Alumni News
November 07, 2013
The Incredible Story of Mel Van Dis
A tall, lanky, six-foot-five 17-year-old stepped on the polished gymnasium hardwood for his first collegiate basketball game as a starter for Western Michigan College. His leather sneakers were tied, short shorts buckled, and kneepads strapped on, ready for action on the road at Loyola University in Chicago. He looked young...
November 04, 2013
Fifty Years of Friendship
It all began in Moore Hall during the fall of 1963. The "Sisters of Moore Hall," as they call themselves, moved into the then all-female dormitory and fifty years later are celebrating decades of friendship. In late August, as campus was preparing to welcome new and old students back for...
November 04, 2013
A Lifetime of Achievement
Ceoria Coates (Secretarial Certificate '49) passes her time in Oak Park, Illinois with deep water exercise at the YMCA and involvement with a senior bowling league, but there is more than meets the eye of this 87 year-old Western Michigan University alumna—Coates also is constantly knocking on Hollywood's door. Since...
October 28, 2013
MacUpdate
The founder of the second most popular Mac-only software community on the Internet, and Western Michigan University alumnus, will be the next presenter in a speaker series at WMU focusing on entrepreneurship. Founder of MacUpdate, Joel Mueller's (BBA ’02, Management) entrepreneurial story started in high school when he developed companies...
October 22, 2013
Aphasia Awareness
Rachel Eagly (BSW ’03, Social Work) has been leading efforts to provide aphasia awareness training for Kalamazoo first responders. She's had the assistance of many, including Western Michigan University speech-language pathology graduate student clinicians Claire Carpenter and JoHanna Rose, and ACE (Aphasia Communication Enhancement) Program participants. Her goal is to...
October 20, 2013
Paying it Forward
Keith (BBA ’64, Accountancy) and Margo (BA ’65, English) LaGore met at Western Michigan University in the fall of 1963. “We met in an English class,” Keith said. “There were no women in my accounting classes. Keith was Social Director of the Men's Union Board, Student Council President, Intra Fraternity...