Wednesday
April 21, 2004
Vol 1, No 40

1. Student-designed infant crib on market by year's end
2. Business students win regionals, head to nationals
3. Math Day to draw 150 high school students to Metro
4. Management Department among hosts of business seminar
5. Do you know Debe Bell?

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1. Student-designed infant crib on market by year's end

A group of industrial design students have designed a new infant crib that they believe will reduce the number of infant deaths and injuries caused by unsafe cribs.

"Each year four million babies are born in the U.S., yet only one million new cribs are sold, meaning that the vast majority of infants end up in used, and often unsafe, cribs," said Industrial Design Adjunct Professor Glenn Aaron. To read more go to
http://www.mscd.edu/%7Ecollcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol1/crib_twv1042104.htm

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2. Business students win regionals, head to nationals

Metro State's Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the regional competition earlier this month, earning a trip to the national competition in Kansas City May 23-25.

"This is the first time a Metro SIFE team has ever advanced to nationals," said Marketing Professor Mick Jackowski, who co-advises the team with Ken Huggins, chair of the Finance Department. Among the teams Metro defeated at regionals were Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Kansas State University and a team of doctoral students from the University of New Mexico.

Founded in 1975 and active on more than 1,500 college and university campuses in 37 countries, SIFE is a national organization promoting free enterprise to improve the quality of life and standard of living around the world. SIFE students take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations, using their knowledge to better their communities through educational outreach projects.

Metro SIFE touched the Denver community this year in several ways, including a Career Symposium at Mullen and West high schools, where Metro students taught financial planning, basic interviewing skills, professional dress and business ethics to the students.

At competition, teams are judged on how well their projects taught others the principles of free enterprise.

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3. Math Day to draw 150 high school students to Metro

The Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences hosts its annual Math Day for local high school students today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Tivoli Turnhalle.

This year's event will attract nearly 150 math students from 16 Denver metro-area high schools for three competition sessions.

According to Patricia McKenna, professor of mathematical science and event chair, Math Day is a good recruiting tool for Metro State. The goal of the day is to show students that math is fun and that Metro is a great place to study math.

"It's a great atmosphere," McKenna said. "Students are in a room with all these people who like to do math."

The first competition session begins at 9 a.m. and features students building a surprise project. The geometry session begins at 10:30 a.m., and the algebra competition starts at 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome to watch the competitions.

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4. Management Department among hosts of business seminar

Metro State's Management Department is among the hosts of a management seminar Friday being presented by the creator of a management philosophy called the "Theory of Constraints." While the seminar is open only to company CEOs and other top management, Metro’s involvement could lead to learning and teaching opportunities for students and faculty.

The Viable Vision Seminar, featuring Eli Goldratt, represents a rare opportunity for business leaders to see Goldratt, who introduced his "Theory of Constraints" in the mid-1980s in a book titled "The Goal."

According to the Theory of Constraints, every company has a weak link in its processes that holds it back from success. To improve company performance, the theory holds, all improvement efforts are focused on that one weak link.

Metro's connection to the seminar is through Associate Management Professor Russ Johnson, an expert in the theory who first started working with it in the mid-80s.

Johnson teaches Manufacturing and Service Management as well as Project Management and incorporates the Theory of Constraints into the curriculum along with more traditional management ideas.

"When students enter the workforce, their supervisors may not have heard of the 'Theory of Constraints'," Johnson said. "I try to give to prepare students so that they can either make an alternate suggestion based on the theory or do it the way their supervisor wants it done."

Johnson hopes that Friday's seminar leads to greater awareness in the local business community about the theory and that it results in opportunities for Metro students and faculty.

"It could lead to student internships and perhaps an opportunity for Metro to provide some training on the theory," he said.

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5. Do you know Debe Bell?

When not working with students and staff in Metro's Chemistry Department, lab coordinator and adjunct faculty member Debe Bell enjoys the quiet, relaxed nature of her Six Bell Farms in Aurora.

Bell, who has been breeding animals for 20 years, breeds mostly rabbits these days, in addition to some chickens and turkeys. She recently introduced a new and rare breed of rabbit, with a lion-like mane around its face, at this year's National Western Stock Show. To read more go to
http://www.mscd.edu/%7Ecollcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol1/bell_twv1042104.htm

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@Metro is an electronic news bulletin distributed every Wednesday to all faculty, staff and administrators at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
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