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Mike Martir
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, September 24, 2010
michigandaily.com
With eye on
global study,
'U' growing
flagships
MARISSA MCCLAIN/Da y
M-Den employee Courtney Hanley accesses the store's Twitter page yesterday. Small businesses around Ann Arbor are using Twitter to advertise promotions and lore
customers to their stores. University experts say the social networking site is especially useful for smal businesses.
*newcustomers: Local stores
se Twitter to he line
Arabic program
will offer three new
courses, 'U' applied
for Chinese flagship
By CAITLIN HUSTON
Daily StaffReporter
Students looking to study
beyond Ann Arbor will soon
have more opportunities to do so
through the University.
The Arabic Language Flag-
ship Partner Program, founded at
the University in August 2008 to
help students improve their Ara-
bic writing and speaking skills, is
increasing its course offerings for
the winter semester and applying
to become an independent Arabic
Flagship Center at the University
for the next academic year.
The ALFP is an intensive lan-
guage program offered at multiple
universities, in which undergradu-
ate students work toward attain-
ing superior language proficiency
in Arabic, as rated by the Ameri-
can Council for the Teaching of
Foreign Languages scale. The pro-
gram kicked off in the 2009 winter
semester.
In the program, students must
take at least one modern standard
Arabic course per semester and are
eligible to receive financial support
from the International Institute of
Education, a part ofnthe National
Security Education Program,
which funds the program at the
University.
Since its creation in 2008, Sofia
Rosenberg, coordinator of the
ALFP, said the program has grown
from having nine students to 49
from 16 different majors. She said
enrollment in the program has
been increasing exponentially
every semester.
"It has really expanded and the
interest is just great," Rosenberg
said. "For every application period
we get more and more so that's
wonderful."
As program enrollment increas-
es, Raji Rammuny, director of the
ALFP, said there will also be more
course offerings available. Three
See FLAGSHIP, Page 6A
'I
Twit
Sm
J' experts say social media site to spread news
to customers, recruit new ones
tter is a boon for and promote deals and contests.
Hal White, an accounting assis-
iall businesses tant professor at the Ross School
of Business, was part of a team
By LIZZY ALFS of researchers at the Business
DailyStaffReporter School who studied the effects
of local businesses' using Twit-
witter continues to expand ter. White said businesses in town
the realm of celebrities that employ Twitter may see some
liticians, many Ann Arbor positive outcomes as a result, but
ses are flocking to the they wouldn't necessarily experi-
ence a financial boost.
"When it comes to local busi-
nesses using Twitter, there are
most likely advantages, but not
market liquidity," White said in
an interview.
Though the study focused on
publicly traded firms, not small
private firms, White said that
Twitter use could also benefit
small businesses.
According to the study, which
was also conducted by Greg
Miller, an associate professor at
the Business School, and Rack-
ham student Beth Blankespoor, a
graduate student research assis-
tant at the Business School, this
new method of marketing may
be a beneficial way for small Ann
Arbor businesses to spread infor-
mation.
"Smaller companies that don't
get much news coverage can
bridge the information gap with
See TWITTER, Page 6A
As T
beyond
and po
busines
*LSA Theme Semester asks
students to mull life choices
Profs. behind theme
say goal is to promote
thoughtful reflection
By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
What makes life worth living?
For millennia, scholars - from
Socrates to Dr. Phil - have been
ondering that very question. And,
as it's the premise for LSA's theme
semester, so will the LSA commu-
nity in the upcoming months.
This semester, hundreds of
classes, lectures, discussions,
films and other events throughout
several departments across the
college will focus on this central
question.
Prof. John Chamberlin, direc-
tor of the Center for Ethics in Pub-
lic Life, and Prof. Chris Peterson,
director of the Michigan Center
for Positive Psychology, came up
with the idea for the semester's
theme and are the co-organizers of
the theme semester.
In separate telephone inter-
views last week, both Chamber-
lin and Peterson said they hope
students take advantage of the
semester's theme because college
is one of the few times when people
have the freedom and resources at
their disposal to think legitimately
about what matters in their lives.
"What we're really hoping for
is, simply, to raise the question,"
Peterson said.
"Ultimately, (everyone) has to
answer that question for them-
See THEME, Page 3A
*With piles of garbage, EarthFest
promotes campus sustainability
SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily
Patrons of Center for Yoga take part in activities there on Wednesday. LSA senior Jillian Rothman (not pictured), an employ-
ee at the studio, said, "Yoga is a great escape and a great way to stay grounded."
New yoga studio seeks to relieve stress
Events on Diag,
North Campus stress
greener lifestyle
By MICHELE NAROV
Daily StaffReporter
Crossing the North Campus
Diag on their way to class yes-
terday, students were met with
blaring music, bright posters and
pledges for sustainability.
Passersby who stopped to inves-
tigate learned they had come upon
EarthFest - an event held by the
University to advertise a new
movement towards sustainability
and conservation.
The two-day event - a joint
effort between the Graham Insti-
tute for Sustainability, Planet Blue
and a number of other organiza-
tions dedicated to environmen-
tal safety - was held on the Diag
on Tuesday and at The Grove on
North Campus yesterday.
Students who stopped at the
various EarthFest booths were
presented with a flyer containing
a pledge to help the environment
that offered suggestions for dem-
onstrating environmental con-
sciousness. These Earth-friendly
See EARTHFEST, Page 6A
'U' alumopens
William St. location
to help students
deal with pressure
By SARAH ALSADEN
For theDaily
Students meditated, stretched
and breathed deeply in a heated
room as light poured in through
the long, rectangular windows on
the second story of an East Wil-
liam Street building earlier this
week.
These students were partici-
pating in a hot Vinyasa class - a
yoga class taught in hot tempera-
tures - at the Center for Yoga's
fourth and newest location at 621
E. William St., which opened ear-
lier this month.
The Center for Yoga was start-
ed by University alum Jonny Kest
in 1993. Kest, who graduated
from the University in 1985, said
he's wanted to open a yoga studio
close to campus for some time.
"I've always wanted to bring
yoga back to the University of
Michigan," he said.
Kest recalled being a student at
the University and dealing with
high levels of pressure and now
hopes the Center for Yoga can be
a helpful outlet for students to
relieve stress.
"Because when I was there, it
was very stressful being a student
at the University of Michigan,"
Kest said. "There's a lot ofcompe-
tition, a lot of pressure to be suc-
cessful and you need something
healthy to counter that. Rather
than going to the bar or smoking
pot, you need something healthy
to counter the stress."
Kest also said he volunteers
from time to time at Mary Mar-
kley Residence Hall - where he
See YOGA, Page 6A
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