State Issues Conferences
The State Outreach Office, in collaboration with UM schools and colleges and various community or state organizations, organizes one-day conferences on issues impacting the state and its citizens. Presenters include both community practitioners and university faculty.
Areas of Outreach
- East side of state : contact Michael Rein
- Midstate and Lansing : contact Veronica A. Johnson
- West side of state : contact Dana Sitzler
- Tribal Connections : contact Dana Sitzler
Dance for Mother Earth, 2012
Dana Sitzler, Associate Director of State Outreach, assisted with the planning and coordination of the 40th Annual Ann Arbor Dance for Mother Earth Powwow along with other University faculty, staff and students from the U-M Native American Student Association.
This year the Powwow took place at Pioneer High School, on March 17-18, with an audience of more than 2,000. The event also hosted a number of speakers, including Bunky Echo Hawk — a Pawnee and Yakima artist who designed the N7 shoe line for Nike. Echo-Hawk was presented with a certificate making him a Martin Luther King,Jr. - Cesar Chavez - Rosa Parks "visiting professor" at the University of Michigan by Senior Provost for Academic Affairs Lester Monts. Read more here. This year’s Powwow hosted 12 drums, and over 33 vendors/artists from across the nation and throughout Indian Country.
Recieving broad coverage, today it is one of the largest university powwows in the nation; and according to USA Today Travel, it is one of “10 great places to be wowed by American Indian culture.”
Read More:
Native News Network
The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor.com article and slideshow
University Record Online
Saginaw Outreach
In early August, Michael Rein met with officials JoAnn Crary and Tom Miller from Saginaw Future regarding potential partnership opportunities with the University of Michigan. In the course of the meeting, Ms. Crary mentioned that Saginaw Future was working closely with RACER Trust on the disposition of the former GM facilities in and around Saginaw. Two specific sites were mentioned that were contaminated and had potential brownfield applications. The question was raised if there was any individual at UM with expertise in re-use of brownfield sites?
After some initial research, Mr. Rein learned that Professor Joan Nassauer in the School of Natural Resources & Environment had practical experience in this particular area. After reviewing the base information regarding the two sites obtained from Saginaw Future, Professor Nassauer decided to choose the "Nodular" site as the focus for her “Metropolitan Design Studio” for this semester. Professor Nassauer and her Masters of Landscape Architecture (MLA) students have twice visited the site with community leaders from Saginaw and are now in the process of creating design options for re-development of this brownfield site. The final master plans will be presented to Saginaw officials on March 9th. Read more below.
Former GM plant inspires students in SNRE Design Studio course
Hundreds of acres adjacent to a former GM plant are serving as the design canvas this year for a group of University of Michigan graduate students. Their assignment: create plans that address the ecological and property management dynamics of a landscape in transition from a past industrial use to an uncertain future.
The acreage is part of a larger 700-acre former General Motors facility adjacent to the Saginaw River on the northwestern edge of Saginaw, Mich. The course work concludes in early spring, when students present drawings and concept plans that present scenarios for 2015 and 2027. The class, "Metropolitan Design Studio: Design in the Dynamics of Urban Landscape Recovery," is taught by Joan Iverson Nassauer, a professor of Landscape Architecture at U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment. The broader purpose of the class is to prepare students to envision how urban places can recover – and their inhabitants can thrive – in the context of fundamental economic shifts and emerging environmental legacies.
The curriculum pushes students to think beyond distinct categories of brownfields and greenfields, open space and developed land and high density and low density and to instead envision new forms of development across scales in metropolitan systems. The resulting designs will serve as cues to the future to be acted upon by today’s citizens.
Photos on Flickr were taken by Dave Brenner
Focus: HOPE Update
Focus: HOPE has always been a favorite stop during our Road Scholar Tour. We have seen many positive changes in the organization in the past dozen years we have visited, and it remains one of the most successful outreach initiatives in the city. Many of our Road Scholar alumni have gone back to Focus: HOPE for collaborative outreach projects. Unfortunately, like many of the businesses in Detroit, and Michigan, Focus: HOPE has suffered economic strain. They will be laying off workers and cutting back on services.
Thirty students enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Michigan have volunteered to help Focus: HOPE evaluate its operations and structure as the nonprofit weathers a financial crisis. Those U-M students and Focus: HOPE staff will meet at the Detroit-based job training and social services agency's campus to discuss priorities -- the first phase of the program.
Part of U-M's Eleanor Josaitis Global Citizenship Initiative, U-M students also are scheduled to participate in a challenge to raise $1 million for Focus: HOPE.