Administration & Governance

Big changes, familiar faces

lblouin — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 12:08:32 +0000

Big changes, familiar faces lblouin Mon, 06/30/2025 - 08:08

When Santa Ono announced on Sunday, May 4 that he was stepping down as president of the University of Michigan, it came as a surprise to most. Even fewer people would have predicted the cascade of leadership changes that would roll through ��-Dearborn in the coming days. By Wednesday that week, ��-Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso had been tapped to serve as U-M's interim president, which prompted Grasso to schedule a conversation with ��-Dearborn Provost Gabriella Scarlatta. At that meeting, Scarlatta recalls Grasso matter-of-factly informing her that he’d “like (her) to be interim chancellor.” For a split second, Scarlatta says she wasn’t sure she felt ready. “Of course, I was shocked. But then I got taken over by incredible pride, knowing that our chancellor was going to be president,” she says. “This is only good for Dearborn. So, of course, I’m going to do it. It’s going to put us on the map.”

Scarlatta’s move to interim chancellor set off a wave of leadership changes. Shortly after her conversation with Grasso, she called College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Ghassan Kridli, who was en route to his son-in-law’s medical school graduation at Wayne State University, to ask him to take over as interim provost. Kridli said ‘yes,’ which left a vacancy at the top of CECS. Armen Zakarian, vice provost for research and dean of graduate studies, stepped up to take that spot, after which Joan Remski, associate provost for faculty development and digital learning, was asked to fill Zakarian’s role. Stein Brunvand, associate dean and director of graduate programs for the College of Education, Health and Human Services, agreed to step into Remski’s position, with Professor of Education Susan Everett filling Brunvand’s post. Then, in another twist, Vice Chancellor for External Relations Ken Kettenbeil shared that he would be going to Ann Arbor as well, to serve as a senior advisor for Grasso’s interim term. Casandra Ulbrich, vice chancellor for institutional advancement, raised her hand to temporarily head ER, while continuing in her current role. And Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy Bailey Ayers-Korpal and Director of Communications Kristin Palm took on additional responsibilities in ER. Rima Berry-Hung, senior director of human resources, also assumed additional duties as senior advisor to the chancellor, along with her current role.

On paper, that sounds like a lot of leadership churn. But both Kridli and Scarlatta say that everything has gone very smoothly thus far — something they attribute to the fact that everyone in the ��-Dearborn leadership team is very used to working together. They both cheekily pointed out that neither one of them had to get a new boss. “I’m happy and proud that we can handle this internally, and I think it says a lot that everyone essentially said, ‘Yes, of course, for Dearborn,’” Scarlatta says. “So we’re all helping each other and cheering for each other. Plus, we’re all thinking, it’s only for a year, so we can all do it.”

Scarlatta says the current plan is that everyone will return to their previous roles once a new chancellor is named and that the transition would likely happen in spring or summer 2026. She adds that she intends to give her next 11 months or so on the job everything she’s got. In some ways, she says the chancellor’s role is taking her out of her comfort zone. In particular, she notes how “external facing and Ann Arbor facing” her new position is compared to the provost’s. She’s now the one attending weekly leadership meetings in Ann Arbor, communicating with the regents and flying across the country to meet with alumni and donors. On campus, she’s bringing her highly collaborative style to the senior leadership meetings and plans to continue her “Walk and Talk” events so anyone from the campus community can share ideas directly with her. Scarlatta says she’s frankly been a little surprised by how much the new role seems to suit her, given how much she enjoyed the more behind-the-scenes vibe as provost.

Scarlatta and Kridli also know that sitting back and simply keeping the trains running on time until the next chancellor arrives isn’t really an option. The current national political environment has created a swirl of unpredictability in higher education on a variety of fronts. Right now, Scarlatta and Kridli are particularly attentive to cuts to federal research funding and the challenges facing international students. “We worked for years to obtain R2 status, and now we’re there. So how do we sustain that as NSF funding is being slashed?” Kridli says. “It’s also an issue of faculty morale. They’re working hard but maybe they’re not able to get the results they expected. So we need to be thinking about a different paradigm and figure out how to evaluate and reward them given this new environment. They’re not going to be punished because of politics — absolutely not.” In practice, Scarlatta and Kridli say that means things like supporting faculty if they need to pivot to a different research focus, which can take time. Or helping them find other ways they can use their expertise to make an impact, say, through community partnerships. “The question we can be asking ourselves is, how do we advance the reputation and standing of ��-Dearborn?” Kridli says. “And we can do it through published research, foundations, industry and community partnerships, and staying open to other approaches. The important thing is we make an impact.”

Scarlatta says, at least at the moment, international students, who make up approximately 10% of the student population at ��-Dearborn, have reason to be a bit more optimistic. In May, the Trump administration halted scheduling new visa interviews for international students. But recently, the administration reopened the process, albeit with new requirements that students must undergo reviews of their social media accounts. Scarlatta says her team isn’t taking anything for granted. Earlier this spring, the university began reaching out to international students to provide extra support, proactively informing them of changing federal policies and visa deadlines, as well as granting automatic deferment for students who aren’t able to get their paperwork in order by the start of the fall semester. Fortunately, Kridli says a recent survey revealed that the vast majority of respondents are still moving forward with their plans to study at ��-Dearborn in 2025-26. Kridli and Scarlatta say it will also be a priority to make sure both international students and domestic students, say, from immigrant communities, who might feel uneasy in the current political environment, feel at home on campus. “We should not tolerate aggression against anybody. We are all human beings first,” Kridli says. “There is a lot that feels beyond our control. But we control who we are and how we are with each other.”

Even if the politics were more hospitable, Scarlatta and Kridli say they would still have their hands full this year. The colleges are in the midst of a major initiative to expand online programs. The regents recently approved an expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee, which, along with other aid programs, would mean that 94% of ��-Dearborn undergraduate FTIAC students will receive enough aid that their remaining obligations, commonly met through loans or work-study, are less than $2,000 a year. And Kridli says every college needs to make preparations for the ever-expanding influence of artificial intelligence, which is rapidly reshaping the job market, particularly for entry-level positions sought by college graduates.

Given all this, Scarlatta and Kridli both think the ��-Dearborn community is fortunate to have a team of people at the helm who are caring and capable, know each other well, enjoy working together and remain committed to Grasso’s philosophy of “mission first, people always.” And, like many on campus, they are celebrating having the first ��-Dearborn chancellor in the president's office.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Administration & Governance

Off

Mon, 06/30/2025 - 12:06

Interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta and Interim Provost Ghassan Kridli talk about the whirlwind of leadership changes at ��-Dearborn this spring and why the transition has been mostly smooth sailing.

In May, Gabriella Scarlatta (left) was named interim chancellor and Ghassan Kridli was named interim provost at ��-Dearborn.

Regents roundup for June 2025

lblouin — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:38:05 +0000

Regents roundup for June 2025 lblouin Mon, 06/16/2025 - 11:38

Budget approval

The university’s FY2026 budget was approved.

Interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta provided the following university updates:

In April, ��-Dearborn was recognized as an “Opportunity University” in the Carnegie Foundation’s new “Student Earnings and Access Classification”
There have been several additional executive transitions, following President Grasso’s new appointment:
- Ghassan Kridli, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is serving as interim provost
- Armen Zakarian, vice provost for research, is serving as interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science
- Associate Provost Joan Remski is serving as interim vice provost for research
- Stein Brunvand, associate dean in CEHHS, is serving as associate provost for faculty development and digital education
- Chancellor Scarlatta noted the spirit of cooperation and camaraderie on the ��-Dearborn campus and expressed gratitude to everyone who has stepped up during this leadership transition

Personnel Appointments

The following reappointments were approved:

Mahesh Agarwal, chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, CASL, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 (also associate professor of mathematics, with tenure)
Lisa Martin, chair, Department of Health and Human Services, CEHHS, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 (also professor of health and human services, with tenure, CEHHS, and professor of collegewide programs, with tenure, CASL)
Yunus Zeytuncu, associate dean, CASL, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 (also professor of mathematics, with tenure)

The following joint or additional appointments or transfers of regular associate or full professors and selected academic and administrative staff were approved:

Stein Brunvand, interim associate provost for digital learning and faculty development, effective May 15, 2025 (also professor of education, with tenure, CEHHS)
Susan Everett, interim associate dean, CEHHS, effective June 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 (also professor of education, with tenure.
Joan Remski, interim vice provost for research and dean of graduate studies, effective May 15, 2025 (also professor of mathematics, with tenure, CASL)
Nitya Sethuraman, chair, Department of Behavioral Sciences, CASL, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 (also associate professor of psychology, with tenure)
Armen Zakarian, interim dean, CECS, effective May 13, 2025 (also professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, with tenure)

Adoption of retirement memoirs

Daniel E. Little, professor of philosophy, CASL, ��-Dearborn; professor of sociology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and professor of public policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, ��-Ann Arbor, June 30, 2025. The regents named Daniel E. Little professor emeritus of philosophy, professor emeritus of sociology, professor emeritus of public policy and chancellor emeritus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Brian Patrick Green, professor of accounting, COB, June 30, 2025. The regents named Brian Patrick Green professor emeritus of accounting.
Karen Strandholm, associate professor of strategic management, COB, June 30, 2025. The regents named Karen Strandholm associate professor emerita of strategic management.

Other

��-Dearborn’s 2027-2028 academic calendar was approved.

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View the Board of Regents’ meeting agenda.

Administration & Governance

Faculty and Staff

Chancellor

Off

Mon, 06/16/2025 - 15:36

Get details from the June U-M Board of Regents meeting.

��-Dearborn FY26 budget approved at June 12 Regents’ meeting

stuxbury — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:02:14 +0000

��-Dearborn FY26 budget approved at June 12 Regents’ meeting stuxbury Thu, 06/12/2025 - 12:02

The Board of Regents approved ��-Dearborn’s $184 million fiscal year 2026 general fund budget proposal at its June 12 meeting.

The FY26 budget allocates nearly $30 million in institutional financial aid. Led by the Go Blue Guarantee, this figure accounts for half of the scholarships and grants awarded to ��-Dearborn students. Additional sources of aid include the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and Pell Grants.

Through these and other sources, 1,600 ��-Dearborn students received enough scholarships and grant aid to fully cover their tuition and fees in 2024-25 and 94% of first-time students received enough aid that their unmet need was less than $2,000 a year. With the University of Michigan’s recent expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee to include Michigan families with annual incomes up to $125,000, even more students are expected to receive full tuition coverage in the coming academic year.

The budget includes an undergraduate tuition increase of 3.9%, equating to $300 for in-state students and $636 for out-of-state students, per semester. The increase is below Michigan’s tuition restraint amount of 4.5%. Increases for many students are expected to be offset by the university’s expanded full-tuition assistance programs.

Graduate student tuition is being restructured starting in the 2025-26 academic year — all graduate credit hours, across colleges, will now have a consistent per credit rate. Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Melissa Stone said this new fee structure will simplify tuition planning and payment for graduate students and that cost impacts will vary. Visit the graduate tuition website for more information.

Scholarships will reduce the impact for the majority of students who will see an increase, Stone said. “We have increased our scholarships and grants to mitigate this change,” she said. “Our goal was to create a simplified fee structure that was transparent so that students know up front what the costs will be.”

Undergraduate upper division course premium assessments in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters and the College of Education, Health, and Human Services will also increase by $4 per credit hour. The upper division course premium assessments are unchanged for the College of Business and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Bryan Dadey said all efforts were made to keep the tuition increase as low as possible. Factors impacting the decision include escalating inflation, an expected flat state appropriation compared to last year and insurance increases.

University health care costs are increasing nearly 8% and dental costs are rising more than 12%, in addition to significant increases over the last two fiscal years. Other insurance costs, such as property and casualty insurance, will increase by as much as 9%, and utilities are increasing by 4%.

The FY26 budget also includes merit increases of up to 3% for employees, following more modest increases in previous years. The increases will take effect July 1.

“An annual merit increase is part of our concerted effort to retain the dedicated faculty and staff who support our students,” Dadey said.

The budget also accounts for the renovation of the Social Sciences and the Administration buildings to accommodate the closing of the Fairlane Center and consolidation of all four colleges on the main campus — a move that will ultimately reduce future operating costs. CEHHS will be moving to the AB in fall 2026 and COB will be moving into the SSB in fall 2027.

“Our FY26 budget is designed to keep a ��-Dearborn education accessible and affordable to students across southeast Michigan and beyond, while keeping in mind fiscal realities,” said interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta. “In the coming year, we look forward to helping even more students earn practice-based college degrees, study with world-class faculty and graduate into rewarding careers.”

Article by Sarah Tuxbury

Administration & Governance

Scholarships

Chancellor

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Thu, 06/12/2025 - 16:01

Expanded Go Blue Guarantee to provide free tuition to growing number of students.

Photo by Emily Barrett-Adkins

Meet the first ��-Dearborn alum elected to the U-M Board of Regents

lblouin — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:21:04 +0000

Meet the first ��-Dearborn alum elected to the U-M Board of Regents lblouin Wed, 02/12/2025 - 08:21

In December 2024, Carl Meyers visited the ��-Dearborn campus for his official swearing-in to the University of Michigan Board of Regents. For him, the location felt apropos. “What better place to start than at the beginning?” Meyers said in his remarks, referring to his formative undergraduate years at ��-Dearborn in the late 1970s. Meyers, who grew up two miles from the university, says he and his family chose ��-Dearborn for reasons that will sound familiar to many of today's students. Living at home was a practical way to make college more affordable — which was important given that Meyers had to pay his tuition with money he saved from his summer night shifts on a truck assembly line and a personal side business painting and wallpapering people’s homes. His original plan was to attend ��-Dearborn for a year, do well and then transfer to the Ann Arbor campus. But from his first moments as a student, he started putting down roots that proved hard to pull up. “Some of the people I met at my orientation at the Henry Ford mansion are still friends to this day,” Meyers says. “That first year, I got involved in Student Government, got involved in politics on campus, and I ended up staying all four years.”

Meyers says ��-Dearborn in the mid-to-late 1970s was, in some ways, a pretty different place. For one, it was cozier, with a total enrollment under 5,000 students and a much smaller physical footprint. He estimates his incoming class was around 1,000 students and he remembers playing intramural football on the site where the Renick University Center now stands. But in other ways, he thinks the vibe has remained remarkably consistent over the 50 years since he attended. On a non-residential campus, he says you had to work a little harder to cultivate a social life — an ethos that’s still echoed by students today. Most importantly, he says Dearborn was then, and is now, “a serious place.” It’s not a place you go, he says, if your idea of college is huge frat parties on the weekends, or even sit-ins in an administration building. “Students at ��-Dearborn are people who have families, mortgages, homes, they have car payments, they have childcare to worry about,” Meyers says. They are pragmatic students who primarily see college as a path to a better economic future for them and their families.

To keep that dream within reach, college must remain affordable for working and middle class families, Meyers says. Affordability was the backbone of his 2024 regents campaign — and three previous unsuccessful runs for the board dating back to 2004. Meyers says his concern over the affordability of higher education grew organically out of his own professional life as an investment advisor. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he helped many clients put together financial plans to pay for their children’s college education. Back then, he says there were some pretty good options. “The bond rates were 8%. The Michigan Education Trust was priced below market value,” he recalls. But in the early 2000s, tuition rates began a steep climb, which Meyers attributes mostly to the increased availability of student loans and decreased investment by the state in higher education. “That dream started to become out of reach,” he says. “Families couldn’t afford it with normal investment and savings strategies. So what did they do? Some sacrificed their own future for their children by raiding their retirements or home equity. More often, people took on student loans.”

Meyers (left) with his father, Carl, at the December oath ceremony on the ��-Dearborn campus. Photo by Annie Barker

At that time, Meyers, who has long been active in the Michigan Republican Party, started sounding the alarm bells, including with some U-M Regents, with whom he was friends or acquaintances. He says the prevailing attitude, however, was essentially that the debt was still worth it, given that those with college degrees had much higher lifetime earnings. Meyers didn’t see it that way. Instead, he saw that student debt often rippled through people’s lives, including delaying other important life decisions, like buying a home or starting a family. And that had consequences for their long-term wealth, their ability to pass wealth onto their children and their well-being. “When I ran in 2004 for the first time, I was saying that in the next generation or two, if we don’t get a handle on this, there will be a massive student debt problem in this country and college education will be out of reach for many,” Meyers says. “Twenty years later, Americans are carrying $1.9 trillion in student debt. To put that in perspective, there is approximately $1 trillion in consumer debt outstanding today. And the travesty is that it’s very difficult to discharge student debt through bankruptcy.”

This time around, Meyers' affordability-based message resonated with voters: He was the top vote-getter among all candidates elected to governing boards for U-M, Michigan State and Wayne State — the three state universities with constitutionally mandated elected boards of regents. He says he’s excited that one of the big agenda items for the U-M Regents will be working out the details of a recently announced expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee — a financial aid program that supports free and reduced tuition for high-achieving students from lower-income families on all three campuses. Meyers says the initiative has the ability to put college back within reach for thousands of families. "If you can take the cost issue out of the formula, you can begin to address greater affordability for all — at least to a point. For example, to tell a family to go out and borrow $150,000, it’ll be a good investment — that’s a very hard message to sell to a family whose home might not even be worth that much. But now, if you can say that tuition for your son or daughter is free at the University of Michigan, I think they’re going to figure the rest out. So I think the expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee is absolutely one of the best policy decisions we can make.”

Along with continuing to beat the drum on affordability, Meyers’ other big priority is to advocate for investment in ��-Dearborn and the regional campuses more generally. He says that’s not something that just started with his term on the Board of Regents. For example, he says, for years, he urged his friend Ron Weiser, who Meyers is succeeding on the board, to “get over to Dearborn” and see what makes the place special. Weiser did, and he and his wife, Eileen, ended up donating $1.25 million for the renovation of the campus’ Engineering Lab Building. “Mike Behm, who’s on the board now, he’s close to ��-Flint like I am close to ��-Dearborn. So it’s kind of up to us to keep the awareness out there,” Meyers says. “It’s so easy to become immersed in everything that’s going on in Ann Arbor and see Dearborn or Flint as a secondary product. But I see ��-Dearborn as a valuable part of the University of Michigan’s portfolio, because it gives students a chance to get a University of Michigan education who might not otherwise have the means to do it. So I’m honored to be the first regent from the Dearborn campus. A bunch of us have tried before, and I’m honored to be the one who could do it.”

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Story by Lou Blouin

Administration & Governance

Off

Mon, 02/17/2025 - 13:18

’79 College of Business graduate Carl Meyers talks about his time at ��-Dearborn and why he thinks U-M’s regional campuses are so important.

U-M Regent Carl Meyers (right) poses for a photo with Michigan Supreme Court Justice Brian Zahra at Meyers' Dec. 12 oath ceremony on the ��-Dearborn campus. Photo by Annie Barker

Highlights from the 2025 State of the University

lblouin — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:41:50 +0000

Highlights from the 2025 State of the University lblouin Mon, 02/03/2025 - 12:41

Chancellor Domenico Grasso hosted his annual State of the University address last Thursday before a standing-room-only audience of more than 250. Grasso shared the university’s progress toward key milestones, as well as some concerns and challenges, before handing the mic over to the offices of the Provost, Institutional Advancement and Facilities Operations, as well as several ��-Dearborn students, to discuss new initiatives and their impact, along with some future plans. Key takeaways from the event are below.

More students are crossing the finish line to graduation.

Several key metrics in the GOBLUEprint for Success — the university’s strategic plan — are well on track. The four-year graduation rate has climbed from 22% in 2018 to 38% in 2024. “That's a 16% increase. That is truly incredible,” Grasso noted. “Many factors have led to this success in graduation rate: our students’ determination, our professors’ skill and mentoring, our campus resources and a community that is dedicated to seeing students across the finish line.”

The transition to a need-based financial aid model means that 94% of ��-Dearborn undergraduate FTIAC students now receive enough aid that their remaining obligations are less than $2,000 a year. And half of classes on campus now include a practice-based learning component. “This approach provides distinctive and creative opportunities for our students to prepare for the next phase of their careers,” Grasso observed. “I commend the faculty who design these courses and the department chairs and deans who support them.”

Faculty continue to excel: In the past two years, faculty and staff annual citations in publications have grown from 13,500 to over 22,000, and ��-Dearborn faculty experts appeared in 119 major local and national media outlets in 2024. Research awards continue to climb as well. While the university aimed for $9.8 million in research support in FY2024, that number actually reached nearly $12 million. Awarded and recommended funding for the first six months of FY25 now exceeds $14 million.

Grasso celebrated last year’s launch of the Office of Holistic Excellence, noting that the office was supporting several storytelling initiatives as a means of building empathy and a sense of inclusion across campus, as recently discussed in Insight into Diversity magazine. He noted that the campus community will see a new set of KPIs related to belonging and inclusion. The latest GOBLUEprint for Success KPI report was emailed to campus following the event.

Overall enrollment is encouraging, but there is still work to do.

Grasso was candid about the fact that the university’s highest hurdle — one shared by nearly every college and university in the state and many across the country — is enrollment. "There are simply fewer college age students today than a decade ago, especially here in Michigan, but there are still growing opportunities,” he said. “We currently enroll 8,100 students, and have challenged ourselves to enroll 10,000 by 2032. We have experienced modest increases in undergraduate students, which is encouraging. More students should experience everything we have to offer here at ��-Dearborn.”

Grasso shared two concerns about graduate enrollment: first, it has declined, and second, the new presidential administration could severely limit the ability of prospective international students to enter the U.S. “The encouraging news is that the Institute of International Education believes enough members of Congress appreciate what international students contribute to our communities and economy,” Grasso observed. “Our university, too, will continue to advocate for this important community.”

He added that he is meeting with executive officers across all three campuses daily to monitor changes in federal policies, and that the university is regularly posting information on federal orders, policies and regulations on the Key Issues section of the ��-Dearborn website. He urged faculty, staff and students to visit this page for the latest information pertaining specifically to the Dearborn campus.

Grasso also addressed enrollment concerns in the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters and the resulting need to collaboratively reimagine the college’s future. “Together, let’s focus on creative and lasting solutions,” he said. “I would love nothing more than for the University of Michigan-Dearborn to create novel approaches for increasing the attractiveness of the arts and humanities that could serve as models for higher education.”

Fundraising is essential to maintaining the mission.

Grasso then passed the mic to Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement Casandra Ulbrich, who shared details about the university’s recently launched five-year “Look to Michigan” fundraising campaign. After announcing the campaign goal of $60 million, she shared short videos from three donors who choose to support ��-Dearborn in diverse ways: Mark Ritz and L. Lee Gorman have made a multi-year gift of $500,000 to install solar panels on the roof of the England Engineering Lab Building; Sadaf Lodhi and Riz Hussain have directed stock to the Student Opportunity and Engagement Fund; and Altair’s corporate contribution created the Altair #OnlyForward Scholarship Fund in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Ulbrich then spoke with two #OnlyForward scholarship recipients, CECS juniors Rehab Jadalla and Jide Owo, about the impact of the award. “Receiving the scholarship, to me, it means that, instead of spending time taking on additional jobs and taking on work to try to make ends meet for each semester, I have the space to take on the opportunities that I'm passionate about and are related to my ultimate career goals,” Jadalla, who is studying software engineering, said.

CECS juniors Rehab Jadalla (right) and Jide Owo (middle) spoke to the crowd about the impact of the #OnlyForward scholarship, sponsored by Altair Engineering.

“I also grew up in Dearborn, so I'm really, really proud to be attending this university," she added. "Just the culture of how encouraging and supportive the faculty and staff here are and the other students, and also the opportunities that I've had over the past three years, I don't think I would find at any other university."

Student success initiatives are having a big impact.

Associate Provosts Maureen Linker and Joan Remski discussed several initiatives led by Experience+ and the Office of Academic Success, all of which are seeing impressive results. These include the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, the Wolverine Mentor Collective, a new peer-to-peer tutoring program that enables students to get help with their studies 24/7 and the STEM Scholars program, which supports STEM majors from low-income backgrounds throughout their time at ��-Dearborn and boasts a 98% retention rate. Two STEM Scholars, Myriam Hazime and Zahra Alemarah, joined Remski on stage to reflect on their experiences. “I was always provided with a very strong support group that I felt like other students outside of STEM scholars didn't have,” Hazime, a CECS sophomore majoring in software engineering, told the audience.

Alemarah, a CASL junior majoring in biochemistry, echoed her sentiments: “Something that's really important, especially at ��-Dearborn as a commuter campus, is building a relationship your first year, your freshman year. Through STEM Scholars, I had so many different friends, and it was very crucial to keep me going to study when it feels impossible, to ask for help when I need it.”

Great spaces encourage students to stay.

Executive Director for Facilities Carol Glick closed out the event with a quick check-in on the Comprehensive Campus Plan, an overview of the design process, and a look at five priority projects, all in different phases: the Computer and Information Science Building (investigation phase), Mardigian Library (conceptual design), Social Sciences Building renovations for the College of Business (schematic design), Administrative Building renovations to support the move of the College of Education, Health and Human Services (design development) and the Renick University Center first floor, which is currently wrapping up construction. Glick shared a few “before and after” renderings and photos, revealing a significantly transformed space complete with a fireplace where students won’t just pass through, but will want to hang out for hours. After the event, many attendees took advantage of tours led by the facilities team and the University Unions and Events office to see the changes in real life.

Executive Director for Facilities Carol Glick gave an update on the Comprehensive Campus Plan.

Concluding the event, which took place on a nearly 40-degree day, Grasso invited attendees to stick around for the Winter Carnival. “We actually have winter this year,” he’d noted earlier in his address. “Sort of.”

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Story by Kristin Palm. Photos by Annie Barker. Watch the recording of the event.

Administration & Governance

Institutional Advancement

Off

Mon, 02/03/2025 - 17:40

Chancellor Grasso’s annual address covered enrollment good news and challenges, major research wins, promising student success initiatives and more.

Chancellor Domenico Grasso speaks to a crowd of more than 250 at the 2025 State of the University event.

Regents roundup for December 2024

lblouin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 18:00:43 +0000

Regents roundup for December 2024 lblouin Mon, 12/09/2024 - 13:00

Chancellor's update

Chancellor Domenico Grasso provided the following university updates:

Began with well wishes and appreciation for outgoing Regent Ron Wesier’s contributions to our England Engineering Lab Building
Shared news of our annual staff awards and 50-year employee John Kaszewski
Thanked President Ono for his visit to the campus’ Natural Sciences Department in November
Provided a fall commencement update
Remarked about faculty media engagement regarding the 2024 presidential election, including 13 current/retired faculty members speaking to 56 media outlets
Recently awarded $1.65 million grant from the Department of Defense to a multidisciplinary team of faculty from our CECS Sustainability Center
News regarding Regent-elect and ��-Dearborn alum Carl Meyers' oath ceremony that will be held on campus later this week

The following personnel appointments were approved:

New appointments of regular instructional staff

Taner Onsay, PhD, Clinical Professor of Mechanical Engineering, CECS, Sept. 1, 2024–April 30, 2025

Xin Xia, PhD, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, CECS, Sept. 1, 2024–April 30, 2027

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

Samuel E. Enajero, PhD, Lecturer I in Social Sciences, CASL, Jan. 1–April 30, 2025

The following retirement memoir was approved

Kiumi Akingbehin, PhD, professor of Computer and Information Science in CECS, will retire from active faculty status on Dec. 31, 2024.

FY25 capital outlay request

Finally, the Computer and Information Science Building renovation project was submitted to the State of Michigan for capital outlay consideration. The renovation would address infrastructure and provide updates to the existing building with a small addition to accommodate the program. The estimated cost of this project is $40 million. This project was submitted last year to the state, however, at this time, no projects have been funded for the state’s current fiscal year.

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View the Board of Regents meeting agenda.

Administration & Governance

Faculty and Staff

Off

Mon, 12/09/2024 - 18:00

Get details from the December U-M Board of Regents meeting, including the chancellor’s update, new faculty appointments and the FY25 state capital outlay request for the Computer and Information Science Building renovation.

Takeaways from the Oct. 15 Conversation with the Chancellor

lblouin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 12:59:47 +0000

Takeaways from the Oct. 15 Conversation with the Chancellor lblouin Mon, 10/21/2024 - 08:59

The past few years have been a historically tough time for higher education, but last week’s Conversation with the Chancellor event was full of good news for ��-Dearborn. Enrollment is up. This year’s budget features a small surplus. The university’s capital campaign is off to a solid start. And the university is taking important steps on new initiatives, like broadening its DEI efforts. If you weren’t able to attend the event, we’ve recapped some of the big takeaways below. Or you can watch the full Conversation with the Chancellor.

There’s a lot of good news on enrollment and the university budget

In the past few years, demographic challenges and the pandemic have made it a historically challenging time for higher education, with enrollments declining at hundreds of institutions across the country. ��-Dearborn actually fared better than most universities over the past few years. In 2023, the university even welcomed its largest first-year class. But in 2024, it’s unequivocally good news on enrollment. This year’s incoming class of full-time, first-year students is up 4.7%. Transfer and graduate student enrollment is also up. And for Grasso, the brightest of the bright spots are the 9% increase in the four-year graduation rate over the past three years and the 2% increase in the six-year graduation rate compared to 2023. “Our students are taking more courses, which means that they’re going to graduate faster, which means everything is going in the right direction,” Grasso said.

This encouraging enrollment picture is translating into a healthier university budget. Grasso noted that universities can, and often do, grow enrollment while still losing money because of generous subsidies to student tuition. But at ��-Dearborn, we’ve also increased our net tuition revenue. In fact, for the first time in several years, the university has a small budget surplus.

The capital campaign is off to a solid start

Speaking of money, the university is in the midst of its latest capital campaign, which has been dubbed “Look to Michigan” to highlight the state's potential to solve big-picture societal problems and the vital role higher education plays in that. ��-Dearborn has yet to publicly announce its fundraising goal for the campaign, but Grasso shared that we’ve already raised about $25 million. The public launch of the campaign is Oct. 25 and the university will be hosting a major fundraising event at the newly renovated Michigan Central Station in May 2025.

What ‘institutional neutrality’ means for ��-Dearborn

Grasso also discussed a proposed institutional neutrality bylaw, which the U-M Board of Regents was reviewing at the time of the Oct. 15 Conversation event and ultimately approved at their Oct. 17 meeting. The new policy means the U-M president, members of the president’s leadership team (which includes the Dearborn and Flint chancellors), deans, directors, department chairs and others authorized to speak for the university or an academic unit will not, on behalf of the institution, make public statements on social or political issues that are not directly connected to internal university functions. Grasso noted that his office already has a similar set of principles that inform his public statements, though it has not applied to deans and other university leaders. You can read more about the new institutional neutrality bylaw in this article from The Record. Relatedly, ��-Dearborn recently updated its expressive activities policy, which governs its approaches to things like protests, demonstrations and free speech on campus.

The future of DEI at ��-Dearborn

One of Grasso’s big priorities for 2024-25 is getting the Office of Holistic Excellence off to a good start. Created in early 2024, the office is spearheading diversity, equity and inclusion-related efforts at the university, but Grasso noted its vision is much broader than the traditional scope of DEI. While the university will continue efforts to improve student, staff and faculty demographic diversity on campus, he also wants to focus on measurable initiatives that enable students from diverse backgrounds to develop their full potential and make the university a richer place. “There is a narrative that seems to be on campus that we’re walking away from DEI. Nothing could be further from the truth. We’re doubling down on the essence and foundations of DEI,” Grasso said. “[We want to] understand what individuals are bringing not just by their demographic characteristics, but by their life experiences, their perspectives. This is why this is a more holistic approach.” You can read more about Grasso’s views on DEI in our recent article, “Can we still find a path to civil discourse?”

Other highlights

The Renick University Center’s first floor renovation remains on track to be completed by early next year.
Grasso announced that the Facilities team is putting together a plan for installing natural plantings around the campus parking lots so the front door to the university isn’t a “sea of cars.” You can read more about ideas to improve the front entrance of campus on the comprehensive campus plan.
Could the university’s budget surplus translate into a mid-academic-year bonus? Grasso teased such a possibility (to spontaneous applause). He promised additional details later this year.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Administration & Governance

Enrollment

Inclusion or Diversity

University-wide

Chancellor

Off

Mon, 10/21/2024 - 12:59

Couldn’t make last week’s town hall with Chancellor Domenico Grasso? We have a recap of some of Grasso’s takes on enrollment, the budget, the current capital campaign, institutional neutrality and ��-Dearborn's new Office of Holistic Excellence.

Vice Chancellor for External Relations Ken Kettenbeil (left) talks with Chancellor Domenico Grasso in Kochoff Hall on Oct. 15, 2024.

Regents Roundup, December 2023

lblouin — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 14:26:45 +0000

Regents Roundup, December 2023 lblouin Mon, 12/11/2023 - 09:26

Chancellor Domenico Grasso provided the following university updates:

Fall semester commencement overview, including news of new student name reading software developed by CECS students
Higher Learning Commission re-accreditation clean bill of health for 10 years, a campus first
National Advisory Committee member announced a $1 million gift to the university
Student government introduced the first code of ethics for SG students among the three campuses
New ��-Dearborn social mobility ranking in media outlet

The following personnel appointments were approved:

Reappointments of regular instructional staff and selected academic and administrative staff.

Bryan C. Dadey, vice chancellor for business affairs, Office of Business Affairs, effective February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2027.

Lee A. Freeman, interim chair, Department of Management Studies, COB, effective January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024 (also associate professor of information systems management, with tenure).

Claudia S. Kocher, interim associate dean, COB, effective January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024 (also associate professor of finance, with tenure).

Joint or additional appointments or transfers of regular associate or full professors and selected academic and administrative staff.

Mahesh K. Agarwal, chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, CASL, effective January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 (also associate professor of mathematics, with tenure).

Joint or additional appointments or transfers of regular associate or full professors and selected academic and administrative staff.

Joan C. Remski, associate provost for integrative learning and faculty development, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, effective January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2028 (also chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and professor of mathematics, with tenure, College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters).

Other personnel transactions for regular instructional staff and selected academic and administrative staff.

Carrie E. Shumaker, vice chancellor for information technology and chief strategy officer, Office of Information Technology effective January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026.

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

Fadia Cudry, Ph.D., Lecturer I in Physical Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences, CASL, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Carlos C. Engler-Pinto, Ph.D., Lecturer I in Mechanical Engineering, CECS, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Jessica Francis, Ph.D., Lecturer I in Anthropology, Department of Behavioral Sciences, CASL, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Jonathan M. Kaletka, Ph.D., Lecturer I in Biological Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences, CASL, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Isidoro F. Mazzitelli, Ph.D., Lecturer I in Mechanical Engineering, CECS, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Hany M. Othman, DCS., Lecturer I in Computer and Information Science, CECS, August 28 – December 31, 2023

Adoption of Retirement Memoirs and Emeritus Naming

Pankaj K. Mallick, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering in CECS, retired from active faculty status on December 31, 2023.

Subrata Sengupta, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering in CECS, retired from active faculty status on December 31, 2023.

Dongming Zhao, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering in CECS, retired from active faculty status on December 31, 2023.

Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Outlay Submissions

��-Dearborn submitted the Computer Information Science Building renovation project to the state for funding consideration. The renovation would address infrastructure and provide updates to the existing building with a small addition to accommodate adding programming. The estimated cost of the project is $40 million.

The Regents approved moving forward with the Renick University Center first floor renovations authorizing issuing the project for bids and awarding construction contracts when the university is ready for this phase of the project.

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View the Board of Regents’ meeting agenda.

Administration & Governance

Off

Mon, 12/11/2023 - 14:25

Get details from the December U-M Board of Regents meeting, including personnel appointments, retirement memoirs and capital project submissions and approvals.

Administration & Governance

Big changes, familiar faces

Regents roundup for June 2025

Budget approval

​​Interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta provided the following university updates:

Personnel Appointments

Other

������-Dearborn FY26 budget approved at June 12 Regents’ meeting

Meet the first ������-Dearborn alum elected to the U-M Board of Regents

Highlights from the 2025 State of the University

More students are crossing the finish line to graduation.

Overall enrollment is encouraging, but there is still work to do.

Fundraising is essential to maintaining the mission.

Student success initiatives are having a big impact.

Great spaces encourage students to stay.

Regents roundup for December 2024

Chancellor's update

The following personnel appointments were approved:

FY25 capital outlay request

Takeaways from the Oct. 15 Conversation with the Chancellor

There’s a lot of good news on enrollment and the university budget

The capital campaign is off to a solid start

What ‘institutional neutrality’ means for ������-Dearborn

The future of DEI at ������-Dearborn

Other highlights

Regents Roundup, December 2023

Chancellor Domenico Grasso provided the following university updates:

The following personnel appointments were approved:

Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Outlay Submissions

Interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta provided the following university updates:

��-Dearborn FY26 budget approved at June 12 Regents’ meeting

Meet the first ��-Dearborn alum elected to the U-M Board of Regents

What ‘institutional neutrality’ means for ��-Dearborn

The future of DEI at ��-Dearborn