Here at UM-Flint, we have much to appreciate as we end the 2011 year.  While the past several years have been very lean from a budget perspective, we have avoided program closures and layoffs that are fast becoming the norm rather than the exception in higher education.  We enjoy excellent employee benefits and have the privilege of working in a clean and safe environment among colleagues who are dedicated to student success.  Being part of a university system provides us with services we would not otherwise be able to access.  Best of all, we get to spend each day helping others reach their goals!
 
We have educated more than 30,000 individuals, who have for the most part stayed on to become successful professionals in the region.  Nearly every week I meet someone who says, “If it hadn’t been for UM-Flint, I would never have achieved my college degree.”
 
We are also fortunate to have a group of supporters who care about the campus and value its success.  Each year I mail them a “Year End Letter” in lieu of a holiday card.  Highlighting our successes of the year is one of my special privileges.  Some of these achievements include:  completion of our new strategic plan and our campus master plan; implementation of our MPH program; selection of David Gordon as our new SHPS dean and Bob Barnett as Interim SEHS dean; designation as an “Engaged Campus” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; creation of an exciting faculty and staff development program; and the move of our School of Management to the Riverfront Center.  I could go on at great length about these and other achievements of 2011.  Let me just say instead that it has been a very successful year, with more success yet to come in 2012.  When we “roll out” our Strategic Plan on January 17, I’ll be making further announcements about some of our achievements, so stay tuned!
 
In the meantime, have a safe and pleasant holiday break.
 
Ruth J. Person
Chancellor

Compete

Debbie Samida, DSA Rising Star Award

This is the 10th anniversary of our Division of Student Affairs’ Rising Star Award.  This year the award was given to Debbie Samida, Assistant Director of Administration Information Management Services. Vice Chancellor Mary Jo Sekelsky has been invited to serve on the Genesee County Drug Treatment Court Foundation Board of Directions.  Congratulations, Mary Jo.

Convene

On December 1st, I was honored to be included in the celebration of Dorothy Zehnder’s 90th birthday.  Dorothy and her family own and operate the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth (son Bill Zehnder is a UM-Flint alumnus).  More than two hundred of Dorothy’s friends and family convened for lunch and a special program at the Inn.

Connect

Visitors Carsten Riis and Jette Schoenemann Riis, Aarhus University, Denmark

As many of you know, Dr. Mary Jo Sekelsky attended the Harvard IEM program last summer (as did I a number of years ago).  On December 7, two of Mary Jo’s colleagues from the program, Carsten Riis and Jette Schoenemann Riis from Aarhus University in Denmark, visited our campus to learn more about what we do.  They were able to attend our Master Plan presentation and other meetings, and joined us at our annual holiday party.  It is always great to welcome visitors and show off our campus!

On My Calendar