In 2017, the University of Michigan appointed a task force to recommend guidelines and structures for ongoing and future engagements by the U-M community in Detroit. The recommendations should enable and support valuable and long-term partnerships between the city of Detroit, its residents, and the students, faculty, and staff of the university.
The report outlines three core recommendations in framing U-M engagements in Detroit:
- promoting a core set of principles to guide U-M partnerships with Detroit;
- providing key infrastructure to help coordinate and support the myriad Detroit engagement activities that exist within U-M; and
- proposing a central location within Detroit that will maximize U-M’s physical presence in Detroit.
In addition, the task force recognized the significant challenge of transportation between Detroit and the U-M campuses, and made the additional recommendation of providing robust transportation options.
The members of the task force were:
Robert Sellers, task force chair, vice provost and chief diversity officer
Susan Alcock, former special counsel to the president, now provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, UM-Dearborn
Stein Brunvand, associate dean and professor of education, UM-Dearborn
Rosario Ceballo, associate dean for social sciences and professor of women’s studies and psychology
Milton Curry, former associate dean of Taubman College of Architecure and Urban Planning, now at the University of Southern California
Angela Dillard, professor of Afroamerican and African studies and former associate dean for undergraduate education, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Harley Etienne, associate professor of urban planning, Taubman College
Elisabeth Gerber, professor and former associate dean, Ford School of Public Policy
James Holloway, former vice provost for global engagement and interdisciplinary academic affairs, now at the University of New Mexico
Barbara Israel, professor, School of Public Health
Erica Marsh, associate professor, Medical School
Henry Meares, assistant dean, School of Education
Brian Noble, professor, College of Engineering
Stephanie Rowley, former associate vice president for research, now at Columbia University
Trina Shanks, professor, School of Social Work
The full report is available below:
