Faculty, Staff and Administrators

Faculty/Staff Announcements from Campus Connection

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• May 02: Call for Commencement volunteers on Saturday, May 11

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  

  Titans, if you are available Saturday, May 11, the University could use your help!

  The Commencement Planning Committee is looking for dependable students and employees to help make Commencement Day 2024 a special event for graduates and their families. There are many opportunities to volunteer!

  Employees who volunteer receive Presidential Hours in exchange for your time, and lunch is provided. This opportunity is available to employees from the School of Law and McNichols campuses. Volunteers are needed at various times May 11 for the following events:

  • Baccalaureate Mass (Student Union Ballroom) — 8:30 a.m.
  • Undergraduate Student Commencement Ceremony — 11:30 a.m.
  • Outdoor Undergraduate Reception (Fountain Area) — Immediately following ceremony
  • Graduate Student Commencement Ceremony (Calihan Hall) — 3:30 p.m.
  • Outdoor Graduate Reception (Fountain Area) — Immediately following ceremony

  How do I volunteer?

  Check out available slots/times and register to volunteer on our Sign-up Genius. Contact Arneshia Austin, Alysa Jackson or Emily Johnson for additional information.

  Volunteer meeting

  All volunteers are required to attend a mandatory meeting Tuesday, May 7 at 1 p.m. via Zoom.

  Dress Code

  Employee volunteers are asked to dress in business casual and/or Detroit Mercy gear. A volunteer name badge will be provided at check-in, which is located in the Athletics Office in Calihan Hall.

  Presidential Hours

  As a thank you for volunteering, an employee who is not already being pair to work by the University on May 11 will receive Presidential hours to use at an agreed-upon time with your supervisor before December 31, 2024.

  THANK YOU for supporting this exciting day for our University community!

  

• May 02: Class of ’24: Helping create a healthier community is her goal

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  

  Each year, University of Detroit Mercy’s Marketing & Communications department profiles members of the graduating classes. Students chosen were nominated by staff and faculty for their contributions to the life of the University. Click here for more information about 2024 commencement exercises.

  Afsana Uddin has been attending classes at University of Detroit Mercy since 2012.

  “I’ve grown up here,” she joked.

  This year, she will graduate with a doctorate in Nursing Practice, after having earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a graduate degree in Family Nurse Practitioner.

  Uddin’s parents emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh and didn’t have a high school education. She is the third of their three children to receive an advanced degree and their first to receive a doctorate. She followed her two sisters to Detroit Mercy, where her nephews are also students.

  “There were so many factors as to why I chose Detroit Mercy,” said the native of northwest Detroit. “I liked the closeness, I loved that we’re embedded in the city of Detroit, I like the small campus because we have access to professors and other resources to help us.”

  But it was the service learning programs that truly inspired her. Her participation in the Fresh Incentive program helped her see that good health starts long before a person needs a doctor.

  “When you work in the community, you get to see and be exposed to things you didn’t know about and that can affect a person’s health,” Uddin said. “And it meant a lot that we were working right in the Fitzgerald neighborhood.”

  Fresh Incentives began at Eastern Market and delivered fresh fruits and vegetables to people in Detroit neighborhoods who don’t have ready access to healthy foods. Funding through the Ford Community Corps Foundation paid to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables expand the program to the Fitzgerald neighborhood.

  Access to food and education on taking care of your health are the two largest barriers to eating well.

  “Going into this, we thought that access to food would be a major deterrent,” Uddin said for a story about the early days of the program. “We are learning that education is a big part of that as well.”

  She expanded the work for her doctoral studies, introducing physical activity modules to get people moving. It was the first project where students entered the homes of the people they serve and it was eye-opening to her.

  The results were very positive. People lost weight, which led to benefits like lower blood pressure and the ability to exercise more. Working in homes led to connections and students, led by Uddin, expanded goals to decreasing intake of soda and salty snacks. They created a map of the many farmers markets nearby so people knew where to go to get fresh food.

  “There were positive outcomes on so many different levels,” she said. “It is a really important program.”

  Uddin hopes to introduce the model to the home care company she has worked at for two years.

  When not in class as a student, Uddin serves as an adjunct professor in the College of Health Professions.

  Her passion for spreading the word about healthy eating to populations that don’t have that history has been a very welcome surprise.

  “I originally had no plans about doing something like this,” she said. “But I’m so glad it found me.”

  — By Ron Bernas. Follow Detroit Mercy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Have a story idea? Let us know by submitting your idea.

• May 02: Class of ’24: Dental grad says faith, ‘random angels’ led her way

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  

  

  Each year, University of Detroit Mercy’s Marketing & Communications department profiles members of the graduating classes. Students chosen were nominated by staff and faculty for their contributions to the life of the University. Click here for more information about 2024 commencement exercises.

  Maria Latorre Sanchez came to Detroit to follow her dream of becoming a dentist. In addition, she found a close-knit community that supported her during the hardest time of her life and helped her to dream bigger.

  Latorre Sanchez earned an undergraduate degree in Florida before applying to dental schools. She didn’t know much about Detroit or Detroit Mercy’s School of Dentistry, but the word from friends was positive and a visit here in which current dental students meet potential students helped her make Detroit Mercy her top choice.

  She threw herself into her studies and all the extracurriculars that come with Detroit Mercy Dental. She was a member of the Student-Alumni Leadership Council, attended symposia and volunteered with community service. A native of Colombia, Latorre Sanchez has been president of the Hispanic Dental Student Association since 2021 and she directed her outreach through the Ford Community Corps and Student Leadership program on helping the local Hispanic population. She was an ambassador with La Casa Guadalupana, working to reduce language barriers to dental patients.

  In her third year, which is when students begin working with patients in the clinic, Latorre Sanchez brought her father from Colombia to the school.

  “I wanted to work on my father,” she said. “My family didn’t have a lot of dental care and he had lost most of his teeth. I wanted to be the one to fit him with dentures.”

  While visiting Detroit to start the treatment, he told his daughter he was not feeling himself. He was dealing with depression that was brought on and exacerbated by early stages of dementia. She turned to faculty members for advice. Eventually she had to ask her brother to move in with their father, which he willingly did.

  “He was the best dad, and my brother was the best son and brother,” she said.

  One day, she received a call from her mother, who lived in Florida. She was worried because she hadn’t heard from Latorre Sanchez’s father or brother and could not reach them by phone.

  Agonizing hours trying to reach them ended with her aunt breaking into his house in Colombia and finding both dead.

  “I left school immediately,” she remembered. “It was terrible, terrible.”

  When Latorre Sanchez returned to school two weeks later, she said she was greeted with “the biggest support system ever.”

  Faculty and staff would collect her when they found her alone, sobbing, and take her to their offices where they would let her cry or talk or just sit there. They helped her understand the disease of depression. One emailed her a prayer every day.

  “My classmates did not leave me for a minute. They guided me through this time, took me to Mass, helped me with the work I missed,” she said. “This went on for a long time.”

  And God was watching out for her, she says. “God took my father and brother at this time and only God knows why. But there were random angels all around who helped me out.”

  Slowly, through her faith, studies and Detroit Mercy Dental support system, the grief became less raw. She found that she felt great joy helping patients in clinic by fitting them with dentures.

  “When you tell a patient they are going to lose all their teeth, it’s like grief,” she said. “They feel they are losing something of themselves. But when you fit them with dentures, they have this smile that is so rewarding. I was never able to provide the dentures for my dad, but I am able to help others.”

  Detroit Mercy provided Latorre Sanchez an opportunity to help the local Hispanic community even more when a faculty member asked her if she would help create a dental clinic at the St. Francis Cabrini Clinic. She jumped at the chance to help the mostly Hispanic patients who would come to the clinic for other healthcare needs.

  “They knew that is what I love, so I said yes,” she said.

  The logistics of starting a clinic from scratch are daunting, but with help from faculty and lots of volunteers, it opened in 2022. They offered cleanings, extractions and fillings one Saturday a month. Bigger issues would be referred to the Dental Clinic. It has expanded its hours since.

  She created a pamphlet so English-speaking dental students learned enough words to conduct a thorough exam with a Spanish-only speaking patient.

  “It’s important that both the patients and the clinicians feel comfortable,” she said.

  The new graduate is not done with Detroit Mercy Dental yet, though. She is thrilled to have received a three-year periodontal residency. She jokes: “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  That Latorre Sanchez is able to laugh after such a tragedy she credits to her faith. She shares her story because she hopes other people draw strength from her.

  “I see people who get very upset that they didn’t pass a test or something like that and I hope that if telling my story helps others understand that they can get through bad times,” Latorre Sanchez said. “It’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how fast you get up.”

  — By Ron Bernas. Follow Detroit Mercy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Have a story idea? Let us know by submitting your idea.

• May 02: Open pickleball set for Tuesdays, Thursdays in May

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  

  Faculty, staff and guests are welcome to open pickleball at the Student Fitness Center every Tuesday and Thursday, 5-6 p.m., during the month of May!

  Paddles and balls will be provided for the matches.

  For more information please contact Mike Wynn Jr. at wynnmi@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1782.

  

• May 02: Join colleagues for A Time to Breathe, May 10

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  Pause the workday and join fellow Detroit Mercy colleagues for “A Time to Breathe,” on Friday, May 10 from 12-1 p.m. in the Student Union, Room 208.

  A Time to Breathe is a time of reflection and sharing and those attending may bring their own lunch if they wish to eat during the gathering.

  This opportunity is for all Detroit Mercy staff and faculty to step away from the business of the workday to just take the time to breathe and build community with colleagues.

  To register, please email Judy Wernette at wernetjm@udmercy.edu and indicate “A Time to Breathe” in the subject line.

• May 02: New Rocket Mortgage benefit helps home buyers

  Thursday May 02, 2024
  

  

  Detroit Mercy community, homeownership may be closer than you think with ONE+ by Rocket Mortgage, which is a new and affordable low down payment option.

  With ONE+, you can put down 1% and Rocket Mortgage will cover the other 2%, giving you all the benefits of a 3% down payment. You can take advantage of even more savings because you don’t have to pay the mortgage insurance, either.

  Who is eligible for ONE+?

  ONE+ is for first-time home buyers and repeat home buyers who make less than or equal to 80% of the area median income (AMI) of the location they’re buying in. It’s available for purchase loans and can’t be combined with other promotions.

  Visit VIP.RocketMortgage.com/DetroitMercy or call 866-378-6088 to get started.

  

• May 01: Celebrate seven Jesuits in Metro Detroit making milestone anniversaries, May 18

  Wednesday May 01, 2024
  

  

  Help celebrate seven Jesuits in Metro Detroit who are marking milestone anniversaries of service to the Society of Jesus at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 18 inside of the Ballroom of the Student Union.

  From parish work to education and care for the vulnerable, these seven men—and the seven ministries serving Metro Detroit—have positively affected countless lives.

  The seven being honored are Fr. Justin Kelly, SJ (70 years in the Society), Fr. Leo Cachat, SJ (70 years in the Society), Fr. Robert Scullin, SJ (60 years in the Society), Fr. Cyril Whitaker, SJ (25 years in the Society), Fr. Robert Flack, SJ (50 Years in the Priesthood), Fr. Patrick Kelly, SJ (25 years in the Priesthood) and Fr. Lorn Snow, SJ (25 years in the Priesthood).

  Family, friends, parishioners, students, alumni, colleagues, collaborators, and all who have been touched by the gift of Ignatian spirituality are invited to express gratitude to these dedicated men, and to join in honoring the legacy of our seven Jesuit ministries.

  The Society of Jesus has been active in Detroit since 1877.

  Let’s celebrate “Jesuit Detroit” together this Pentecost weekend!

  For more information/register!