“My purpose shouldn’t be to be busy or to make people feel busier or to add to the clutter of the world, but to remind myself and others that we have the opportunity to turn the privilege of being alive into something that could be surprising, and it needn’t be radical, but it could just be an interruption.”
~ Nick Tobier, professor of art and design in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
Rooted in the principles of respect, solidarity, and justice, Semester in Detroit has been engaging students with Detroit and Detroiters since 2009. The program engages U-M undergraduates in substantive, sustained and reciprocal relationships with the people and communities of the city of Detroit.
Albert Pak joined the Michigan Law faculty this fall, working in the Community Enterprise Clinic. Although he comes to the faculty from private practice, the things that appeal to him most about academia have long been a part of his career.
The 2024 Kresge Arts Fellowship cohort in Live Arts, Film, and Music, includes Stamps School alums Razi Jafri (MFA ‘22) and Katy Dresner (BFA ‘15).
Enrique Neblett, a professor of Health Behavior & Health Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, has been appointed director of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center, also known as the Detroit URC. “At a time when residents of the city continue not to share equally in social resources, opportunities, and health status, our mission of promoting health equity in Detroit, through community-based participatory research, is critical.”
When Biden was the presumed nominee, 38% of eligible Detroit voters aged 18 to 34 said they would definitely vote in the presidential election, according to the U-M survey. After Harris became the presumed nominee, 57% of Detroiters in that age range said they plan to vote.
Thirty-nine percent of Detroiters said crime and safety are among the two most important issues they want the city of Detroit to address. The survey – which was fielded by U-M’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study – asked open-ended questions, so people could answer in their own words. Other top priorities included: road repairs (17%), neighborhood maintenance (16%), structural blight (15%), and housing affordability (15%).
In early 2024, Angela Dillard wrapped the administrative paperwork on The Michigan-Mellon Project on the Egalitarian Metropolis. And much like the reincarnation of Michigan Central, the project closely hewed to the ideals of “inclusive recovery,” a term popularized by Maurice Cox, Detroit’s former planning and development director.
Tony Reames, the Tishman professor of environmental justice and director of the SEAS Detroit Sustainability Clinic, joined us on the Michigan Minds Podcast to share his thoughts on how energy justice could manifest in the United States.
