Larry Spotted Crow Mann, a cultural eductator for and member of the Nipmuc tribe of Massachusetts, shared with the campus community his tribe's history and culture, which includes quite a bit of music.

Mr. Mann is drum keeper of the Quabbin Lake Singers, a group that shares the culture and music of the Nipmuc people at schools, colleges, powwows and other events throughout the United States and Canada. He's also appeared in movies about Native Americans, including "We Shall Remain," produced by PBS.

One day, Jigyasha Singh, an international student from Nepal, was watching CNN. What she saw amazed her: onscreen was Pushpa Basnet, founder of the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), which takes care of the children of incarcerated parents of Nepal. She’s been named one of the network's “heroes” for 2012.

The Belizean unions strike of 2005 brings back mixed memories for a graduate student, Elena Smith, who played a key role in the national uprising. She remembers police stationed outside her home, being shot at with rubber bullets, but also the virtue in fighting for educators.

“It was a dangerous time, but it was something we needed to do as teachers and as citizens,” said Ms. Smith.

Long before Hurricane Sandy began making its way up the East Coast, the national hurricane forecast for the season was being put together two thousand miles away. Few may know that the data that serves as the bedrock for that forecast is housed and maintained inside BSU's GeoGraphics Lab.