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A University of Michigan graduate is bringing her master’s degree project to life while simultaneously uplifting an Indigenous community.

For the past year and a half, Eva Roos has collaborated with the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Cheboygan County to design and implement a healing garden for its headquarters in Brutus.

While Roos used the project to complete her degrees in science and landscape architecture, the experience required her to become knowledgeable in the Band’s language, faith and cultural history.

The garden will be named Izhi-Minoging Mashkikiwan — which translates to “place where medicines grow well.”

Eva Roos; Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Science in Conservation Ecology, School for Environment & Sustainability

“When you study at a westernized institution, it is very rare they make connections between Indigenous people and designing a landscape,” Roos said. “To me, especially if you’re interested in ecological design, you’re talking about ecosystems that have been cared for by Indigenous people for millennia.”

Roos brought the design proposal to the Burt Lake Band Tribal Council in December 2019. To her surprise, the council jumped at her plans almost immediately.

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The University of Michigan will extend the Go Blue Guarantee ­— its landmark promise of four years of free tuition for qualifying Michigan residents — to the Dearborn and Flint campuses.

Beginning this fall, full-time, high-achieving in-state undergraduate students attending UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint will automatically qualify for the award if they have a family income of $65,000 or less and assets less than $50,000.

The Board of Regents voted June 17 to broaden the commitment to the two regional campuses during its meeting to determine the 2021-22 fiscal year budget. The expansion will not change the aid provided to students on the Ann Arbor campus.

Mark Schlissel: University of Michigan President

“Our budget supports the families of our state and the academic excellence of our students by promising that outstanding students who work hard in their studies will be able to afford a Michigan education — on all three of our campuses,” President Mark Schlissel said. “I thank the many individuals in our community whose passion and commitment to affordability have helped us achieve this moment in the great history of the University of Michigan.”

The expansion to Dearborn and Flint will include budgetary support from the Ann Arbor campus for at least six years as the programs become established, and the guarantee will be a focus of fundraising in the years ahead.

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The Art in the Legislature Program displays and celebrates the work of excellent student artists from Michigan’s 15 public universities each year, and their respective works are displayed in the Anderson House Office Building, or the Binsfeld Senate Building, for one year.

State Relations Officers, university art department representatives, student-artists, their families, and the public at large are invited to attend the reception, at which time the new pieces of art will be unveiled and the students will be recognized.

Mikaylyn Beebee

Mikaylyn Beebee

“Portrait of a Necklace” is based on the fable of the crow and the serpent. The tale begins with a serpent eating a crow’s family; the crow takes vengeance by stealing the princess’ necklace and dropping it into the serpent’s lair. The royal guards then search for the necklace, find it in the lair, and gut the serpent. It’s a short story that tells that a little wit can win anything.

I was drawn to this story because I saw it as a chance to tell a narrative through portraiture, and I love the way all of these characters are connected by the necklace – it killed the serpent, adorned the princess, and allowed the crow to move on. I chose to focus and illustrate all of their relationships to the necklace by having the dead serpent around the princess’ neck, and the crow flying away, shielding her eyes with its clever venture.