University of Michigan - Flint

On Friday, September 25th, the Wyatt Exploration Program was officially launched at an event celebrating the theme for 2009-2010, “Poland: Between East and West.”  Dining on a buffet of kielbasa, potato pancakes and perogies and enjoying the music of the Polkalodeon band, history majors, professors and university leaders gathered in the Michigan Rooms for the announcement. Following remarks of welcome and support from Provost Vahid Lotfi and College of Arts and Sciences Dean D.J. Trela, Dr. John Ellis explained the nature of the program and how students can participate. “The Wyatt Exploration Program is a tremendous opportunity,” Dr. Ellis declared, “to study and experience a field of history in depth with a scholar who has made it their life’s work; to see parts of our country and the world that otherwise might only be imagined; to bring parts of the world and the American experience here to our campus.”  “We encourage all of our students to fully take advantage of this experience, to participate and….to explore,” he concluded, before introducing the 2009-2010 Wyatt Fellow, Dr. Teddy Robertson.  Dr. Robertson lived in Poland during the last years of Communist rule. “It was a strange time,” she noted “No one thought the system would end peacefully as it did, even despite martial law.  Poles often say that today their biggest achievement is that Poland is normal.” She explained Poland’s unique historical situation, acting as a meeting place of east and west, threatened by powerful neighbors in Germany and Russia, and hosting a diverse set of peoples and cultures.  After announcing the collection of celebrated scholars of Polish history and culture who will be coming to campus as part of the Wyatt Exploration Lecture Series, Dr. Robertson described the culmination of the program in May, a fully funded student trip to the famous old city of Krakow, “the repository of national memory.”  Amongst the sites to be visited, students will experience the magnificence of the city’s old royal castle, the excitement and activity of Europe’s largest medieval market square, the depths and fantastic caverns of the ancient salt mines, the winding streets of the old Jewish quarter, and the tragedy of Auschwitz-Birkenau, perhaps the most notorious of the Nazi death camps.

For more information on the program and how you can participate, please see the Wyatt Exploration Program website at the following link: http://www.umflint.edu/history/wyatt.htm

The first internship for history majors at the University of Michigan-Flint has been established through the generosity of the Buicktown Chapter of the Buick Club of America, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of automobiles built by the Buick Motor Division of General Motors Corporation.  Providing practical experience in the processes and procedures of a museum’s collection department, this paid internship will place a student with the Sloan-Longway Museum to assist with the Buick and Automotive Collections at the Buick Gallery and Research Center.  In thanking its members, Dr. John Ellis told a recent meeting of the Buicktown Chapter, “The generosity of the internship your organization has created will not only serve to further enhance the study and appreciation of the Buick heritage but will provide formative experiences in the education, professional development and life aspirations of our students.”   The department is proud to announce that Shannon Cole has been selected as the first intern in this program.  Further opportunities will be available as the Buicktown Chapter has provided funding for four more internships in the years ahead.

The Buick Club of America 
Alfred P. Sloan Museum, Flint, MI 
Buick Gallery and Research Center, Flint, MI

With an attendance of over 120 people, the 6th Annual History Quiz Night was a great evening of competition and camaraderie held on March 13, 2009 at the Firkin and Fox Bar and Grill in Flint, Michigan. Five members from the winning team won a $25 gift certificate to Firkin and Fox. A variety of door prizes ranging from school supplies and calendars to Flint Generals hockey game tickets were also handed out throughout the night.

For more information, please see the History Quiz Night website at the following link: http://www.umflint.edu/history/quiznight.htm

Congratulations to the 2009 winning team!