Professors found ways to keep remote classroom lessons hands-on during the peak of the global crisis. Campus researchers, after needing to suddenly halt their work, returned with a heightened dedication to their pursuits — they pulled in the highest amount of grant awards
in campus history.
As for alumni, the rise of remote opportunities helped them reconnect with the campus in larger numbers and mentor students in new ways. Chancellor Domenico Grasso said this is the spirit of the University of Michigan. In its 200-plus year history, the university has endured tough times before — including past pandemics and political divisions not dissimilar from those of today. Such moments often inspire people to rise above and deliver in new and interesting ways.
“Our plans and our futures will adapt and evolve, but we look toward tomorrow with a sense of optimism and pride, knowing that one thing remains the same: The Dearborn branch of the Michigan family tree is as strong as it has ever been,” said Grasso.
Thank you to our readers. Your unwavering Dearborn Wolverine pride and continued commitment to uplift students and the community have brought us more together than ever. Here, we recognize the ways you persevered and worked collectively to overcome astounding uncertainty.
In the Classroom
The expanded remote environment opened the door for UM-Dearborn’s Leaders & Best around the world — who work for companies like Disney, Facebook, John Deere and more — to virtually come into the classroom to speak with students, share their career journeys and offer life lessons learned.
“It seemed like just yesterday that I was at UM-Dearborn and studying and wondering where my career would go. And here we are — it happens in the blink of an eye,” said Judy Toland (‘01 MBA), vice president, global customer marketing and head of Meta’s Chicago office. Toland gave a presentation moderated by Marketing Professor Crystal Scott and answered questions posed by College of Business students.
According to Alumni Engagement Director Cris Frendo, the innovative engagement opportunities created as a result of the pandemic have increased alumni participation significantly. “Now that they have opportunities to ‘come to campus’ from anywhere, top Wolverines from locations like New York, L.A., Germany, the U.K. and others are looking at ways to connect with the campus and our students,” Frendo said. “Our alumni engagement has been through the roof with these new virtual opportunities. It has really been the silver lining of the pandemic.”
When facing social distance challenges, faculty found ways to adapt their coursework to meet the academic needs of students. For example, geology professors distributed take-home rock, gem and mineral kits. Behavioral ecology courses used live-streamed webcams from zoos to observe and test hypotheses for animal behavior studies. And hundreds of biology-focused lab kits were created in the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 semesters. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time rewriting, creating and testing labs,” said Biochemistry and Biology Professor Marliee Benore. “We wanted to get students back into the classrooms and labs as soon as it was possible, but until that time we continued to find ways to meet learning objectives and teach critical skills.
College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters student Tejas Athavale, who is on the pre-med track, called the customized lab kits “brilliant.” “My professor recreated a lesson typically carried out in a scientific laboratory so I could do it safely in my kitchen. These are not prepackaged labs bought online; it’s customized to our lessons,” said Athavale. “The pandemic created challenges, but our professors did whatever they could to make sure that we got the education we needed.”
Across Campus Engineers know how to create solutions — so when the pandemic hit, Manufacturing Systems Engineering Lab “Maker Space” staff repurposed the building’s 3D printers to crank out hard-to-find personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers, public safety teams and campus building needs when preparing for a safe return to campus.
“That’s what’s special about our Maker Space on campus — and the talent of our technicians: They can adapt to whatever the needs are. It’s something we can do to help our community,” College of Engineering and Computer Science Director of Facilities and Laboratory Safety Eric Kirk said.
Knowing the importance of internet access, the campus’ Information Technology Services team pushed the Wi-Fi signal from the buildings into the Fairlane Center parking lot only a few days after the March 2020 State of Michigan “stay home, stay safe” executive order. “As access to internet is essential for completing remote learning, the university is providing students, faculty and staff who have no other options for access the ability to connect to Wi-Fi,” said Grasso in a statement made during the pandemic’s earliest days.
Summer tutoring has always been an important part of education for students looking to play a little catch-up. But with K-12 students coming off a challenging school year marked by social isolation and remote learning difficulties, folks from the UM-Dearborn Experience+ team created a free summer tutoring program for elementary through high school students. Staffed by UM-Dearborn students, the hope was not only to assist kids with their individual academic needs, but to provide a supportive environment that helped children become better accustomed to online learning formats. The paid tutoring positions also provided the UM-Dearborn students with professional development and training.
To ensure people on campus and in the surrounding community had access to vaccinations, boosters and testing, UM-Dearborn established a COVID Clinic. At first, it was located in a tent outside of the University Center and then, as safety protocols shifted, it moved inside of the building. The clinic, along with other locations across campus, also provided complimentary KN95 and surgical masks.
In the Field
Teachers are essential. Ensuring campus’ teachers-in-training were prepared to lead in their future classrooms, College of Education, Health, & Human Services (CEHHS) professors worked with schools and grassroots education centers to complete their hours. Campus’ Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) remained open even at the beginning of the pandemic. “We welcomed children into classrooms safely,” ECEC Director Sarah Davey said. “Even when everything else seemed uncertain, we were a constant. Our teachers and staff went above and beyond because they believe in what they do.”
Another example: Associate Professor of Reading and Language Arts Dara Hill, Associate Professor of Social Studies Karen Thomas-Brown, Reading and Social Studies Lecturer Sharon Werner and Field Placement Director Danielle DeFauw formed a partnership with Brilliant Detroit, education centers embedded in Detroit neighborhoods, where pre-service teachers connected with elementary students for Zoom sessions that focused on literacy and social studies skills. CEHHS student Fatin Alasadi said the Zoom sessions and her coursework gave her a lesson in “constructivism” — the idea that student learning is deeply influenced by their lived environments and personal experiences. “With my kindergartner, his family really prioritizes education, so they make sure our sessions are in a quiet environment with few distractions,” said Alasadi. “For my fourth-grader, it’s much more challenging. For example, when it was nice outside, his family took him to the park, and so we tried to do the tutoring session on his mom’s cellphone. But he was so distracted. So you saw how each family’s approach had an impact on how the kids react to education.”
The College of Business’ iLabs staff assisted industry and developed and completed a research project that looked into how Dearborn businesses pivoted their offerings and services to weather the pandemic and the impact of those changes through a partnership with Dearborn’s Downtown Development Authorities and the City of Dearborn.
The survey, sent in early 2021 to 600-plus businesses in East and West Downtown Dearborn, asked about adaptation strategies, sales in 2019 vs. 2020, collaborative business partnerships and more. “We wanted to really understand what happened in 2020 and how businesses viewed 2021 and onward,” said iLabs Project Manager Kari Kowalski. “Gathering information about areas of strengths and weaknesses during this time will give us lessons learned, which can help businesses overcome difficulties that may come their way in the future.”
Though the pandemic brought an abrupt pause to campus research work, UM-Dearborn professors found creative ways to continue their research remotely.
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Feng Zhou, for example, had the idea to move the main piece of on-campus equipment he needed — a high-performance computer — to a graduate assistant’s residence so they could resume their project remotely. In addition, faculty looked for funding sources and strategized the next phases of their work.
The result: Many UM-Dearborn faculty, across the colleges and ranking from established veterans down through early-career assistant professors, have scored a record amount of grant funding — with multiple projects receiving $1 million or more. Vice Provost for Research Armen Zakarian believes there’s another overarching factor tied to the recent surge of success — faculty research talent, which UM-Dearborn has prioritized in recent recruitment efforts.
Chancellor Grasso said he’s proud of what UM-Dearborn — alumni, faculty, students, staff, partners and others — has accomplished in a difficult unprecedented time. And, if that’s what campus can do under pressure, he expects good things in the future for Dearborn Wolverines.
“Our campus creates a means of entry to what has long been considered the American Dream, a belief that anyone, regardless of initial circumstances, can attain their own version of success,” Grasso said. “We pledge to do all we can to help as many as we can achieve this ideal, empowering students to change the trajectory of their lives, build better prospects for their families and make the communities we call home healthier, prosperous and just. Although today may seem fraught, we should all take pride in knowing that our university is a starting point for a better tomorrow.”
