Leadership + Service
The Michigan Difference
Our campus has grown and prospered this past year with new academic programs and stunning new teaching and research facilities. More importantly, we have reaffirmed our strong commitment to applying these resources and resulting new knowledge toward the betterment of society. As we prepare the young people of our communities to be future leaders, the University of Michigan has an unparalleled opportunity and responsibility to serve the public good and help address the many challenges facing the world.
U-M Global Partnerships Grow
The University of Michigan has a long history of reaching out to the world in a spirit of service, academic cooperation, and cultural exchange. For example, U-M’s relationship with China goes back to the mid 1850s, when a member of the Class of 1845 traveled to China as a missionary.
Today, U-M enjoys strong partnerships with Chinese institutions of higher education and continues to strengthen its leadership position in Chinese studies as well as in research and teaching exchanges with Chinese colleagues. In the first trip of its kind, a group of 30 graduate students from the U-M School of Public Health spent spring break this year working with the China Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It was the first time the China CDC hosted American students for practice-based deployments.
The relationship grew further when seven undergraduate chemistry students participated in a new research exchange program this summer with Peking University. Another initiative, the College of Engineering’s Joint Institute Summer Program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, offers students degree-granting programs from both institutions. In fact, U-M was the first non-Chinese academic institution approved to offer graduate engineering degrees to students in China.
A continent away, President Mary Sue Coleman led a U-M delegation to eight universities in South Africa and Ghana from February 22 to March 5, 2008, to broaden existing collaborations with several universities and forge new relationships. Coleman and the delegation discussed initiatives for U-M’s newly established African Studies Center, and explored proposals that extend many longstanding projects undertaken by the more than 120 U-M faculty involved in scholarship related to Africa.
In conjunction with the establishment of the center, the U-M African Exchange Scholars Program will bring approximately 10 visiting faculty, students, and scholars from African universities to U-M each year. Exchange scholars will facilitate U-M initiatives with partners in Africa, and collaborate on research, scholarship, and teaching.
Leadership + Service in Brief
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. –Anne Frank
- The College of Engineering has established a new Center for Entrepreneurial Programs to help enhance the state’s economy. Thomas Zurbuchen, professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and Aerospace Engineering, will direct the new center.
The U-M Library
has put its millionth digitized book online (out of the 7.5 million volumes
in its current holdings). Michigan’s MBooks program makes these volumes
available to readers around the world. The Michigan Digitization Project
is a partnership with Google that involves the entire U-M collection.- DTE Energy Foundation pledged $1.5 million to the College of Engineering and the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute to create the DTE Energy Professorship of Advanced Energy Research. The professorship supports research in alternative energy sources, energy storage/conversion, transportation, fuels, and sustainability.
- After a 10-year partnership with the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR buildings program, U-M has implemented more than 200 projects that save energy, prevent pollution, and lower operating costs. Over the last three fiscal years alone, U-M introduced 135 energy conservation measures at a capital cost of $6 million with $1.5 million in predicted annual operating savings.
The 14th Dalai
Lama of Tibet delivered a special Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability
on April 20, 2008, at Crisler Arena. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and Buddhist
leader’s appearance coincided with Earth Day weekend and was free and
open to the public.- The University Research Corridor’s pool of engineering talent convinced Spanish aerospace company Grupo Aernnova to bring 600 new jobs to the state of Michigan for an aerospace engineering center. The College of Engineering’s aerospace and mechanical engineering programs are ranked among the nation’s five best.
- U-M is drawing attention to the Detroit metro area’s often-unrecognized visual arts. The School of Art & Design unveiled Work:Detroit, a gallery where U-M and Detroit area artists exhibit side by side. The gallery is located in the U-M Detroit Center, U-M’s recruitment and community outreach arm in the city.
- UM-Flint opened Genesee Early College, the state’s first early college high school. The new high school alternative allows students to obtain a high school diploma and earn up to 60 college credits at the same time.
- Total scholarships and fellowships provided to students aggregated $300 million in 2008, an increase of 16 percent over the past two years. Two new scholarship programs, the Michigan Tradition Award and the Michigan Experience Award, target underrepresented students.
The expanded
Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility is expected to change the high-tech
landscape in southeastern Michigan. During the past five years, the facility
has contributed an estimated $500 million to the state’s economy. Small
and large companies as well as other universities utilize it for research
and development.- Five of 11 U.S. Department of Energy research grants awarded in August 2007 to improve fuel efficiency of light-duty vehicle engines involved University Research Corridor members U-M, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University, and totaled $10 million.
- U-M will invest $30 million over five years for 100 new tenure-track faculty members to expand interdisciplinary research and teaching, especially in the areas of alternative energy and environmental sustainability. In 2008, 25 positions were approved in data mining, energy storage, global change, global HIV/AIDS, microbial ecology, social science, and energy.
- U-M honored Branch Rickey, the man who helped break the Major League Baseball color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to a big-league contract, by establishing a collegiate professorship at the Law School, from which Rickey graduated in 1911. The professorship will be funded by the Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, Major League Baseball, the Zell Family Foundation, and others.
- Football coach Lloyd Carr announced his retirement in November 2007 after 28 seasons, 13 as head coach. He compiled a career 122–40 record at U-M, leading the team to a national championship and five Big Ten titles. Carr, noted for his extensive charity work, will stay on with the Wolverines as associate athletic director.
- A three-decade-long study of the behaviors, attitudes, and plans of young Americans has been awarded an additional $33 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The Institute for Social Research’s landmark “Monitoring the Future” study was extended for five years to survey 50,000 young people and follow up on select participants. The oldest respondents will turn 50 this year.
- The University Research Corridor presidents released an independent analysis showing the state’s three research universities helped create 69,285 Michigan jobs and produced $13.3 billion of net economic benefit in 2007.
- Using revenue from a new Big Ten media contract, U-M added $1.6 million to M-PACT, a student financial aid program for Michigan residents created to increase grant aid and reduce loan amounts.
- President Mary Sue Coleman joined women leaders from around the world to address the Women as Global Leaders Conference at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The international conference brings together female students from 85 countries to learn lessons of leadership from outstanding women.
U-M officially opened
the doors to its new Business Engagement Center. The center will provide
one-stop shopping for businesses seeking talent, expertise, professional
development for employees, and research partnerships. The center’s
goal is to make U-M more user friendly and accelerate the economic transformation
of the region.- In 2007 U-M and Michigan State University (MSU) each produced 80 Peace Corps volunteers, tying for the top-five rank in the organization. The University of California, Berkeley, has produced the most Peace Corps volunteers since 1961 with 3,326, followed by the University of Wisconsin, the University of Washington, U-M, and MSU.
- U-M received a record 29,105 applications from prospective freshmen for fall 2008 enrollment, an 8.6 percent increase over last year and the highest number in U-M history.