Motto | Connecting the University and Detroit |
---|---|
Type | Public |
Established | September 21, 2005 (19 years ago) |
Location | , , U.S. |
Website | detroit.umich.edu |
The University of Michigan Detroit Center (UMDC, U-M Detroit Center or Detroit Center) is a community outreach center, meeting/events facility, and academic home base for University of Michigan units, located in Midtown Detroit.
The facility serves as a home base to more than 50 university staff and faculty members from the campuses of the University of Michigan and University of Michigan–Dearborn. Providing a visible symbol of the nearly 200-year relationship between the City of Detroit and the University of Michigan, the U-M Detroit Center serves as a gateway for University and urban communities to take advantage of each other’s learning, research and cultural activities.
The mission of the University of Michigan Detroit Center is to mutually enrich University and Detroit communities through service, education, research and the exchange of culture. [1]
To meet the increasing needs of office space and a facility to host meetings and events in the City of Detroit, the University of Michigan opened the U-M Detroit Center on September 21, 2005. As a home base to University of Michigan faculty, staff and students, the 26,122-square-foot (2,426.8 m2) facility occupies the ground floor of Orchestra Place on Woodward Avenue, located next to Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The renovated space was laid out and designed by University of Michigan alumnus Bill Grindatti under the guidance of former Taubman College Dean Douglas Kelbaugh. Taubman graduate Mashawnta Armstrong designed the street banners, while Art & Design students Nolan Loh and Mai Truong created the window signage.
In 2017, the Orchestra Place Building (3663 Woodward), which houses the Detroit Center, was sold to Broder & Sachse. [2] A new lease agreement between Broder & Sachse and the University of Michigan included the Detroit Center moving to the opposite end of the building on the ground floor. [3]
In 2021, it was announced that the Detroit Center would move to the Rackham building in Midtown Detroit following the completion of a $40 million renovation. [4] [5]
The University of Michigan Detroit Center serves as a home-base to 17 academic units from the University of Michigan and University of Michigan-Dearborn campuses. [6] Academic units located at the Detroit Center are active participants in Detroit-based research projects and/or facilitate events geared towards the Detroit and great Detroit communities.
The University of Michigan works with a wide variety of Detroit organizations to carry out its various projects, many of which utilize the services and resources of the Detroit Center. As a result, the Detroit Center helps facilitate a symbiotic relationship between the university and local partners to carry out research and community services. [7]
The U-M Detroit Center has developed programming initiatives, which take advantage of University and community resources to provide an impressive array of opportunities for intellectual discourse and cultural enlightenment. Activities are generally free and open to the public. Highlights of ongoing programming initiatives include:
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The Detroit Connector provides transportation between Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Detroit in support of curricular, co-curricular, research, service-learning and community service opportunities. The Connector also facilitates cultural enrichment, allowing us to better utilize the region’s rich arts and scholarly resources. The service is available to U-M faculty, staff and students, as well as the general public. With initial funding from the Provost Office’s Transforming Learning for the Third Century grant, the Detroit Connector began service in September 2013 as a free, pilot shuttle that was co-managed by the U-M Detroit Center and LSA Semester in Detroit program. Following a successful trial period, the Provost Office affirmed its support of the system.
Upon the public announcement of the MDetroit Center Connector in September 2013, this unique and groundbreaking service made local and regional headlines in digital/print and broadcast news. [8] [9] [10] [11]
In December 2013, a University of Michigan student-made video highlighting the MDCC was featured on Deadline Detroit. [12]
In September 2015, the service was rebranded the "Detroit Connector" in an attempt to connect more broadly between the University of Michigan and the City of Detroit. [13]
On October 23, 2017, the University of Michigan's Detroit Connector service announced that it was expanding service to seven days a week, which also included availability to the general public. [14] [15] [16] The service will cost $400,000 and is part of the University commitment to making U-M more accessible for all in the metro Detroit region. [17]
For fiscal year 2017, the Detroit Connector is managed by the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and operated by Michigan flyer.
The Detroit Connector was discontinued in 2020 following the announcement that it would be replaced by a new service called D2A2. The D2A2 bus service is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), which is independent of the University. [18]
Ann Arbor is a college town and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County and had 372,258 residents in 2020. Ann Arbor is also included in the Metro Detroit combined statistical area and the Great Lakes megalopolis.
The University of Michigan is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of the earliest American research universities and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities. In the fall of 2023, the university enrolled over 52,000 students.
The University of Michigan–Flint (UM-Flint) is a public university in Flint, Michigan. Founded in 1956 as the Flint Senior College, it was initially established as a remote branch of the University of Michigan, offering upper-division undergraduate courses. The institution developed into a fully-fledged university and received accreditation in 1970. Subsequently, the name was changed to the University of Michigan–Flint while still adhering to the policies of the University of Michigan Board of Regents.
Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the surrounding area with its largest employer being Oakland County. There are varied definitions of the area, including the official statistical areas designated by the Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency of the United States.
The University of Michigan–Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) is a public university in Dearborn, Michigan. Founded in 1959 with a gift from the Ford Motor Company, it was initially known as the Dearborn Center, operating as a remote branch of the University of Michigan. The branch gradually developed into a fully-fledged university over the years. Upon receiving its own accreditation in 1970, the university changed its name to the University of Michigan–Dearborn, while still adhering to the policies of the University of Michigan Board of Regents.
The Detroit Partnership (DP), known as The Detroit Project until 2008, is a student-run organization at the University of Michigan with the mission of connecting the Ann Arbor and Detroit communities through active service-learning. Each year, the group holds weekly programs with over 200 students volunteering as tutors and mentors in schools, churches, and non-profits in the Brightmoor, East Side, and Southwest neighborhoods of Detroit. In addition to weekly service-learning programs, the organization also holds two large events. In the fall, The Detroit Partnership partners with community members to bring a large food and clothing drive titled One-Stop Shop to the citizens of Brightmoor and surrounding areas. Also, every March or April, the group routinely brings approximately 1300 student volunteers from the University of Michigan to sites in and around the city of Detroit for a one-day service-learning event known as DP Day.
Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro Detroit.
The history of the University of Michigan began with its establishment on August 26, 1817 as the Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania.
The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, specializes in interactive exhibits with the goal of helping both children and adults discover the scientist within them by promoting science literacy through experimentation, exploration, and education.
The University of Michigan Medicine is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the University of Michigan Medical School and the university's affiliated hospitals and healthcare centers.
Mary Markley Hall (Markley) is a residence hall operated by the University of Michigan University Housing in Ann Arbor.
Fairlane Town Center is a super-regional shopping mall in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan. The mall is adjacent to The Henry Hotel, The Fairlane Club, the University of Michigan–Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College, The Henry Ford, and the Ford Motor Company headquarters. The anchor stores are Macy's and JCPenney, with vacant anchor spaces last occupied by AMC Theatres, Sears, and Ford Motor Company offices.
Joseph Edgar Maddy was an American music educator and conductor.
Merit Network, Inc., is a nonprofit member-governed organization providing high-performance computer networking and related services to educational, government, health care, and nonprofit organizations, primarily in Michigan. Created in 1966, Merit operates the longest running regional computer network in the United States.
The Business Engagement Center (BEC) is an office of the University of Michigan (U-M) that connects companies with university resources. Located in Ann Arbor, MI on the U-M North Campus, the BEC and partner offices in the College of Engineering, School of Medicine and U-M Dearborn facilitate connections with companies by linking business needs with University resources in research, technology, education, student talent, and strategic giving on the U-M campuses. Currently, the BEC has 14 staff members that collaborate on projects and engagement efforts and works with businesses.
Mark Steven Schlissel is an American medical scientist who served as the 14th president of the University of Michigan from 2014 to 2022. He was removed from the office for being in "an inappropriate relationship with a University employee" by the university's Regents.
The University of Michigan School of Social Work is a professional school within the University of Michigan located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The LGBT community in Metro Detroit is centered in Ferndale, Michigan, as of 2007. As of 1997, many LGBT people live in Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, and Royal Oak. Model D stated in 2007 that there are populations of gays and lesbians in some Detroit neighborhoods such as East English Village, Indian Village, Lafayette Park, and Woodbridge and that the concentration of gay bars in Detroit is "decentralized".