Time for Founders Celebrations!

Throughout September, UDM celebrates its commitment to private higher education, our religious sponsors and the city of Detroit.  Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends are all invited to join in many of the Founders Celebrations.  This year's events include:

• Sept. 11 - UDM Night at Comerica Park
• Sept. 16 - Dave DeBusschere Scholarship Dinner
• Sept. 17 - Titan 10 Pub Night
• Sept. 23 - Dedication of Titan Auxiliary Field
• Sept. 24 - Celebrate Spirit!
• Sept. 25 - Dedication of the Peter Peirce Interactive Learning Center
• Sept. 26 - Theatre Company play, The Winning Streak, with afterglow
• Sept. 29 - The School of Law Red Mass

For more Founders Celebration event and RSVP information, please visit www.udmercy.edu/founders-celebration.

Complete the UDM Mission survey

Please help UDM create a profile of mission-oriented service activity at the University by taking an anonymous online survey.  UDM's Mission/Urban/Social Justice Team is developing this profile for a number of purposes.  One is to send the profile to accrediting and rating agencies and media outlets.

Service work is also of interest to trustees, alumni and friends of the University, and the internal UDM community itself is inspired by how many surprising and creative things our colleagues do to improve the world around us.  Take the mission survey today.

UDM wins federal contract for cyber security research

UDM has been awarded a $551,500 federal contract from QSS Group, a technology services company that provides information technology services to U.S. federal agencies. The funds will support faculty in UDM's Information Assurance (IA) Program to carry out research on the safety and security of the nation's critical information infrastructure.

Dan Shoemaker, professor of Computer & Information Systems and director of the IA Program, says the project will help "build [UDM's] reputation as a significant player in teaching, research and development in national security topics." For more, see the UDM news release.

UDM to host Horizon League cross-country championships

The Detroit Titans will host the 2009 Horizon League cross-country championships for both men and women, Saturday, Oct. 31, at 11 a.m. at Kensington Metropark in Milford.  For more information, see the Detroit Titans news release.

School of Architecture hosts international program

The UDM School of Architecture is hosting the Detroit launch of the International Honors Program "Cities in the 21st Century" Study Abroad Program.  As part of the program, students will visit Detroit, Delhi, Capetown and Buenos Aries this fall, studying subjects from urban planning to politics and development, looking at how and why cities change.

The Detroit part of the program, Aug. 24 - Sept. 4, begins the Fall 2009 program and is coordinated by Dan Pitera, associate professor of Architecture, and Virginia Stanard, design fellow in UDM's Detroit Collaborative Design Center.  See the Cities in the 21st Century program site for more.

Detroit Auto Scene features UDM

The Aug. 10 issue of Detroit Auto Scene featured two front-page articles about UDM.  One article, "U-D Mercy Hosts Transportation Society," highlighted the meeting of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan, hosted by the UDM-led Michigan-Ohio University Transportation Center and held at UDM, July 29. The article also mentioned how McNichols Campus is "teeming" with pre-college students participating in summer enrichment programs like DAPCEP, the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program.

Speaking of DAPCEP, the other front-page article, "GM Engineer, U-D Instructor Partnered Up," tells the story of how Arneshia Austin and her husband Clifford Austin III first met at UDM as DAPCEP teaching assistants in 2000.  Clifford now works as an engineer for auto supplier Denso, and Arneshia is a summer instructor for DAPCEP.  Both of them had also gone through DAPCEP as young students.  They were married May 30 of this year.

CLASA to host SOA Watch speaker, Sept. 16

UDM's Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive is hosting Lisa Sullivan, Latin America Coordinator for School of the Americas Watch, to give the presentation, "Crisis of democracy in Honduras: the role of SOA graduates in Latin America," Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ford Life Sciences Building, Room 115.

School of the Americas Watch is an advocacy group devoted to closing and monitoring the U.S. military's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly, School of the Americas), which has trained Latin American military and police.  For details on the speaker, see the CLASA events page.

After-work yoga classes

Jim Stout is not only chief technician for UDM's IT Services Department, he's also a yoga instructor!  Stout invites everyone to attend his "slow flow" yoga classes, Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., at 17160 Oak Drive, in the administration building directly across from Gesu School.  The cost is $5 per person per class.  Dress in comfortable, loose-fitting clothing and bring your yoga mat.  For more information, e-mail Pat Harrington.

UDM takes second place in Intern & Co-op Challenge

A team of UDM intern and co-op students took second place during the Michigan Internship & Co-op Challenge, Aug. 7.  "Team UDM," sponsored by UDM's Career Education Center, enjoyed a day of contests among company- and university-sponsored teams.  The purpose of the event was to provide intern and co-op students from throughout Michigan a chance to meet, network, have fun and promote the benefits of internship and co-operative education programs.

Team UDM at the Michigan Internship & Co-op Challenge, Aug. 7.  They are, from left, Brian Dara, Ali Dirul-Islam, Megan Lomasney, Modar Horani, Mohammad Horani and Jill Goryca.