Welcome Back and Happy New Year! (January 6, 2020)

Dear Colleagues,

As we begin the new academic semester, I want to welcome you back to our beautiful, close-knit and bustling campus. I hope you enjoyed the holiday break and are energized to engage in an exciting new year.

As we return to campus, we will usher in our new chief academic officer, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Susan Alcock, who started on January 1st; she is sure to be a valued addition to our senior leadership team.  Please join me in welcoming her with our characteristic warmth and hospitality.

We closed the last year with a proud celebration of our students at the fall semester commencement ceremony and now we all continue our important work to prepare the next cohorts of Wolverine graduates. In the coming months we will also finalize our strategic plan and better define our university-wide organizing theme of Urban Futures (UF).  I hope to share a white paper on the UF topic very soon.

Later this month will mark the 27th time we will gather to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a Day of Service; it is an opportunity to make a positive impact in our community as we reflect and act on Dr. King’s legacy of humanitarianism. I hope you will join me and my wife, Susan, in participating in the MLK Day of Service and the other events planned throughout that week.

Finally, if you signed up for a breakfast conversation at the Chancellor’s Residence, Susan and I look forward to meeting with you. We value opportunities like these to get to know our colleagues better.

Best wishes for a peace-filled, productive, and enjoyable winter semester.

Go Blue. Go Dearborn!

Domenico Grasso

Chancellor