University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 98 text:

A biker rides past the Life Sciences Building on the new pedestrian bridge across Washtenaw. The bridge was built to make the new buildings more accessible for students who lived in the Hill area by Couzens Residence Hall-. 4. Kaminsky photo Zhao. Theta life fauces faculty KMT whereto been to Espw ones,iii)sb wjs projects fiieri devoted to Women in ! advisor tod nave very IT spread out. Mcesstnl radunc A faculty member of the new Life Sciences Building gives a tour to a group of University Research Opportunity Program (UROP) members. Students were eager to learn what was inside, especially those who lived through the many years of construction. . Neff photo 94 Academics

Page 97 text:

w hile the Musical Theatre Program was one of the most highly acclaimed of its kind in the country, due to its small size many students were unfamiliar or unaware of its existence. The program allowed students to study theatre, dance, and music simultaneously, unlike many other schools across the country. The program was very competitive, with a total enrollment of about 80 students and accepting 20 to 22 new students each year. Students in the department were able to integrate different areas of study in order to diversify their educations. Courses were focused on and devoted to: voice and performance, scene study, audition techniques, career opportunities, musical theatre history, choreography, musical theatre dance and cabaret performance. An important component of the program was the stress on academic counseling for the first four semesters of enrollment, which allowed students to evaluate their progress and provided guidance for future study. Many opportunities for performance in outlets such as revues, Broadway musicals, operettas, and other works were offered. However, public performances were limited for first-year students, as they devoted more of their time to developing techniques in voice, dancing and acting, along with their academic requirements. This year students had the opportunity to participate in the world premiere of a new musical entitled Luck by Brad Ross and Mark Waldrop, two New York writers who visited the University for the performances. The show opened on December 4 in the Trueblood Theatre in the Frieze Building and ran throughout the weekend. Luck, based on a story by Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer, is the story of how good luck and bad luck play a part in everyone ' s life, stated Brent Wagner, the director of the show. The spring production,Jesi Christ Superstar, was staged by faculty Linda Goodrich and opened on April 15 th in the Power Center. Graduates of the Musical Theatre program pursued varied paths. Many ventured to New York City or Los Angeles to pursue careers, but others opted for opportunities in graduate study, to work for non-profit agencies, or in television. The Senior Showcase was an excellent advantage to having a degree in Musical Theatre, where graduating seniors presented scenes for casting directors and agents in New York City. Graduates have appeared in Broadway or other touring productions of shows such as Miss Saigon, the Phantom of the Opera, Candide, and Rent; many also appeared in productions for non-profit theatres such as the Old Globe Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, and Theatreworks USA. students make dance and song part of their core curriculum Musical Theatre 93

Page 99 text:

900 million dollar project to improve life sciences was projected to be completed in the fall of 2005. The construction of the Life Sciences buildings that had dominated Palmer Field area was beginning to take shape and open new facilities. The construction distorts the image of the University. I can ' t wait until it ' s over so I can actually use the facilities and make the University look more traditional, said freshman biology major Michelle Zhao. Although similar feelings were shared by other students, they would be comforted to know that the project ' s completion was just around the corner. The first of the buildings scheduled to open was the Life Sciences Institute. The largest of the three sites, the Life Sciences Institute was a six story, 230,000 square foot laboratory.This SI 10,000 project held offices and labs for faculty research projects. The building was designed to encourage departments to collaborate and share work space, housing the chemistry, genetics, and cell biology research departments. Karl Bates, Director of Communications, explained, You need physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, mathematics to find how the living cell works. That ' s where disease occurs. That ' s a very difficult, dynamic complex environment and no one scientific discipline has been able to figure it out. So what [the University] decided to do was, ' let ' s put all these different people together in this new space. ' That ' s what this building supposed to do. Expected to open in early 2004 was the Commons, located next door to the Life Sciences Institute. Also six stories, this building was to become a space for offices, lecture auditoriums, and a food court. The construction cost was projected around $32 million. The first event that took place in the Commons was a national conference held by a group called Students Exploring the Life Sciences and Society, in early March. The final addition to the Palmer Drive site was the Undergraduate Science Building. This building was devoted to the science learning communities including the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, Women in Science and Engineering, and the Life Sciences, Values and Society Program. As an academic peer advisor for UROP, junior mechanical and aerospace engineering major Adam Brezezinski commented, We don ' t have very much room [in the office] and there is a lot of stuff going on in the office. It would be really nice to spread out. We would have a lot more places to have private conversations, more computers, and just more resources in general. At a cost of $62 million, this L -shaped building sat on top of a 1,100 space parking garage. Bates summed up the importance of the buildings when he stated, It ' s right in the heart of all the other life sciences stuff and its kind of a neat location for it. So the three buildings taken together are a complete package of research and teaching, and collaborating to talk about research and teaching. life sciences institute brings new research and teaching Life Sciences Institute 95