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SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN     

#UMichImpact

2015 FALL ISSUE
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MICHIGAN IMPACT

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Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Friends,

It is always a pleasure to see the impact made by the University of Michigan in communities across our state. I have had the opportunity to visit many parts of Michigan and speak with community leaders in recent months, from the Mackinac Policy Conference to a Business Leaders for Michigan event in Grand Rapids, meetings with elected leaders in Lansing, and the Detroit Economic Club.

Click to see U-M's impact in your region

The many conversations I’ve had within our state have helped me identify the areas of focus I am working on as I move forward in year two of my presidency. Broadly, those areas are:

  • Academic excellence fueled by strategic collaboration.
  • Increasing access and affordability.
  • Increasing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the campus community.
  • Enhancing collaboration and partnerships with our regional campuses in Flint and Dearborn, other universities throughout the state, and business and community leaders.
  • Fostering U-M’s global footprint.
  • Ensuring that the U-M Health System is the best it can be in research, teaching and patient care.

I will provide more details during remarks to the university community at 8 a.m. Friday, October 23. The event will be streamed live, and I invite you to view via a link that will be provided that morning on our main page, umich.edu.

I am working to find ways to position U-M for perpetual excellence in research with public impact, research that addresses major societal issues, and scholarship and creative work that enriches the human experience. I also want U-M to provide the best and most forward looking undergraduate and graduate education available today.

To best achieve this, I plan to support our faculty and students’ entrepreneurial spirit and to leverage the remarkable breadth of U-M’s academic portfolio. Our potential to be more than the sum of our many excellent parts is truly exciting.

Partnerships with communities in Michigan are essential to our work. Our revamped Michigan Impact website further highlights the many ways we strengthen and are strengthened by the communities we serve.

Our sheer size gives us advantages in impact, as well. The University of Michigan is the largest employer in our state, with more than 45,000 employees. That includes our health system, which counts 2.1 million patient visits each year.

Finally, I pledge that I'm going to keep listening to you as we work to move Michigan forward. At a place like U-M, you never want to stop listening and learning – especially to those who make our state such a wonderful place.

Sincerely,

Mark S. Schlissel
President

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