Unit Spotlights

The transition to senior faculty status following promotion to the rank of “associate professor with tenure” generates both challenges and opportunities. To provide support during this transition, the Office of the Provost and the ADVANCE Program launched a pilot coaching program in Fall 2023 for U-M faculty newly promoted to associate professor with tenure. The Post-Promotion Advancement and Career Exploration program, known as PACE , includes up to eight coaching sessions for newly tenured faculty whose primary appointments are in schools/colleges that do not provide coaching resources. Following a successful launch and subsequent evaluations and conversations with coaches and faculty, targeted changes are being made to the coming year’s PACE cohort. The ADVANCE program will continue its rigorous evaluation of faculty feedback, make recommendations for ongoing improvements, and provide insight into other resources that could benefit newly tenured associate professors.

The College of Pharmacy (COP) is fortunate to have two programs to recruit tribal members. With funding from the McKesson Foundation, the College launched Pharmacy Community College Connect (PC3), a newer initiative that just completed its second year. PC3 recruits students from tribal and community colleges to pursue careers in pharmacy. During Year One COP established a partnership with Keweenaw Bay Community College and welcomed two Native American students to the program. COP also enlisted Michigan Medicine Oncology Pharmacist Dr. Emily Mackler and Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Cushman, a COP alum and member of the Indian Health Service, for advice and support in working with Michigan tribes. In addition to employing an on-premises pharmacist for two tribes, COP has partnered with Hannahville School to encourage high school students to consider careers in pharmacy, particularly the three-month pharmacy technician training program, which has a greater than 90% likelihood of employment. With funding from the Provost’s Office, the College has also secured free access to pharmacy technician online training, and to partners providing shadowing opportunities, for the high school students.

In Year 1, equity-focused teaching workshops included two signature programs: A total of 172 instructors attended the 2024 Equity-focused Teaching at Michigan May Series (ET@M), which offered 10 workshops on “hot topics,” recurring questions and current challenges. In addition, the LEO Lecturer Equity-Focused Teaching program offered intensive training sessions for 16 lecturers on how to embed equity into their courses. To date, Equity-focused Teaching has been embedded in a myriad of CRLT programs including: New Faculty Orientation (200+ participants), Graduate Student Instructor Teaching Orientation (1300+), Engineering Graduate Student Instructor Teaching Orientation (1000+), CRLT Engineering Teaching Circles, and the Foundational Course Initiative’s Course Design Institute (5 courses) as well as numerous customized workshops and departmental retreats.

By integrating anti-racism into teaching and learning and by centering discussions on race, racism, and racial justice, this initiative aims to:

• Promote equity and justice within the policy realm
• Prepare students to become advocates for positive change and anti-racist policies and practices
• Give future leaders a deep understanding of racial dynamics and their implications for policy solutions
• Encourage the exploration of diverse perspectives and experiences
• Advance scholarship and practice in the field of racial justice
• Translate theoretical knowledge into practical action
• Develop more nuanced and informed decision-making processes
• Empower students, faculty, and partners to engage in efforts to dismantle systemic racism and promote equity in policy and practice

This innovative program uses land as a tool for facilitating community integration, mental and emotional health and well-being, culturally appropriate food access, and overall cultural retention. The goal is to increase the sense of individual autonomy in a new community for participants and their families. Currently in its second of three grant-funded years, this partnership has been extremely successful as evidenced by high levels of participation for both individual refugees and their family members, and by a consistently strong level of interest in micro-enterprises, food production, and projects, including a possible cookbook of refugees' recipes.

In ES, an initial audit of equity and justice across the graduate curriculum identified 17 courses with an emphasis on those principles. In addition, ES faculty added three new “pathways to specializations” focused on equity and justice for Master’s degree students and discussed ways to integrate equity and justice into course syllabi.

CSHPE faculty conducted an initial conversation about program curricula during their May 2024 retreat and revised two required introductory courses for the Master’s program to ensure an emphasis on diversity, inclusion, justice, and equity (dije).

LEAPS, a new undergraduate program, is building courses around antiracism and indigenous epistemologies and is implementing a required course entitled “Race and Social Justice Institute,” modeled after the ES graduate version. This course will guide students in their engagement with dije activities across campus and community (both Ann Arbor and Detroit), with facilitated reflection and conversation about their experiences.

During the Look to Michigan Campaign, U-M will fundraise for DEI across campaign priorities —Life-changing Education, Human Health & Well-being, Democracy & Civic Engagement, and Sustainability & Climate Action—as well as campaign priorities specific to schools, colleges, campuses and units. By launching an ambitious and targeted campaign that prioritizes DEI, the Office of University Development will amplify U-M’s collective impact across all three campuses and Michigan Medicine for generations.

The campaign priorities were shaped by a diverse group of partners across U-M. The OUD Campaign Strategy and Initiatives team, in partnership with the Campaign Planning Group, developed an inclusive process to develop bold ideas and priorities. In order to more holistically represent the wide range of donors we have at the university, we established a new Campaign Leadership Council, a network of approximately 100-150 advocates and volunteers representing different geographic regions, school/college/campus/unit support, and types of giving, which will serve as the public face of the campaign. Additionally, OUD reimagined ways to recognize our lead donors in a highly customized stewardship program throughout the campaign to honor and make visible the transformational impact of their philanthropy.

As part of the DEI 2.0 planning process, all units with a chief development officer included DEI fundraising priorities in their DEI 2.0 plans, which will aid us in driving philanthropic support for those DEI priorities. Additionally, in May 2024, OUD launched the DEI Case Statement Review Committee composed of 49 development colleagues to ensure that campaign goals resonate with donors of all backgrounds.

The new program will enhance faculty research capabilities while reinforcing the Office of the Vice President for Research's leadership role in fostering equity and excellence through strategic partnerships. In addition to creating strong relationships between the university and Minority-Serving Institutions, this pioneering initiative will enhance faculty research capabilities.

This event solidified the School's commitment to equity-focused research and thought leadership, a key pillar of its strategic plan which calls for the Ross School to amplify its focus on providing research-informed insights on the most critical issues of our time, including equitable opportunities and economic inclusion. In all, the conference brought together over 90 scholars and practitioners to discuss ideas, research, and strategies for enhancing equity and opportunities in business and society. In addition, emerging scholars had the opportunity to interact and learn from experienced researchers, enhance their methodology and practice, and explore options and venues for publishing their work. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, ensuring that this will be an ongoing initiative.

Funded by a four-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), MIMatCare will award annual tuition support to aid students in UMSN’s nurse-midwifery program who live or work in medically underserved communities, have significant need for financial support, and are committed to serving those communities as nurse-midwives. Through collaborations with community organizations Birth Detroit and the Metro Detroit Midwives of Color and a broad spectrum of health system partners in underserved areas throughout southern and central Michigan, MIMatCare students will also have access to clinical, academic, and professional mentorship support services to promote their successful completion of the nurse-midwifery masters or doctor of nursing practice program. Additional opportunities are available to optimize the clinical training experience in the health system partner sites, birth centers, and federally qualified health centers to ensure scholars' successful transition to practice after graduation.

The CRLT Players’ video performance How Do We Begin illuminates U-M’s complicated relationship with elitism and racial inequity, highlighting ways that U.S. higher education has perpetuated anti-Blackness while simultaneously benefiting from their association with inclusive values. Over the past two years, the Players have presented 13 virtual synchronous sessions for campus groups and have raised over $140,000 in support from ODEI, the National Center for Institutional Diversity's Anti-Racism Collaborative and the Inclusive History Project. Plans are underway to film the production in Winter 2025.

Aligned with the DEI 2.0 action item “Enhancing Black Student Representation and Experiences,” the Players will also pilot a daylong leadership development retreat at the Trotter Center in Fall 2025 to spur unit-level action for racial justice at U-M.