College of Business

��-Dearborn earns R2 research designation

lblouin — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 12:34:13 +0000

��-Dearborn earns R2 research designation lblouin Wed, 02/26/2025 - 07:34

By every big metric that Vice Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies Armen Zakarian tracks, ��-Dearborn’s research enterprise is on a tear. The big top line stat: Since 2018, externally funded research expenditures have nearly tripled, increasing from $4.8 million to a projected $13.2 million for FY25. Earlier this month, that growth led to a reclassification of ��-Dearborn as an R2 institution, a designation from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education for universities that award at least 20 research doctorates and have $5 million average annual research spending. It’s the first time the university has received this designation. ��-Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso says the honorific is, without a doubt, an important new feather in the cap for the university. But, for him, the real achievement is all the work that it’s a reflection of. “This recognizes something which we already accomplished — and that is great and I’m very proud of that — but we were going to do it anyway. And honestly, we’re not even satisfied with where we are. There remains enormous untapped potential, so this is really just the start for us,” Grasso says.

So how did we get here? Zakarian and Grasso point to a number of contributing factors. Flash back to 2018 and Zakarian says you’d see an institution where research was “recognized but not prioritized.” The tone changed when Grasso came in and made growing the university’s research and scholarly output one of his top priorities. “In my view, distinguished universities are defined by a faculty comprising scholar-teachers. To my mind, the definition of a professor is someone who is a scholar at the forefront of their field, sharing their passion, knowledge and discoveries with their students,” Grasso says. “Even in the elite small liberal arts schools in New England, where they are known for their focus on educating undergraduate students, the faculty are active scholars.” Zakarian says the administration endorsed that model and supported faculty with larger investments in research development and pre- and post-award support, so researchers could get assistance securing and administering grants.

Aside from the messaging and support from leadership, Zakarian thinks three other things helped set the stage for the explosive research growth the university has seen over the past few years. First, he says faculty consistently cite a shortage of time as their biggest impediment to building their research careers. So some departments decided to lighten the teaching load from three to two courses per semester. The second big factor: the sanctioning of the College of Engineering and Computer Science doctoral programs by U-M’s Rackham Graduate School in 2019. That affiliation meant the programs had to meet the same rigorous standards as doctoral programs on the Ann Arbor campus, which boosted ��-Dearborn’s prestige and ability to recruit top PhD students. This helped faculty recruit valuable talent to power their labs, which further eased their time/labor burden. Finally, Zakarian says when filling faculty vacancies, colleges prioritized hiring ambitious, early-career, research-focused scholars who had the potential to become leaders in their fields.

Then, of course, there’s something to be said for momentum. As some of the above changes started to take root, a few faculty started landing bigger grants, and a larger share of the awards were coming from federal funders, like the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and Department of Defense. “We used to get very few million dollar grants. But it just took a few teams to do that and then we started getting more,” Zakarian says. “You basically reach a point where I think people are looking at what each other are doing, and the mood shifts. Now, we are approaching $85 million in submitted proposals, which I think is just incredible. And the number of proposals hasn’t gone up by a whole lot. That means faculty are more confident going for bigger and bigger grants. Frankly, that’s what it’s going to take. It would be difficult for us to reach the next level, $200,000 at a time.”

Zakarian says the university has also reached a point where the research enterprise has a fairly broad base. “When I think about how sustainable this is, I’m basically looking at whether this is just a handful of people bringing in the big dollar amounts. But it’s much broader than that,” he says. Moreover, while engineering disciplines are responsible for the largest share of the research growth, Zakarian says other disciplines, particularly in the natural sciences, are starting to develop the same momentum. Last year, with engineering in a good spot, the Office of Research made it a priority to assist faculty in the natural sciences. That resulted in several big research grants in biology and chemistry from national funders, including the National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy. Looking ahead, Zakarian and Grasso say the most untapped potential lies in those disciplines, along with computer science, artificial intelligence, and health and human services — the latter of which could also be targeting NIH grants, one of the national funders with the biggest budget.

Grasso notes, however, that realizing that potential now faces some new political hurdles. The Trump administration has pursued several measures that directly disrupt university research, including attempting to severely cut the amount of indirect costs covered by NIH grants, layoffs at the National Science Foundation and pauses by grant review committees. “This is a significant threat,” Grasso says. “I understand the desire to be cost conscious and efficient. But research has been the fuel in the engine that has powered this country, whether you’re talking about revolutionary medications, transistors, AI or practically everything that has changed the world — it all has roots in research — and many of those roots found a home in American soil. To hamper this is incredibly reckless and foolhardy.”

Even within the climate, Zakarian says the R2 designation and what it represents should help keep the momentum going. “Obviously, a lot of this goes back to our ability to recruit and retain top faculty, and I think this designation really does help us communicate that if you are really ambitious and you want to build a strong research program, you can do it here. It says, ‘We’re open for business. We have the resources and the vision. Others have done it, you can do it too.’”

###

Story by Lou Blouin

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Off

Wed, 02/26/2025 - 12:33

The recognition follows six years of rapid growth in which externally funded research spending at ��-Dearborn has nearly tripled. So how did we get here? And what’s next?

Associate Professor Dr. Zhi Zhang (not pictured) and Assistant Professor Jie Fan (pictured, middle) recently landed a $465,000 grant from the NIH. Large federal grants helped power ��-Dearborn to an R2 designation in 2025. Photo by Julianne Lindsay

A ��-Dearborn love story

stuxbury — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:33:45 +0000

A ��-Dearborn love story stuxbury Wed, 02/12/2025 - 11:33

Most people see the ��-Dearborn parking garage as a space for cars. But newlyweds Kevin and Shelby (Lubienski) Saybolt, 2018 alums, say it's also a pretty nice place to see a sunset.

“It’s hard to see the horizon when you’re in a city. But if you go to the top of the garage, it’s actually a good view — definitely the best place to see the sun set when on campus.” says Kevin, who met Shelby at ��-Dearborn during the Fall 2015 semester. “When Shelby and I got married in September, we wanted to pick a place where you could see the sun set. That’s our thing to do together. It’s been like that since college.”

No, they didn’t choose the top of the university’s parking garage for their big day. Instead, they picked a Michigan ski resort that had a sunset view — nine years after first meeting on ��-Dearborn’s campus.

Shelby, an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, and Kevin, an Amazon production planning analyst, are celebrating their first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple. And they give ��-Dearborn the matchmaking credit.

Kevin and Shelby (Lubienski) Saybolt at their December 2018 graduation. Photo courtesy of the Saybolts

“I can honestly say ��-Dearborn changed the trajectory of our entire lives. We found our forever person through those Kroger runs for ice cream before finals, the hikes at the EIC, having fun doing winter sports together and just taking the time to listen to each other,” Kevin says, noting that skiing at Boyne Mountain — the place where they got married — is still on their winter to-do list for the year. “In college, skiing helped bring us together.”

Well, more like esquiar, the Spanish word for it. Kevin and Shelby met in Spanish Professor Jorge Gonzalez del Pozo’s Spanish 201 classroom. When Gonzalez del Pozo quizzed them separately about their interests for a spoken-word exam, he took note of their love of winter activities. As the end-of-the-semester neared, their professor introduced them.

“I was a skier and on the Pine Knob Ski Patrol, so I talked about that with Jorge for the exam. Shelby talked about snowboarding,” Kevin says. “Jorge later brought us together and said, ‘You both really like winter sports and live at the Union, why don’t you consider walking back together — she’ll snowboard, you’ll ski.”

They both took Spanish 202 with Gonzalez del Pozo the following semester but, with different career interests, didn’t have another class together. That didn’t matter. They continued to meet up between classes. Shelby joined the Pine Knob Ski Patrol with Kevin. Kevin spent time caring for animals with Shelby, who loves dogs, at the Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit. And, as “just friends,” they helped each other consider what life would be like post-graduation. They reasoned that a romantic relationship may complicate their plans: Shelby, a psychology major, was considering graduate school; Kevin was pre-med and planned to be a doctor.

During Kevin and Shelby’s last academic year, mutual friend and ��-Dearborn classmate Madison Kuzma encouraged Shelby to speak up. “Madison and I were at a psychology teaching assistant picnic at Professor Roger Loeb’s house. I was telling Madison that whoever ended up with Kevin would be the luckiest girl in the world,” Shelby says. “She encouraged me to tell him how I felt before we graduated. She was right. I wasn’t sure how it would affect our long-term plans, but I needed to say something.”

Kevin and Shelby Saybolt enjoy skiing and are part of the Pine Knob Ski Patrol. Photo courtesy of the Saybolts

Turns out, Kevin felt the same way and they made it official in March 2018 with a Pine Knob ski date at sunset. In December 2018, they graduated and their families met for the first time at the ��-Dearborn Fieldhouse ceremony. “They all hit it off. I have a lot of lawyers in my family and Kevin’s parents are attorneys, so our families just clicked,” Shelby says. “Over the years, we’ve learned that we’ve had so many things in common — including that we went to the same doctor’s office growing up — but it took ��-Dearborn to bring us together.”

Even with best-laid plans, the unexpected can happen. Kevin didn’t get into medical school, so he pivoted to a career in business and earned his MBA from ��-Dearborn in 2021. Shelby, drawing from behavioral health lessons at ��-Dearborn, realized she wanted to help juvenile offenders. She decided to go to law school.

“We helped each other on campus and then, when we found ourselves in the real world, we helped each other through those challenges and grew together,” says Shelby, who graduated from Wayne State University Law School in 2022. “We were worried that a relationship would pull our focus away from our futures. Instead, it’s what pulled us through.” In addition to career growth, they’ve added to their household by adopting two dogs, Muffin and Teddy.

Sharing wedding photos recently, the couple mentioned that Kuzma was in the wedding party and Gonzalez del Pozo was invited, but was unable to attend due to conflicting plans. Shelby says their favorite college memories — like watching the sun set after class — were represented throughout their big day.

“We may not have been on campus for the wedding, but ��-Dearborn played a big part in what our wedding day looked like — most importantly, who we were exchanging our vows with,” Shelby says with a laugh. “Without ��-Dearborn, I don’t know if we would have met each other. I came to ��-Dearborn because of the Michigan degree and smaller class sizes. I knew I’d get a great education, but I didn’t realize that I’d find my soulmate too.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

Off

Wed, 02/12/2025 - 16:32

Shelby and Kevin Saybolt go together just like maize and blue. As they celebrate their first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, the 2018 alums share the role ��-Dearborn had — including a professor who introduced them — in their happily ever after.

Kevin and Shelby Saybolt met at ��-Dearborn in 2015 and married in September 2024. Photo by Karie Anne Photography

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

‘Students from around the world thrive here’

stuxbury — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 13:40:51 +0000

‘Students from around the world thrive here’ stuxbury Mon, 01/27/2025 - 08:40

College of Business graduate student Mohamed Almajed's long-time dream was to study in the United States. He heard stories from his father, Bader, about how the experience changed his life.

“My father studied computer science in the U.S.in the 1980s and told me how it helped him make life-long connections and become a more independent person. He was very successful,” Almajed says. “Hearing him talk about life in the United States, I’ve wanted to study here since I was a child.”

For the past 10 years, the 28-year-old finance professional from Bahrain — Almajed works in Bahrain’s Ministry of Finance and National Economy, where he’s issued loans on the international and domestic side — looked for opportunities. Last year, he found one. Almajed applied and was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to study at ��-Dearborn in the College of Business’ Master in Finance program. He moved to Dearborn and started his classes in the fall.

“Out of the 100 applicants in my country, I was selected. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to study at ��-Dearborn. My courses have been challenging, but they are led by professors who treat you well and give you the information needed to be successful. I expected my classes to be challenging, but what I didn’t prepare for is how cold it would be. How do people do it?,” asks Almajed, noting that Bahrain's coldest month of the year, January, averages 65 degrees. “You wake up to all this ice and snow on your car. It is beautiful, but it has taken some getting used to.”

Almajed is one of the Fulbright Scholars studying at ��-Dearborn this semester. Office of International Affairs Assistant Director Emlly Wang says, in the past, the university typically had one or two international Fulbright students at a time — but this academic year there are four. In addition to Bahrain, current Fulbright Scholars are from Cambodia, Kenya and Panama. They all started in the fall and will be on campus until they complete their degree programs. Reporter will be sharing these students’ stories in the next three Tuesday editions.

Fulbright applicants hoping to study in the U.S. list their top university choices, with the Fulbright organization matching them based on academic fit.

“We are becoming more noticed as a destination for Fulbright Scholars to study,” Wang says. “I attribute this to ��-Dearborn’s diverse community, our growing graduate programs and the faculty research happening here. It makes the university attractive for students to list us as a top choice.”

With budget being a major consideration for Fulbright university applicants, she adds that the affordability of the region, along with ��-Dearborn’s tuition costs and scholarship packages, make it attainable. According to a January 2025 Apartments.com comparison, the cost of rent in Dearborn is 21% lower than the national average.

“Students from around the world thrive here,” Wang says. “We at ��-Dearborn believe in providing opportunities for all students. As a community, we ensure that we can make a difference in people's lives here and around the world.” She says faculty and staff from across the university look for ways to make Fulbright students feel at home in a new country. For example, members of the ��-Dearborn community typically help students find furniture and transportation, along with helping them navigate grocery stores and find events to attend like the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Almajed says he’s felt this hospitality, especially in the classroom. Even with the rigor of his graduate-level finance courses, he says his professors — especially COB faculty Vivek Singh, Mercedes Miranda and Zhixin (Jason) Liu — are very supportive and welcoming.

“In addition to my professors being experts in the fields, they are also very patient and understanding. They also have lived and studied in other countries before coming to the U.S. They understand what it is like to move somewhere new that’s away from your family to build a life,” he says. “Their kindness helped make the transition easier.”

With the first semester in the books, Almajed says he did well in his classes and passed the Bloomberg Market Concepts Certification through his course with Singh. Almajed looks forward to branching out beyond studies for the winter semester and plans to find a finance internship for the summer and take a trip to Chicago in the spring.

Almajed says his experience has been personally fulfilling and he expects it to help him professionally too. He believes understanding finance from a U.S. perspective and learning how other countries handle debt will help him as the Bahrain Ministry of Finance’s head of domestic issuance, as his home country is currently looking at ways to curb inflation.

“I plan to build relationships and gain knowledge that I will take back with me to Bahrain. I want to help build connections between these two homes of mine, just like my father did. I wish I could live this moment with him. My father passed in 2013 when I was 16 years old,” Almajed says. “But he's always with me because he continues to guide me. I know he’s seeing all the things I am accomplishing. I hope he’s proud.”

Not only is this experience beneficial to Fulbright students like Almajed — it also brings another layer of international experience at the university. For example, Wang says, a ��-Dearborn undergraduate student recently spoke with Almajed about what it’s like to live in Bahrain. The student has family history in Bahrain and wants to teach there, but has not traveled internationally.

“For our ��-Dearborn students who haven’t had the opportunity to travel yet, these students open windows into what life is like somewhere else. The Fulbright program fosters mutual understanding between nations and advances knowledge across communities. The world would have fewer conflicts with more understanding among nations and people if we had more exchanges like this,” Wang says. “The Fulbright program gives us an opportunity to live and learn with people from different cultures so we can all become a part of a wider global network.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury

COB Graduate Programs

Off

Mon, 01/27/2025 - 13:40

��-Dearborn hosts Fulbright Scholars from Bahrain, Cambodia, Kenya and Panama this academic year. Meet Mohamed Almajed, a finance professional from Bahrain who’s studying in the College of Business.

Fulbright student Mohamed Almajed, pictured in Fairlane Center South's Bloomberg Finance Lab, is a COB student in the Master of Finance program. Photo by Annie Barker

Informational Session: Digital Summer Clinic

azehel — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 20:34:20 +0000

Informational Session: Digital Summer Clinic azehel Mon, 01/13/2025 - 15:34

Join us for an informational session with the Digital Summer Clinic, where you'll learn about exciting internship opportunities tailored for aspiring professionals in business, marketing, design, and technology. Gain hands-on experience working with startups, build your portfolio, and connect with industry leaders. Don't miss this chance to kickstart your career and make an impact!

Learn more about the Digital Summer Clinic

2025-02-10T16:00:00-0500 to 2025-02-10T17:00:00-0500

United States

Online/Virtual

Business Career Center

Rita Agius

ragius@umich.edu

Current Students

Undergraduate students

Graduate students

College of Business

Business Career Center

Career / Networking

Entrepreneur Showcase

kporembi — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 17:09:41 +0000

Entrepreneur Showcase kporembi Thu, 01/09/2025 - 12:09

Please join us to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit during National Entrepreneurship Week at the ��-Dearborn Entrepreneur Showcase! This pop-up event will feature local entrepreneurs eager to share their small businesses with the ��-Dearborn community. Learn more about their unique businesses, shop their products/services, and hear about their entrepreneurial journeys at this exciting showcase.

Are you a member of the ��-Dearborn community with your own small business? If you are interested in hosting a table at the event, please complete the vendor interest form by scanning the QR code or following the link below. *Note: Spaces are limited and not guaranteed.

Contact kporembi@umich.edu with questions.

Entrepreneur Showcase at ��-Dearborn

2025-02-18T10:00:00-0500 to 2025-02-18T14:00:00-0500

James C. Renick University Center

4901 Evergreen Road
Dearborn, MI 48128
United States

https://goo.gl/maps/KkAj6x49gJPZXwuH7

Dining Area

United States

On Campus

iLabs

Kari Kowalski

kporembi@umich.edu

Local community members

‘How will you make your mark on the world?’

stuxbury — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 19:14:43 +0000

‘How will you make your mark on the world?’ stuxbury Sat, 12/21/2024 - 14:14

Nearly 40 years after Henry Maier earned his diploma from ��-Dearborn, he attended his first campus commencement. The retired FedEx ground president and CEO skipped his own ceremony because he moved immediately after finals to begin working. On Dec. 21, he was back at his alma mater — this time delivering the keynote speech to the Class of Fall 2024.

Keynote speaker Henry Maier

“Thanks for the opportunity to finally attend — even if it is almost 50 years late,” said Maier, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1986. “I entered ��-Dearborn as a freshman in the fall of 1972, only the second class of freshmen admitted to the university. My family couldn’t afford college, so I had to work one, two and once three jobs to pay tuition. I’m sure many of you sitting here can relate.” Maier went on to have a 35-year career with FedEx. “��-Dearborn made it possible for students like me to get not just a college education, but a Michigan education,” he continued.

Surrounded by family, friends and favorite professors, hundreds of Dearborn Wolverines were awarded 713 degrees during two 90-minute commencement ceremonies in the Fieldhouse. The morning ceremony recognized graduates of the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters and the College of Business. The afternoon ceremony celebrated graduates of the College of Education, Health and Human Services and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Delivering the keynote, Maier congratulated the graduates on reaching their goals. He said their hard work will continue to open doors for more opportunities. “Today you reached a milestone, but what you really have done is given yourself choices. You can choose to earn a living, what problems you want to help solve and decide what direction you want your life to go in,” he said.

Maier added that, as life unfolds, the knowledge the graduates have gained will prove important — but so will the understanding that there will always be lessons to learn and skills to grow. “If you take nothing else with you today, be curious, inquisitive and remember that your education does not end when you leave today,” he said.

Student speaker Almunthir Elhady echoed the idea that graduation is not a conclusion. The College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate told his fellow students that with each step they take, they will be called to adapt, to grow and to rise. “The future is not a destination — it is a process of becoming, a journey of constant redefinition, of striving not just for personal success, but for a world that is better for those who will follow,” Elhady said.

Student speaker Almunthir Elhady

As Chancellor Domenico Grasso certified the degrees, he told the students that he looks forward to seeing the good that they bring into the world. “I welcome you to the society of learned men and women and to the pantheon of distinguished Michigan alumni — almost 700,000 strong — who have shaped and defined the world in which we live,” Grasso said. “Today also marks the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight, but from here on, the days will gradually grow longer. Just as the light of the sun increases, so too will the light of your education — symbolized by our university seal — guide you, illuminating your futures for the rest of your lives.”

Then, students in the Class of Fall 2024 — who ranged from ages 18 to 65 and hailed from 14 U.S. states and many nations around the world — turned their tassels, marking their official transition to alumni. During the two ceremonies, 482 undergraduate, 226 graduate and five doctoral degrees were awarded.

Grasso also awarded one special diploma — to Maier. “We are going to present him with the diploma that he did not receive during his commencement,” Grasso said. “Congratulations.” Smiling, Maier accepted it with one word: “Finally.”

Chancellor Domenico Grasso and Class of Fall 2024 keynote speaker Henry Maier

During his keynote speech, Maier noted that the anthem for his generation — the Baby Boomers — was a Graham Nash song titled “Chicago.” He paraphrased the lyrics: “We can change the world. Rearrange the world. It’s dying to get better.” He encouraged the newest ��-Dearborn alums to think about their song, while also talking about what a big day it was for them both — even though their graduations were nearly 40 years apart.

“To the Class of 2024, I ask, ‘What’s your anthem? How will you leave your mark on the world?” Maier said. “What I can tell you is you have already begun.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury. Photos by Annie Barker and Andrew Mascharka

Commencement

Alumni Engagement

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Off

Sat, 12/21/2024 - 18:57

��-Dearborn awarded 713 degrees during two 90-minute commencement ceremonies on Dec. 21 in the Fieldhouse.

The Class of Fall 2024 was celebrated at two commencement ceremonies on Dec. 21. Photo by Annie Barker

Class of Fall 2024: College of Business graduate Lamyah Burhani

stuxbury — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 10:29:14 +0000

Class of Fall 2024: College of Business graduate Lamyah Burhani stuxbury Wed, 12/18/2024 - 05:29

Lamyah Burhani remembers coming to ��-Dearborn as a high school student and mentally making notes of the campus environment, the welcoming feeling she experienced and knowing she wanted to say yes to as many opportunities as possible.

Three and a half years later — yes, she graduated in less than four — Burhani has completed four internships, traveled out of state for an Alpha Kappa Psi conference as the ��-Dearborn chapter president, studied in Italy through the university’s Study Abroad program and more. She says these experiences helped grow her confidence.

“I chose ��-Dearborn because, as cheesy as this sounds, it felt home-y. It could also give me the education I wanted and was the best financial decision. What I didn’t realize is how much the past few years would bring me out of my shell and help me learn how to be secure in myself and my abilities and to speak up,” says Burhani, a Canton resident double majoring in marketing and supply chain management. “Being at ��-Dearborn has helped me become a leader.”

She joined Alpha Kappa Psi her first year, after attending the university’s Winter Involvement Fair. When she became president at the end of that year, Burhani transitioned the business fraternity back to in-person activities following the pandemic. She reorganized the student organization’s space in Fairlane Center North and looked for ways to create community. She planned fun and career-focused events on campus while promoting business development opportunities, which included the AKPsi Elevate Conference in Chicago.

Burhani says not only did her time in the fraternity and exploring resources help her meet new friends, these activities also connected her to ��-Dearborn leaders who had expertise in career development. Of particular note, Burhani mentions ��-Dearborn’s career fairs and resume workshops, as well as the COB course Business Administration 300, taught by Business Administration Lecturer Rita Agius, which introduces students to career-securing strategies. Agius is also the senior internship program manager in COB’s Business Career Center.

“I was so impressed that there was a course that focused on all things career development. We talked about resumes, job searches, marketing ourselves, writing professionally and anything you can think of that will make you a stronger candidate. It definitely enhanced my professional growth,” Burhani says. “The career training and network you can get at ��-Dearborn is really incredible.”

Burhani, who plans to focus on the supply chain management side of her degree and is currently weighing her available opportunities, says the Business Career Center helped her find three of her four internships. She completed two supply chain management internships, at Detroit Manufacturing Systems and Tenneco, as well as a marketing internship at The Mushroom Angel Company, located in Detroit’s Eastern Market. “I started going to ��-Dearborn career fairs as a freshman. At the time, I went just to go. I didn’t know if it would help me or not. It did. I want to encourage students, even during their first year, to go. And then keep going,” she says. “You build relationships year after year. You learn about the companies, meet the representatives and make connections. Then you can decide what you want to work toward.”

Burhani says she did not originally intend to major in supply chain management, but Operations Management Lecturer Laura Birou noticed her talent and encouraged her to consider it as a career path. Not only does the supply chain field have a double-digit projection for growth — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of supply chain management professionals will grow by 30% from 2020 to 2030 — Burhani also finds it highly intriguing.

“I came to college planning to have a career in marketing. I love marketing and will apply the skills I gained in my marketing classes to my career, but I learned that I have a talent for numbers, organizing and attention to detail that I didn’t realize,” Burhani says. “Knowing that I had a part in getting something in the right quantity where it needs to be on time is something I find fulfilling.” In addition to the automotive field, Burhani is interested in working in healthcare, where many of the supplies are potentially life-saving.

Reflecting on the past three-plus years, Burhani says her time in college also gave her an opportunity to travel to Italy through the International Summer Program in Management at the University of Padua. During the five-week program, she took business classes at the University of Padua with Italian students, while also traveling the country. She saw the Colosseum in Rome, rode in a gondola in Venice and saw Michelangelo’s David in Florence. “I’ve never lived away from home before. I got to do that, meet friends from Italy that I still talk with, and do things I only thought I’d be able to see in books or social media,” she says. “I also saw how the world is much bigger than just me or what’s happening right now. I knew that, but to see it through so many layers of history was humbling.”

Nearing the end of her ��-Dearborn undergraduate experience, Burhani says the welcoming, home-y feeling never left. Sitting in her favorite chair in Fairlane's student organization space recently while taking it all in, Burhani says she’s ready for what’s next.

“��-Dearborn is such a special place. The people here want you to go out into the world and succeed, but they also encourage you to leave a legacy here,” she reflects. “Thanks to the people I’ve met and the things I was able to accomplish while at ��-Dearborn, I know I’ll be able to do both.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury

Commencement

Student Success

College of Business

COB Student Organizations

Off

Wed, 12/18/2024 - 10:27

Graduating in under four years, the supply chain management and marketing double major says ��-Dearborn helped her gain job experience, an international perspective, leadership skills and memories that will last a lifetime.

Portrait of COB graduate Lamyah Burhani. Photo by Jansen Sangala

Faculty Fulbrights bring international partnerships to Dearborn Wolverines

stuxbury — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:55:56 +0000

Faculty Fulbrights bring international partnerships to Dearborn Wolverines stuxbury Mon, 12/16/2024 - 11:55

Three ��-Dearborn faculty from three different colleges were awarded grants to teach or conduct research in three different areas of the world — Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia — through the Fulbright awards program.

The U.S. Fulbright Scholar exchange program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, awarded grants to ��-Dearborn faculty. Composition and Rhetoric Teaching Professor Kristian Stewart received an award for the 2023-24 cycle. Business Economics and Finance Lecturer Mercedes Miranda and Computer and Information Science Associate Professor Birhanu Eshete earned grants for the 2024-25 cycle.

“A Fulbright Award is a way we can bring other parts of the world back to our students,” says Stewart, who did her most recent Fulbright in Indonesia over the summer. “We have diversity on our campus. There are times when I have students with five different first languages in my classroom. But we can still get isolated in our own groups, in our own enclaves. So it’s important to connect our students with people in different areas of the world that they may be unfamiliar with. And it’s important for them to learn how to tell — and listen — to the stories of others. Fulbright awards open doors to connect our students to people in different areas of the world.”

Reporter spoke with Stewart and Miranda about their recent awards. Eshete, who is currently in Ethiopia, will be highlighted in a future story.

Mercedes Miranda, Egypt

Miranda says an exchange opportunity changed her life when she was a college undergraduate. As a part of a pilot program at her university in her home country of Ecuador, Miranda — an economics student — was chosen to join a cohort that would study at the University of New Orleans in the United States.

“That opened a world of opportunities for me to create new networks to climb the career ladder and to experience a different culture,” says Miranda, who notes that, as cultural immersion, she watched “Saturday Night Live” until she was able to pick up the references and laugh at the jokes. “Many of our students at ��-Dearborn may be of Arabic descent, but they are born here and do not have the financial means to travel outside of the U.S. I see this Fulbright as a way to help me better understand life in a MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) country, while also creating ways to help my ��-Dearborn students connect with people across the world.”

Starting in February, Miranda will be teaching four-month business economics courses in Egypt, contributing her expertise to global academic exchanges and fostering international collaboration. Miranda has previously done non-Fulbright teaching in China for MBA students and in Italy for undergraduates.

Miranda’s Fulbright university will be in Cairo, but the name of the institution will not be shared with her until 10 days prior to the beginning of the Fulbright due to their protocol. She will teach both undergraduate and graduate courses that have an interdisciplinary, hands-on approach and merge concepts from finance, business economics and international business.

“I am going to teach through using business case studies through the Egyptian economic perspective, while also having the students reach out to Egyptian businesses to create a collaborative project that will help the businesses and give students the applicable knowledge they need,” she says. “I do something similar at ��-Dearborn, except from an American perspective and we work with Dearborn- and Detroit-based small businesses.”

Miranda enjoys seeing other areas of the world, but this will be the first time she’s traveled to Egypt. She chose to apply to the country specifically because it was the largest country in the MENA region with an institution where she could apply her international business economics expertise and 20% of the population are in the age range of 15 to 24.

“Many of our students are fluent in Arabic and I wanted an Arabic-speaking country that had a younger demographic. I see my Fulbright as the first step to a partnership of some type. Maybe it’s a project or a class. Maybe it’s having ��-Dearborn students go there or for Egyptian students to study here,” says Miranda, who notes COB Dean Frédéric Brunel will visit Egypt while she is there to meet faculty and university officials. “No matter what it will look like, I do know that this is only the beginning of something very wonderful.”

Kristian Stewart, Indonesia

When Stewart returned from Greece in fall 2023, after her first Fulbright Scholar Award, Stewart looked for additional international collaboration opportunities through Fulbright. She found a Fulbright Specialist opportunity to create a Center for Academic Writing at the Universitas Negeri Medan in Medan, Indonesia, in the summer 2024.

In addition to developing a Centre for Academic Writing on the Medan campus, running workshops and giving talks, Stewart provides one-on-one instruction and critiques for faculty academic papers. “After the six weeks, I left them the curriculum that I developed as a foundation for their Centre for Academic Writing,” she says. “To continue our relationship, I'm still working with their faculty. On Tuesday mornings our time, I'm theirs for the morning. They can put questions or their scholarly work in WhatsApp or a Google drive and I can edit and give feedback.”

Before Stewart left Indonesia, she and university employees discussed how they would like to come to ��-Dearborn and co-teach with her or how they can bring ��-Dearborn students there.

“The Fulbright Specialist award might be for a relatively short period of time, but the effects of the work being done through the program will be long lasting for me, their faculty and our students,” Stewart says.

Working with the University of Peloponnese in Greece during her first Fulbright Award, Stewart tailored her ��-Dearborn digital storytelling course to fit the needs of the Greek school’s curriculum, available technologies and student population. One such example project comes from Stewart’s ��-Dearborn course, “Being Human Today.” Stewart’s Dearborn Wolverines collaborate with students from universities around the world to create short videos that present life through individual lenses. “You combat stereotypes by having experiences outside of your own. You find solutions to world issues by learning from other people and seeing how they solve problems. Exposure is key,” says Stewart, who has previously taught in multiple countries, including South Africa, China, Germany and Italy.

A highlight of her first Fulbright Award was an invitation to provide a plenary address at Jefferson House, the residence of the United States Ambassador to Greece, where she was proud to provide remarks and represent ��-Dearborn to an international audience that included United States Ambassador to Greece, George J. Tsunis.

Stewart says as a result of her Fulbrights, her goals are to foster additional international connections and projects to benefit ��-Dearborn students. And it’s working.

��-Dearborn and the University of the Peloponnese recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Students and faculty from the two schools plan to work together for the next five years on writing-related research endeavors, including students virtually working together and sharing stories.

Stewart has additionally established a Collaborative Online International Learning partnership with biotechnology students in South Africa, and they just finished an eight-week project. Together, in WhatsApp groups, students investigated one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals students then co-authored StoryMaps reflective of their research. Stewart also plans to connect Dearborn students to the Indonesian students, stemming from her work in Medan, in the near future.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury

Faculty and Staff

University-wide

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

Accounting and Finance

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Computer and Information Science

Off

Mon, 12/16/2024 - 16:55

Three faculty members from three ��-Dearborn colleges — COB, CECS and CASL — earned awards to work in Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

��-Dearborn faculty members, from left, Mercedes Miranda, Kristian Stewart and Birhanu Eshete

Here are your CASL and COB Medallion winners

stuxbury — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:56:37 +0000

Here are your CASL and COB Medallion winners stuxbury Mon, 12/02/2024 - 12:56

��-Dearborn honors a select group of students each semester with Medallion Awards. Chosen by faculty from their respective colleges, graduates are recognized for their outstanding quality of character, intellect, integrity and academic record.

Three Dean’s Medallion awardees are chosen per college — 12 students overall — with one student selected to receive the top honor — the Chancellor’s Medallion. This semester’s Chancellor’s Medallion winner comes from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. All awardees will be recognized during the Dec. 21 commencement celebrations.

Here are the Fall 2024 College of Arts, Sciences and Letters and the College of Business recipients.

The awardees from the College of Education, Health and Human Services and CECS will be featured in a Thursday Reporter article.

Dean’s Medallion

College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Mariam Duhaini

Degree: Bachelor of Science in biology and Bachelor of Arts in psychology

Awards, honors and distinction: University Honors (W20, W21, F21, W22); Distinguished Research in Biology Award; Patient Care Associate of the Year at DMC hospital

Scholarships: SURE Fellowship

Academic achievements and internships:

Duhaini’s research contributions are impressive, culminating in an invitation to give an oral presentation at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference on Extracellular Vesicles. It is extremely rare for an undergraduate to be selected to speak at this national conference. Typically, only postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and faculty are chosen for this honor.

Mariam also has two manuscripts currently under review in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, co-authored with Associate Professor of Biology Kalyan Kondapalli. One, on which she is first author, focuses on exosome biogenesis and the other focuses on SARS-CoV-2 trafficking in host cells, with both studies investigating the molecular mechanisms regulated by the sodium-proton exchanger NHE9. Duhaini’s research contributes significantly to addressing gaps in the field of endosomal trafficking. Duhaini also served as a teaching assistant for Prof. Kondapalli’s cell biology course.

Extracurricular and community projects: President of ActiveMinds; hospice worker; Crisis textline responder

Future plans: Duhaini is currently applying to medical school programs. In the meantime, she continues to work on her exosome research with Prof. Kondapalli.

Lauren Fossano

Degree: Bachelor of Arts in criminology and criminal justice

Awards, honors and distinction: University Honors (W22–W24,); Dean’s List (F21, W22–W24)

Academic achievements and internships: As part of her practicum requirement for her degree, Fossano participated in multiple internships. Most notable is her position as a Federal Bureau of Investigation Honors Intern, a highly selective program that holds a 2.5% acceptance rate among roughly 12,000 applicants. She also held an internship with the Northville Township Police Department Detective Bureau in summer 2022 and participated in ��-Dearborn’s selective cold case partnership with the Monroe County Sheriff ’s Office. In addition, Fossano participated in the university’s Inside-Out Prison Exchange class and conducted multiple research projects for her courses.

Extracurricular and community projects: Member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and the ��-Dearborn Criminology and Criminal Justice Collective; volunteered at FBI gift-giving outreach event

Future plans: Fossano is currently exploring graduate programs. In the meantime, she continues to work as an intern with the FBI. Long-term, she is interested in supporting offenders as well as victims and survivors of crime through her continued work in law enforcement.

Katie Dreher

Degree: Bachelor of Arts in psychology; mInor in women’s and gender studies

Awards, honors and distinction: Outstanding Student of the Behavioral Sciences Department (2024); Dean’s List (F21–W24)

Scholarships: ��-Dearborn Dean’s Scholarship (2021-2024); John J. Brownfain Endowed Memorial Scholarship

Academic achievements and internships: Dreher has excelled in numerous areas of research and coursework, completing both the ��-Dearborn Honors Program and the Psychology Honors Program. For the latter, she completed an honors thesis with Associate Professor of Psychology Rob Hymes, exploring how rejection sensitivity mediates the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships. In a voluntary research project conducted with a peer, Dreher conducted research on perceptions of kidnap victims and “missing white woman syndrome.” She has submitted both of these research projects to the 2025 Midwestern Psychological Association Meeting for presentation. In addition, during her time at ��-Dearborn, Dreher worked with several faculty as a social psychology lab assistant. In this role, she collected, interpreted and analyzed data.

In 2023, Dreher completed a semester-long training in dialogue facilitation and helped host community conversations with women veterans as part of “Same Mission, Many Stories,” a Michigan Humanities-funded project.Professor of Sociology Francine Banner, Professor of Health and Human Services and Women’s and Gender Studies Lisa Martin and Veterans Affairs Coordinator Tom Pitock served as advisors to this project. As part of this work, Dreher participated in the annual Michigan Women Veterans Conference, where she presented data to veterans and policymakers. Dreher is currently interning at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, where she works under a pediatric neuropsychologist who specializes in cancer patients and survivors.

Extracurricular and community projects: Undergraduate Society of Psychology and Neuroscience; Psi Chi

Future plans: Dreher is applying to graduate programs in clinical and social psychology.

College of Business

Kristina Al-Shaer

Degree: Bachelor of Business Administration in finance

Awards, honors and distinction: Angell Scholar (W24); University Honors (F22–F23);

William J. Branstrom Freshman Prize (W23); Dean’s List (F22–W24)

Scholarships: Excellence Scholarship; Allard Family Trust Endowed Scholarship; Fast Track Scholarship

Academic achievements and internships: Al-Shaer's dedication to her studies and passion for business shows in how quickly she earned her degree while balancing internships and real estate work. She began at ��-Dearborn in Fall 2022 and will be finishing her degree in under three years, earning her the Fast Track Scholarship from the COB Scholarship Committee. Al-Shaer began working at RE/MAX Dream Properties in 2021 and maintained a work-life balance that allowed her to earn several honors and graduate early, in addition to performing well at her internship and as a real estate agent.

While working as a marketing assistant and realtor at RE/MAX Dream Properties, Al-Shaer also began an internship at Stellantis as a student financial analyst, maintaining both of her business passions. At Stellantis, Al-Shaer assisted both the international and state tax departments to prepare annual forms and ensure compliance.

Extracurricular and community projects: Fundraising committee head for Alpha Kappa Psi–Eta Nu chapter; Student Food Pantry volunteer; Forgotten Harvest volunteer

Future plans: Al-Shaer plans to continue her education at the College of Business next fall, pursuing her master’s degree in finance. She looks forward to continuing her work at Stellantis and as a realtor while obtaining her degree.

Mackenzie Mertz

Degree: Bachelor of Business Administration in finance (financial management concentration), minors in supply chain management and in criminology and criminal justice

Awards, honors and distinction: Angell Scholar (W22); William J. Branstrom Freshman Prize (2021); University Honors (F20, F21, W22); Dean’s List (F20–F22, W24); Rudy Radulovich Award (2022); Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Volleyball All-Academic Team (2022, 2023); WHAC Defender of the Week (x4); WHAC Second All-Team Conference (2023); NAIA Scholar Athlete (2023); Academic All-District Team (2023); NAIA Academic All-American (2023, 2024)

Scholarships: Metropolitan Scholarship; Women’s Volleyball Scholarship; COB Internship Scholarship; COB Richard M. Haddrill Scholarship; Allard Family Trust Endowed Scholarship

Academic achievements and internships: In summer 2022, Mertz worked as an intern at Estate and Business Planning Group, where she shadowed fiduciary investors and led the implementation of a new online filing system to enhance company efficiency. The following summer she worked as a client accounting and advisory services intern at UHY, which included preparing quarterly workbooks for clients and conducting data analysis.

Extracurricular and community projects: ��-Dearborn Volleyball team member and captain; Athletes in Action; Clinton-Macomb Girls Fastpitch League volunteer softball coach; Athletic Department’s canned food drive volunteer; robotics competition referee for Shumate Middle School.

Not only has Mertz excelled academically during her time at ��-Dearborn, she has also pursued her passion for volleyball. She has been a member of the university’s volleyball team since August 2020, and was the team captain for the past three seasons. As captain, Mertz implemented “accountability partners” to foster a safe and supportive environment and has strived to lead by example. Her coach, Eric Stark, praised Mertz’s leadership skills and attention to detail, as well as her ambition to achieve her goals on and off the court. All the while, she has balanced volleyball with work and school — she worked several jobs to put herself through school and served as a grader for Information Systems Management Lecturer Lise Urbaczewski, who has praised Mertz’s performance and will miss her work after graduation.

Future plans: Mertz plans to further her education in finance and take the Securities Industry Essentials Series 7 and Series 66 exams to become a licensed financial planner. She also plans to continue her commitment to volleyball by serving as the lead training coach at Victor’s Volleyball Club and as the assistant volleyball coach at ��-Dearborn.

Om Patel

Degree: Bachelor of Business Administration in supply chain management and information systems management

Awards, honors and distinction: Angell Scholar (W23); University Honors (F21, W22, W23, F23, W24); Dean’s List (F21–W24)

Scholarships: Victor J. Streeter Scholarship

Academic achievements and internships: In May 2024, Patel participated in a research project with Associate Professor of Operations Management Yi-Su Chen to understand decision-making under pressure. The project was structured as a game, where players had to make decisions to reduce carbon emissions and develop energy infrastructure while minimizing their environmental impact. Patel has also worked as an intern at Trijicon, where he led a project focused on shipping regulation for lithium batteries, and at Autokiniton, where he coordinated supply chain elements to improve efficiency and scheduled deliveries.

Om has shown his passion for helping and teaching others by forming study groups for two operations management courses. Operations Management Lecturer Laura Birou praised his initiative and leadership for establishing the groups that led to higher levels of student success. Other professors have also complimented Patel on his dedication to his studies and involvement in COB’s Supply Chain Association. His supervisor at Autokiniton praised his eagerness to learn and ability to work in a team.

Extracurricular and community projects: Vice president of Supply Chain Association

Future plans: Patel plans to pursue a master’s degree in supply chain management while working in the automotive or military and defense industries. He is also committed to educating and mentoring future students by one day becoming a professor.

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

Off

Mon, 12/02/2024 - 17:55

This commencement season, select students across the university are recognized with ��-Dearborn’s top honors.

Graphic by Violet Dashi

College of Business

������-Dearborn earns R2 research designation

A ������-Dearborn love story

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

‘Students from around the world thrive here’

Informational Session: Digital Summer Clinic

Entrepreneur Showcase

James C. Renick University Center

‘How will you make your mark on the world?’

Class of Fall 2024: College of Business graduate Lamyah Burhani

Faculty Fulbrights bring international partnerships to Dearborn Wolverines

Mercedes Miranda, Egypt

Kristian Stewart, Indonesia

Here are your CASL and COB Medallion winners

Dean’s Medallion

College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Mariam Duhaini

Lauren Fossano

Katie Dreher

College of Business

Kristina Al-Shaer

Mackenzie Mertz

Om Patel

��-Dearborn earns R2 research designation

A ��-Dearborn love story

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