Regents Roundup - March 2021

March 29, 2021

At the March Board of Regents meeting, Chancellor Domenico Grasso shared that renowned poet and writer Nikki Giovanni will serve as commencement speaker, new appointments, major gifts and more.

Photo of the U-M seal outside of campus' HPEC
HPEC scenic campus photo


These ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn items were covered at the March 25 U-M Board of Regents meeting.

Chancellor Grasso provided the following campus updates: 

  • The recently launched Focus on the Finish program to expand upon the statewide scholarship programs aimed at community college students
  • The creation of the state’s first artificial intelligence master’s degree 
  • The recently awarded  to develop a cybersecurity system robust enough to defend against hacking
  • The announcement of world-renowned poet and writer, Nikki Giovanni, will serve as this year’s commencement speaker 
  • An update on the successful start of the athletics season 

At the meeting, the following personnel actions were approved:

Committee Appointments

Citizens Advisory Committee
David Claeys, president, Dearborn and Farmington Hills campuses, Beaumont Health, four-year term, April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2025 
Susan A. Dabaja, president, Dearborn City Council, new appointment, four-year term, April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2025 
Russell A. Kavalhuna, president, Henry Ford College, new appointment, four-year term, April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2025 
Jackie Lovejoy, president, Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce, new appointment, four-year term, April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2025

New appointments of regular instructional staff

Kim, Doohyun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, CECS, January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2023

New appointments of instructional staff represented by the Lecturers’ Employee Organization

Nilay Chakraborty, Ph.D., Lecturer I, Mechanical Engineering, CECS, January 1 – April 30, 2021

Emeritus/a faculty appointments 

Donald J. Bord, Professor Emeritus, Physics, Physical Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences, CASL, January 1 – April 30, 2021

Swatantra K. Kachhal, Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering, CECS, January 1- April 30, 2021

Retirement memoirs

Barbara A. Bolek, M.L.I.S., librarian, Mardigian Library

John W. Miller, Ph.D., associate professor, electrical and computer engineering

Memorials

 William Grosky, Ph.D., professor of computer and information science

Gifts of $10,000 or more

Israelite House of David, $10,000 in support of the Israelite House of David Student Experience Fund

Malayappan Shridhar, $25,000 in support of the Engineering Lab Building Renovation Fund

Regent Ronald N. Weiser and Mrs. Eileen Weiser, $60,000 in support of the Weiser Family Residential Scholarship

Mark and JoAnna DeCamp, $26,556 in support of the Mark DeCamp Professional Health Scholarship

A of the Regents’ meeting can be found here.