? If so, should the firm make a charitable contribution or somehow create a business model to help them? The debate narrows. Some students believe US corporations should help only those in the United States, even though a poor American may suffer less than a starving citizen of a developing economy. Others wonder why nationality should make a difference if we live in a global economy. Shouldn’t we help those in need? The students in Professor James Walsh’s class jump right in, and Walsh plays devil’s advocate. Students and teacher joke, laugh and tease, all while discussing ideas and ideals. “This class is one of a kind,” says Reem Ayad Al-Katib, a senior in the business school. “It provides a really good contrast to accounting and finance and other technical classes and helps me see why we’re in business school.” LSA senior Aaron Miller says the course made him question the role of business in society. “We have examined everything from how breast cancer fundraisers partnering with corporate sponsors may be killing our concept of philanthropy to the nuts and bolts of providing low-cost hearing aids to people in impoverished India. We constantly debate how we, as the future leaders of America, can push the firm to do more for society or if that is even the job of the firm.” The class is so popular that Walsh once opened it to a larger group of students. But it proved impossible to have the same open participation, so the school allowed him to cap enrollment at 45. That number doesn’t include the occasional executives who visit class. The final projects have included writing an essay for the long-running “This I Believe” series and submitting an op-ed piece to a newspaper. Sometimes, the class travels to China, where they visit factories and meet social activists, governance experts, journalists and executives to get a firsthand look at how business is conducted in another part of the world. “Professor Walsh is engaging and passionate, dedicated to educating a different type of business leader,” says Miller, “someone who can think critically about decisions and put their work in a global social perspective.” The Spaghetti Solution School ofMusic, Theatre & Dance: Introduction to Design On her first day of college, freshman Emily Lyon found herself gluing together spaghetti in Associate Professor Rob Murphy’s class, which exposes students to scenic and costume design for theater and opera. “Rob’s experience and personality add extra character to the already quirky class,” says Lyon, a psychology major. “The class eases you into learning the techniques, but instantly drops you into defending and critiquing your work as well as others'. Let me tell you, gluing spaghetti together in an interesting way is harder than you think. … No matter what your issue is, Rob can probably fix it or give you another angle to see things from.” Murphy says he tries to “get all the creative juices you had when you were a kindergartener back into gear.” Students take on a variety of projects—a dream or nightmare fantasy, a scene from a play or even drawing on a boot. “Working on a 3-D object is like working on an actor and useful for costume design,” Murphy explains. Today, each student is given a photo, randomly picked from an art book, and told to let it influence a project. “A director might come with a piece of artwork that doesn’t make any sense to you and ask you to let it suggest a design,” Murphy says. He 38 | Michigan Alumnus • Winter 2010 • umalumni.com Publication List |
