Many col­lege fresh­men have been feel­ing the pres­sures and chal­lenges of pay­ing for their edu­ca­tion more than ever.

According to a national sur­vey of fresh­men done by the University of California Los Angeles, the impacts of the eco­nomic down­turn are becom­ing over­whelm­ing for many stu­dents. Although the fresh­men at Ferris State University were not included in the sur­vey, the pres­sure is no less for them. (more…)

Eighty per­cent of all job open­ings aren’t adver­tised; most peo­ple get jobs through rec­om­men­da­tion. Three Career Fairs are hap­pen­ing through­out the week as a chance for stu­dents and alumni to meet future employers.

Ferris State University’s Career Services Spring 2012 Career Fair is held through­out the week of March 26–30. The com­mu­nity event is an oppor­tu­nity for stu­dents to learn skills that will pre­pare them for their future career. There are three Career Fairs dur­ing Career Week: Virtual Public Service Career Fair, Healthcare Career Fair and Business and Technology Career Fair. Many top employ­ers are par­tic­i­pat­ing in these events includ­ing Goodman, Enterprise, Buhler and Walbridge. (more…)

\In cel­e­bra­tion of Women’s History Month, the Torch is high­light­ing moments in our 70-year his­tory impact­ing the lives of women at Ferris State University.

Since first being acknowl­edged as Women’s History Week in 1978, Women’s History Month has become an oppor­tu­nity to show­case the con­tri­bu­tions women have made in our soci­ety. It’s believed that a glance in our past is also a look into our future. (more…)

Recently, Ferris State University President David Eisler announced he will be inter­view­ing for a pres­i­dency posi­tion at Northern Kentucky University, but there is no cer­tainty yet if he will get the position.

There was an arti­cle on the Torch web­site last week regard­ing Eisler’s announce­ment. The Torch spoke with President Eisler to learn his thoughts on inter­view­ing for a posi­tion at another uni­ver­sity. (more…)

Damaged wipers

March 18 at 7:45 a.m., com­plaint of a vehi­cle dam­aged in Lot 11. Windshield wipers were dam­aged on the parked car.

Marijuana usage

March 17 at 8:45 a.m., offi­cers located peo­ple using mar­i­juana in Lot 5. Two sub­jects were referred to the Office of Student Conduct. (more…)

Ferris State University stu­dents earn awards

The stu­dent orga­ni­za­tion You Beautiful Black Woman and four FSU stu­dents were hon­ored for mak­ing a dif­fer­ence on cam­pus and in the com­mu­nity dur­ing an event on March 20.

The event, “A Tribute to Women,” cel­e­brated Women’s History Month. It included pre­sen­ta­tions from orga­ni­za­tions that show­cased the con­tri­bu­tions that women have made to soci­ety. It took place in the Rankin Student Center and was pre­sented by FSU’s Office of Multicultural Student Services.

The stu­dents who won awards were nom­i­nated by fac­ulty and staff mem­bers for mak­ing out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions toward the image and issues of women on cam­pus and in the com­mu­nity, accord­ing to uni­ver­sity wide news.

The Big Event approaching

The university’s largest student-run vol­un­teer project, the Big Event, will take place on Saturday, April 14.

There will be meet­ings held for a group’s main con­tact per­son on Wednesday, March 28 at 6 p.m. and also one on Thursday, March 29 at 11 a.m. Wednesday’s meet­ing will take place in the Dome Room, and Thursday’s meet­ing will take place in the Rankin Student Center, room 252.

If you are an inde­pen­dent vol­un­teer, there will be a sep­a­rate meet­ing held on Tuesday, April 3 in Rankin, room 252.

The Big Event is a way for Ferris Students to say thank you to the community.

New gift for engi­neer­ing tech­nol­ogy students

AutoForm Engineering recently pro­vided a new level of access to tool design and metal form­ing tech­nol­ogy to engi­neer­ing tech­nol­ogy stu­dents at FSU.

According to the uni­ver­sity wide notices, AutoForm “has donated annually-renewing licenses for stu­dents’ use of its soft­ware, a gift val­ued at $1.6 mil­lion.” This dona­tion guar­an­tees stu­dents in related majors will always have access to the best soft­ware tools.

AutoForm is a lead­ing provider of soft­ware for “prod­uct man­u­fac­tura­bil­ity, tool and mate­r­ial cost cal­cu­la­tion, die face design and vir­tual process optimization.”

Criminal jus­tice stu­dents offered new scholarship

James and Kathy McCandless, par­ents of deceased FSU alum­nus Ryan McCandless, have cre­ated a new schol­ar­ship in honor of their son.

The Ryan McCandless Memorial Endowment Scholarship is a schol­ar­ship oppor­tu­nity awarded to one or more crim­i­nal jus­tice sopho­mores, juniors or seniors enrolled full-time at FSU. Students enrolled in the crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­gram must have main­tained a 3.0 GPA.

A 2001 grad­u­ate of FSU’s crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­gram, McCandless was shot and killed dur­ing a rou­tine traf­fic stop in August 2011. McCandless served with the Rapid City Police Department.

For more infor­ma­tion regard­ing the Ryan McCandless Memorial Endowment Scholarship, con­tact the Ferris Foundation at ext. 2365.

Kaczmarczyk com­bines vin­tage adver­tise­ments with mod­ern pho­tographs to put them in a new light. For exam­ple, one of her most strik­ing works fea­tures a plate of gaudy, arti­fi­cial look­ing gelatin in a serene nat­ural set­ting. In the back­ground two horses graze. Through these types of con­trasts, Kaczmarczyk demon­strates the arti­fi­cial­ity and pre­served nature of our food.

Miles Skalnek, Ferris State University sopho­more in pre-pharmacy, was intrigued by a pic­ture depict­ing pig-shaped slices of spam in a field. His favorite work of art was one that showed a stalk of corn with candy corn grow­ing out of it. (more…)

The relo­ca­tion of Telecommunications is part of the university’s planned ren­o­va­tion of the Rankin Student Center to become the new cam­pus University Center (UC).

Chief Technology Officer John Urbanick said the move would pro­vide improved access for stu­dents being located more cen­trally. This is tied to the uni­ver­sity mas­ter plan for revi­tal­iz­ing that area of the Big Rapids cam­pus as well as improv­ing the student-housing envi­ron­ment. (more…)

Robert Fortney, a canine police offi­cer from the Wayne County Airport, is speak­ing about Dasty, his canine com­pan­ion and for­mer work partner.

Dasty is a for­mer TSA employee. Born Oct. 1, 2003 in the Netherlands, Dasty is a Belgian Shepherd/Malinois. Recently, Dasty was diag­nosed with can­cer in her lymph nodes and has since retired as a TSA employee. (more…)

For many Ferris State University stu­dents, find­ing the money to afford an edu­ca­tion is one of the biggest chal­lenges faced.

President David Eisler and the FSU Strategic Planning and Resources Council are rec­og­niz­ing this prob­lem and try­ing to fig­ure out how to help.

On March 13, Eisler shared a stu­dent debt pre­sen­ta­tion with the Strategic Planning and Resources Council con­sist­ing of facts, sta­tis­tics and chal­leng­ing ques­tions in order to find solu­tions to these ongo­ing prob­lems for stu­dents. (more…)