The big ideas that are transforming UM-Dearborn

If you’re the type who sees every challenge as an opportunity, it’s a fascinating time to be in higher education. Rising costs and growing income inequality threaten to put the college experience out of reach for many. Technology is rapidly transforming almost every discipline and the way we teach. The problems we train our students to solve are becoming more complex, more interdisciplinary and more high-stakes. Many in our society are questioning whether a college degree is even worth it any more. To address the latter question: We still firmly believe that education is a potent gateway to economic mobility, personal transformation and vibrant communities. We also know that in a rapidly changing world, we can’t always rely on the old ways of doing things. It is this ethos that motivated the campus community to undertake a strategic planning process in early 2019. Over the subsequent 18 months — and through a global pandemic — hundreds of faculty, staff and students engaged in deep conversations about the kind of institution UM-Dearborn needed to be to continue delivering on its mission of making the American Dream accessible to students of all socioeconomic levels. Now, a year into implementing our Go BLUEprint for Success, we’re excited to see how the big ideas from that plan are already reshaping the university. Here, we’ve broken down some of the key initiatives to watch.

Student experience and success

On the student experience and success front, there have already been many important developments, one of the most exciting being a reorientation of our aid strategy around student financial need. Put simply, students with the greatest need now pay the least. The most headline-grabbing part of this effort is an extension of the Go Blue Guarantee to the Dearborn campus, which provides free tuition to high-achieving new and transfer students whose annual family incomes are under $65,000. UM-Dearborn has also greatly expanded its aid for students who don’t meet the GPA or income requirements of the Go Blue Guarantee. In addition, we’ve launched the Dearborn Comeback program for students who were oh-so close to becoming college graduates. It grants $5,000 to those with at least 90 credits to help them finish their degrees. We’ve also taken several important steps to enhance the student experience. The university launched a new online service portal that connects students to advisors, financial aid and other key university services from a single page. Enrollment Services is also staffing a new “One Stop” in the University Center for students who want in-person help. In January 2021, we launched Experience+ — a new effort to coordinate opportunities for professional development, research, intercultural awareness and digital literacy. A new peer-to-peer mentoring service has been heavily used by students. In its first semester, 137 upper-level students are mentoring 500 first- and second-year students, exchanging more than 9,000 messages. We’re reimagining physical spaces too. Some areas of the University Center have received a makeover to provide the spaces and services commuter students need most. Renovations include the Wolverine Commons, a lounge area on the second floor for hanging out and studying between classes, as well as easier ways for students to access opportunities like student organizations.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Work centered on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) touches nearly every aspect of university life. The DEI strategic planning working group produced more than 60 recommendations in all, some of which are already being implemented. Initial steps include some notable changes to human resources practices and policy. The university is now requiring an unconscious bias mitigation training for anyone participating on search committees, and is being more intentional about the language used in job descriptions to attract a wider diversity of applicants. Other changes include offer letters that set expectations for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and new human resources “equity reviews” of position compensation and job classifications. We’ve also bolstered program offerings for the Office of Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX, which is currently conducting a campuswide climate survey. And to turn ideas into action, we’re investing an additional $1 million to help improve campus culture on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Other initiatives to watch: An expansion of the MLK Day of Service and Learning, featuring an enhanced partnership with neighboring Henry Ford College; the creation of a new Chancellor’s DEI Fellowship; and the continued implementation of flexible and remote work opportunities that help promote diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

Faculty and staff excellence

Teams working on faculty-related issues haven’t wasted time diving into meaningful territory. One of the first initiatives focuses on broadening the criteria by which faculty are evaluated for tenure and promotions. In particular, this would include new ways of valuing community-based work, pedagogical research and exceptional teaching or support for students — in addition to faculty contributions to their respective scholarly communities. Another big theme: promoting interdisciplinary research. On that front, the campus has launched a new thematic research grant program, which provides funding for projects featuring researchers from at least two colleges. (Initial themes are sustainability, mobility and infrastructure, and diversity, equity and inclusion.) In addition, faculty have launched three interdisciplinary research groups so far, giving researchers from different disciplines a new platform for sharing ideas and partnering on bigger grants. Over the past year, the Office of Research has also expanded its support, including retaining a firm that specializes in helping faculty write and copy edit federal grants. Next up, the office hopes to build out its post-award support, which faculty members have identified as a key need. All the hard work seems to be paying off, as UM-Dearborn faculty have been hauling in big national grants at a record pace. Since 2018, external awards for research have more than doubled with the federal funding rising from 30% to 65%.

Economic sustainability

Despite an unusual set of COVID-19- related challenges, the university’s financial outlook is quite strong thanks to some new budget policies and thoughtful spending during the pandemic. The Higher Learning Commission utilizes a composite financial indicator consisting of debt, reserves, operating margin and return on assets to measure the overall financial health of institutions. A score of 3 indicates a university is relatively healthy, and in fiscal year 2018, the university scored a 3.46. Thanks to some prudent financial decisions during the pandemic, the university’s score has risen to 5.91 for fiscal year 2021. “When combined with our endowment, which has grown over 50% to over $86 million since 2018, we can feel secure in our financial situation,” Chancellor Domenico Grasso said during his recent state of the university address. A number of recent policy changes have helped us reach this solid financial footing. One of the biggest is a new model called zero-based budgeting. This involves building a base budget for each campus unit based on exactly what it needs to accomplish its present mission, rather than, say, what its budget has been historically. This model, which emphasizes a balance between revenues and expenses at the unit level, provides an impetus for entrepreneurial projects. For example, if a college created revenue-generating research, it could also keep and invest that money within the college. As you probably know, UM-Dearborn’s budget is powered mostly by tuition revenues, and it has been a challenging time for universities across the country when it comes to enrollment. Pandemic related issues and a significant decline in transfer students have been the main sources of recent enrollment declines at UM-Dearborn. The uncertainty of the pandemic has also made it difficult to pursue strategic enrollment management plans, but that work is now moving back to the front burner. The strategy will be centered around recruitment of multiple student populations, including international graduate students and students who’ve started but not finished a degree. The other part of enrollment growth: boosting retention. Teams working on these issues have now finalized a Strategic Enrollment Management Plan for 2022. Another integral piece of our economic sustainability is environmental sustainability. To reach the U-M system’s carbon neutrality goal, we’re planning to make meaningful investments in energy efficiency projects and new technologies that can wean the university off fossil fuels in the coming decades. To coordinate these efforts, the university has created a campus Energy and Sustainability Team, developed a campuswide energy efficiency plan and completed a lighting audit of most major buildings. We’re also building a new energy and sustainability website so you can track our progress.