Spotlights
John Counts '01
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Alumnus John Counts recently published his first book, a short story collection entitled "Bear County, Michigan." Counts earned his bachelor's in English from Wayne State in 2001 and studied creative writing under Professor Christopher T. Leland. He also worked at The South End. He's worked for newspapers throughout Michigan over the past twenty years and is currently the statewide editor of investigations for MLive.
Jason McLellan '03
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Alumnus Jason McLellan has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work using structure-based vaccine design to stabilize and modify surface proteins of viruses. A structural biologist, McLellan and immunologist and virologist Barney Graham have led discoveries that contributed to the development of the COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines. He earned his bachelor's in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from Wayne State in 2001.
Valerie Kinloch '98, '00
College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts
Alumna Valerie Kinloch has been named Johnson C. Smith University’s 15th president. Kinloch earned her master’s degree from Wayne State University in English and African American Literature in 1998 and her doctorate in English in 2000.
Harman Singh '17
College of Education
Alumnus and former Wayne State University Alumni Association Board Member Harman Singh has been named executive director for the Sikh Coalition. Singh earned his master's of education at Wayne State in 2017 and worked as an academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2018 to 2021.