Pictured:
Front Row (L-R): Justin Jacqmain (PSY), Jake Dunkerson (HS/OT), Jennica Young (HS), Maddy Searles (HS), Katalin Geeck (PSY), Tim Pionk (PSY)
Back Row (L-R): Evan Nudi (PSY), Dr. Charles Weaver (HS), David Mudd (PSY), Dr. Jeff Smith (HS), Kasey Moritz (PSY), Bob Underly (PSY)

Winning Student Research and Creativity Institute proposals were chosen through a competitive selection process.

More information about the SRCI program can be found on the SRCI website 

Through his project, “The Effect of Globalization on Innovation, Health, and Happiness,” Cohle will study how increased spending by multinational firms impacts technological innovation, health and happiness in the countries in which they operate. Cohle explained that by understanding how large economic shifts impact health, interventions can be implemented to prevent widespread health declines.

About winning a Braun Fellowship, Cohle said, “I am thrilled. This is a great way that I'll be able to give back to the community at SVSU and the, hopefully, the intellectual community at large.”

Cohle joined SVSU in 2021. He holds a Bachelor of Science in economics-mathematics and philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh and master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from the University of Florida.

Tapp Jaksa’s project is “Discovering Wonder: A Science Education Framework for Early Learning,” which is designed to transform science education for very young children – birth to age 3. Tapp’s intention is to create both a comprehensive textbook and educator framework for early science instruction that are aligned to standards Next Generation Science Standards, which begin at kindergarten, and are appropriate for the different developmental stages of children in the age range.

“I chose to focus on birth to kindergarten because young children are natural scientists,” Tapp Jaksa said, “yet science and engineering are still too often overlooked in early childhood settings. The early years are a critical time for curiosity, inquiry, identity formation and rapid brain development, so I believe children deserve rich, equitable science learning opportunities from the very beginning.

In addition to her teaching role at SVSU, Tapp Jaksa is also the co-director of SVSU’s Center for Experience, Research & Design and Usability Research Team. In addition, Tapp Jaksa serves as educator in residence at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and as director of professional development for the University of Michigan Center for Digital Curricula. Tapp Jaksa is in the final year of her term as chair of the board of directors of AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) and also serves on board of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).

Tapp Jaksa joined SVSU in 2002. She holds a Doctor of Education degree from Wayne State University.

The Braun Fellowship program was created in 2005 through a $1.5 million endowment from the Saginaw-based Harvey Randall Wickes Foundation. Administered by the Saginaw Community Foundation, the program's purpose is to recognize the exceptional accomplishments and potential of select SVSU faculty and staff. It is named in honor of the late Ted and Ruth Braun.

Ken Luzynski, assistant professor of biology, and Becca Schlaff, professor of public health, have been announced as the recipients of the Field/Spicer Fellowship in Science and Engineering. This award includes funding of their projects for three years.

Through his project, Mosquito Monitoring in the Mitten, Luzynski’s goal is to establish a testing pipeline at SVSU in coordination with local mosquito control commissions and county health departments. This will allow for real-time monitoring of neuroinvasive diseases like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Nanopore sequencing is much faster than traditional sequencing. Additionally, nanopore sequencers, like the device Luzynski plans to use, are much smaller and more portable than traditional sequencers, meaning they can be used at SVSU or in the field.

Luzynski said the data he collects will be used to develop a predictive model that forecasts potential outbreaks of neuroinvasive diseases, providing a crucial tool for public health decision-making. Components of this project will be integrated into SVSU's undergraduate curriculum, providing students with hands-on research experience and ensuring a continuous, collaborative data collection effort that will benefit the entire community. He anticipates having a reliable pipeline in place by the end of Summer 2027. The ultimate goal is to establish a longer term monitoring program in conjunction with the mosquito controls and regional health departments.

“I am grateful to receive the fellowship award,” Luzynski said. “This fellowship continues his legacy of fostering regional partnerships that benefit the health and well-being of the Saginaw Bay region.”

Luzynski joined SVSU in 2022. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, in Vienna, Austria.

Schlaff’s project is Prenatal Care Promotion and Congenital Syphilis Public Health Messaging. Using data she has collected from pregnant and postpartum women, Schlaff will make recommendations on culturally and linguistically appropriate communications regarding syphilis and congenital syphilis. She will also submit manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication in scholarly journals.

Schlaff said this work is an important element in efforts to improve maternal and child health outcomes throughout the region.

“I am honored to be selected as a Field-Spicer Fellow,” Schlaff said. “This fellowship provides a valuable opportunity to advance my research agenda focused on promoting the importance of prenatal care while developing accessible, evidence-based public health communication materials. Support like this is critical for faculty to engage and mentor students in meaningful research and to translate scholarship into action that improves public health outcomes regionally.

Schlaff served on the faculty of SVSU from 2022 to 2023, returning in 2024. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from SVSU and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
The Field/Spicer Fellowship in Science and Engineering at SVSU was established through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. E. Malcolm Field to promote interdisciplinary work that bridges health sciences, biology, engineering and technology, with a preference for projects focusing on neuroscience.

Many Americans recognize the opening words to the Constitution of the United States, but fewer may know much about the document that expresses the fundamental framework of our system of government.

Saginaw Valley State University invites community members to learn more about the Constitution during a “Writing the Constitution” event on Friday, April 10, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Writing Center, Zahnow Library 250. The event is open to the campus community and the public.

Participants will have the opportunity to copy the United States Constitution by hand while reflecting on the document’s significance as part of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The event is part of a statewide series organized by Michigan Writers.

The event is sponsored by SVSU’s Writing Center and English Department, along with the College Republicans, College Democrats, the national political science honor society Pi Sigma Alpha and Cardinals Vote.

Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to attend. Light snacks will be provided.

For more information, visit .

Written by Donna Hoke and directed by Dave Rzeszutek, SVSU professor of theatre, the production reimagines the beloved story of the March sisters through a modern lens, exploring themes of family, identity and resilience for today’s audiences.

Performances are scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday, April 15-18, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for the public and are free for SVSU students. Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office one hour prior to each performance.

The production will be held in the Malcolm Field Theatre for Performing Arts on SVSU’s campus and is open to the public. 

The cast includes:

• Stephanie Crachiolo, a theatre major from Sterling Heights, in the role of Jo
• Jaiden Gardner, a theatre major from North Branch, in the role of Laurie
• Ella Koenigsknecht, an English education major from Saint Johns, playing Amy
• Isabel Losa, a theatre major from Saginaw, in the role of Beth
• Ann Russell-Lutenske, B.A., 1986, a community member, playing Mom
• Leo Schynk, a theatre major from Cologne, Germany, portraying John
• Addi Williams, a cell biology, molecular biology an biomedical sciences major from Otsego, in the role of Meg

“Little Women…Now” is produced by special arrangement with Stage Partners. For more information about SVSU Theatre productions, visit svsu.edu/theatre.

The state championship event is an economic boon for businesses throughout the community, with past competitions generating more than $4 million in direct spending.

FIRST in Michigan seeks to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators. Their mission is to establish a sustainable robotics competition team at every high school in the state. Teams compete in qualifying district events, with winners being determined by a point system. The 160 top-ranked teams advance to the state championship. Winners at the state level will advance to the FIRST championship in Houston. 

SVSU faculty, staff and students volunteer their time to support local schools and education programs and on campus during the FIRST in Michigan state tournament. 

For more information about the competition at SVSU, visit . 

As part of the relationship, SC4 graduates will also receive guaranteed admission to SVSU, further strengthening a seamless transfer experience for students across the region.

“Expanding educational offerings, degree pathways, internship experiences and more is good for our students, good for our communities, good for our employers and good for our state,” said George Grant Jr, president of Saginaw Valley State University. “Like SC4, we believe that students should be challenged in the classroom — we want them prepared in their career fields — but we want to remove confusion in other areas so students can focus on learning. These agreements are an important step in that direction and will help students build their careers to meet the workforce needs our employers face every day.”

As part of the agreement, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) concurrent pathway agreement was finalized, providing SC4 nursing students with a streamlined, coordinated route to complete their BSN degree at SVSU. This innovative pathway allows students to enroll simultaneously at both institutions, meeting critical workforce needs while accelerating career advancement.

“This initiative is about removing barriers and expanding opportunity,” said SC4 President Kirk Kramer. “Our organizations share a common vision of helping all students prepare for high demand careers. By bringing SVSU programs to the SC4 campus, students can earn advanced degrees close to home, saving time and money while staying connected to their community.”

The MOU establishes a framework for growing academic collaboration, including the development of new degree pathways aligned with regional workforce demands. SC4 and SVSU are currently finalizing the initial programs to be offered, with the goal of launching courses on the SC4 campus in Port Huron as early as this fall.

As the project evolves, additional programs are expected to follow, providing students with expanded options to complete advanced degrees locally. These future offerings will continue to build seamless, student-centered pathways that support educational attainment and strengthen the regional economy.

By combining SC4’s long history — over 100 years — in providing accessible, high-quality education with SVSU’s robust upper-division and graduate programs, the endeavor represents a powerful investment in the future of St. Clair County. Together, the institutions are creating new possibilities for learners — from recent high school graduates to working adults — to achieve their academic and professional goals. The work is perfectly aligned with Michigan’s Sixty by 30 goal, which aims to increase the number of working-age adults with a postsecondary degree or skills certificate to 60% by 2030.

For students throughout the Thumb and beyond, the message is clear: four-year degrees and advanced educational opportunities are coming to Port Huron, strengthening career prospects and the St. Clair County region.

Smalling currently serves as the associate dean for social sciences, overseeing more than 70 faculty members, as well as director of faculty community and belonging, and a professor of social work and family studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Smalling is passionate about creating inclusive, sustainable and intellectually rigorous academic environments where all members of the community thrive in their work and lives. During her 14 years at St. Olaf, she has been deeply involved in initiatives to improve both the academic and cultural aspects of the college, including revision of the general education curriculum, strategic plan creation, Title IX policy revisions and efforts to promote systemic equity and inclusion. Her scholarship focuses on inclusive practice and pedagogy, and she has over 20 years of experience consulting and writing in this area. 

With substantial classroom experience, Smalling has taught courses across the social work curriculum and has served as practicum coordinator and Bachelor of Social Work program director.

A licensed independent social worker, Smalling has 10 years of practice experience working in the arenas of adolescent behavioral health, child welfare and chemical health. 

Smalling completed a bachelor’s degree at St. Olaf, a master’s in social work at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and a Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. She succeeds Marcia Ditmyer, who is retiring from her role as dean; Ditmyer will remain on SVSU’s faculty.

SVSU’s Crystal M. Lange College of Health & Human Services provides a knowledge- and skills-based education, combining theoretical courses with clinical or fieldwork experience components to equip students for careers across the health care field. For more information about SVSU’s College of Health & Human Services, visit svsu.edu/collegeofhealthhumanservices.

Vedantam will present “The Challenge of Change” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

In the lecture, Vedantam will explore why humans — despite intelligence and ingenuity — often struggle to change behaviors, habits and systems, even when change is necessary for success. Drawing on research from neuroscience and psychology, the talk will examine how unconscious thinking shapes decisions and how individuals and organizations can overcome resistance to change.

Vedantam will address questions such as why individuals hesitate to step outside their comfort zones, why organizations struggle to pivot to new opportunities and why leaders and managers often repeat the same mistakes when implementing new initiatives.

In his reporting, Vedantam focuses on human behavior. He is the creator, host and executive editor of “Hidden Brain,” which launched in 2015 and is now one of the world’s most downloaded podcasts. The “Hidden Brain” radio show debuted in 2017 and is broadcast on more than 400 public radio stations across the United States.

He is the author of two nonfiction books: “The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives” and “Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain.”

The lecture is made possible through the Field/Spicer Endowment in Science and Engineering and the Dow Visiting Scholars and Artists Program.

For more information about the University Lecture Season, visit svsu.edu/publiclectures.