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• Titan Mentor Program looking to hire Graduate Assistant for 2024-25

  Friday May 31, 2024
  

  

  The new Titan Mentor Program is looking for a graduate assistant for the 2024-25 academic school year.

  The Titan Mentor Program is a new program aimed at impacting some of the first-year students at Detroit Mercy. Through the mentor/mentee relationship, students will have another layer of support navigating their first year at UDM.

  The graduate coordinator for the Titan Mentors will advise the mentors and help with the administrative tasks of the program, including kick-off events, training and assessment throughout the program. The GA would receive a $15/hour wage as well as tuition renumeration for one class per semester.

  The Titan Mentor Program was one of the awarded projects from the 2023 Titan Innovation Fund.

  Interested graduate assistants can apply through handshake or email Sandra Alef at alefsj@udmercy.edu.

• Summer tutoring available at Student Success Center

  Friday May 31, 2024
  

  

  The Student Success Center is open during the summer months, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday each week.

  Students should continue to make appointments for tutoring using the online scheduler, Tutor Trac. Tutor Trac is available for students under “Academic and Career Resources” in their MyPortal (my.udmercy.edu).

  Both in-person and online appointments are available. The following list of summer courses has available tutors:

  • BIO 1090: Current topics in Biology
  • BIO 2040: Application Nutrition
  • BIO 2320: Principles of Human Anatomy and Physiology Lecture II
  • BIO 2330: Principles of Human Anatomy and Physiology Lab II
  • BIO 2600: Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
  • BIO 2700: Genetics
  • BIO 2900: Biostatistics
  • BIO 4801: Advanced Human Anatomy for Pre-Professional Students
  • CHM 1040: General, Organic and Biological Chemistry for the Health Sciences
  • CHM 1080: General Chemistry II
  • CHM 1120: Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry Lab
  • CST 1010: Fundamentals of Speech
  • ECN 2960: Macroeconomic Principles
  • ENL 1310: Academic Writing
  • ENL 2350: Study of Fiction
  • HIS 1500: Introduction to History
  • LEAD 4000: Leadership Capstone
  • MTH 1020/1030/1040: Algebra A, B, C
  • PHL 1000: Introduction to Philosophy
  • PHL 2010: Foundations of Ethics
  • PHY 1300: General Physics I
  • PHY 1310: General Physics Laboratory O
  • PHY 1320: General Physics II
  • PHY 1330: General Physics Laboratory II
  • PYC 2500: Developmental Psychology
  • SOC 1000: Introduction to Sociology
  • SPA 1100: Introduction to Spanish I
  • STA 2250: Statistics
  • TRE 1310: Introduction to Theater
  • UAS 0950: Elementary Algebra

  With any questions, please feel free to call 313-993-1143 or email ssc@udmercy.edu.

  More on Student Success Center.

  

• Summer volunteering opportunities are available with TENN

  Friday May 31, 2024
  

  

  Looking for volunteer hours over the summer, while also making a different in our community?

  Join Detroit Mercy’s Titan Equity Nourish Network in delivering produce to our neighbors and in our garden. Produce deliveries are Monday and Friday, while garden days are throughout the summer.

  Sign-up for Monday’s deliveries, which are every other week 12-2 p.m.

  Sign-up for Friday’s deliveries, which are every other week 10 a.m. to noon.

  Sign-up to help in the garden.

  With any questions, please contact Chelsea Manning by email at mannincp@udmercy.edu.

  

• Summer tennis lessons available for all at Detroit Mercy

  Tuesday May 28, 2024
  

  

  Titans, get ready for an exciting summer with the Motor City Tennis Club!

  Join this tennis program on the McNichols Campus from June 17 to Aug. 12 for the Summer Lessons Program, designed for all skill levels. Sessions will be held Mondays and Fridays from 6-8 p.m.

  Spaces are limited, so sign up today and serve up some fun this summer!

  The tennis courts are located at 4001 W. McNichols Road in Detroit on the McNichols Campus of University of Detroit Mercy.

  Junior Registration. Adult Registration. Family Registration.

• Women’s soccer to host Nike Soccer Camp for all skills, July 8-12

  Tuesday May 28, 2024
  

  

  

  Detroit Mercy’s women’s soccer program is holding youth camps for those interested in soccer, including one on the McNichols Campus from July 8-12.

  The day camp is focused on fun and teaching kids the game of soccer.

  There are two camps — one at Detroit Mercy and the other is in Waterford, Michigan from June 24-28. Both camps are co-ed and for skill levels of all ages.

  Anyone is welcome to join!

  Sign-up/more information.

• Earn $40 through Detroit Mercy’s mental health study

  Monday May 27, 2024
  

  Detroit Mercy students, staff and faculty can earn $40 through a mental health study at the University. The Department of Psychology is looking for participants for the study.

  To qualify, you must be 18 or older, have experienced a traumatic event and have the ability to complete questionnaires and interview about current mental health symptoms in English. Each in-person appointment will take approximately 60-90 minutes.

  Participants will be asked to fill out a few self-report questionnaires relating to traumatic experiences, relationships, emotions and coping. They’ll also be asked to participate in a confidential videotaped clinical interview regarding traumatic experiences.

  The study will use the information to help clinicians diagnose trauma-related conditions and design better programs for people who have experienced traumatic events.

  Please call 313-993-1486 or email Katelyn Lowe at loweke@udmercy.edu with any questions or to see if you may quality for the study.

• 2024 Commencement: Download photos, watch replays and more

  Tuesday May 21, 2024
  

  

  Congratulations, Class of 2024!

  The world gained new Titans with more than 1,000 University of Detroit Mercy graduates receiving their diplomas across four different Commencement ceremonies May 10-11 inside Calihan Hall on the McNichols Campus.

  Watch replays of the ceremonies through the University’s YouTube channel.

  Click here for a full array of photos from each of the ceremonies, as well as the Multicultural Graduation and other ceremonies.

  For full profiles, programs, replays and more from 2024 Commencement, visit udmercy.edu/commencement.

• Job opportunity: Work in Office of Admissions this summer

  Tuesday May 14, 2024
  

  

  Detroit Mercy’s Office of Admissions has two positions available for the summer: Tour Guides and Welcome Desk Associates.

  For more information or to apply, please email Darrius Hicks at hicksdm5@udmercy.edu.

  

• Class of ’24: Co-Valedictorian ready to care for world as Pre-Med graduate

  Thursday May 09, 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.

  MacKenzie Patterson’s life and what she wanted to do with it was transformed when she was 11 years old.

  That was when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Patterson witnessed first-hand the great care that doctors provided her mom.

  Fast-forward to her senior year at University of Detroit Mercy, and Patterson is on the doorstep of realizing the dream of becoming like the doctor that helped her mom.

  Patterson, one of the Class of 2024 Valedictorians, will graduate Saturday with a Biology degree and is preparing for the next step in her educational journey: Medical school.

  “I just remember feeling pretty grateful to my mom’s doctor,” Patterson said. “I heard amazing things about her dermatologist and how thorough she was, and the cancer was a really tiny spot. She caught it and took really good care of my mom during the process.

  “That’s when I became more interested in medicine and science. I just wanted to become like her and helping patients like my mom and improving overall quality of life.”

  Patterson, from a small town outside of Buffalo, N.Y., initially visited the University because of an opportunity to run track and field for the Titans. Before visiting, she was looking at schools close to home and her family but reconsidered after touring UDM.

  “Before Detroit Mercy sent me that email, I had never considered running on a Division I track and field team, but after visiting, it forced me to reconsider my college options and open myself up to new opportunities,” Patterson said. “When I toured here, I liked that it was a small campus, small class sizes, professors know you by name, the track and field scholarship and I had the opportunity to be a Pre-Med student.

  “That one visit changed my path, and I may even argue, my life.”

  Patterson said Detroit Mercy became a second home the moment she stepped onto the McNichols Campus as a freshman. She attended an outdoor Mass hosted by University Ministry during her first week at UDM and she’s been involved with the organization since.

  “I just instantly felt welcomed by Ministry, I felt like they were going to be the people I would be spending a lot of time with,” Patterson said. “I met my best friend Hannah there, we sang together at Mass, and that’s a friendship that’s going to be part of my life forever. 

  “I feel like in a sense Ministry has become my family away from home.”

  Patterson immersed herself in a lot of other activities during her time at Detroit Mercy, too.

  In addition to being a track and field student-athlete and involved with University Ministry, Patterson is a member of Gamma Phi Beta, Zeta Nu Chapter and the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society, as well as the MEDLIFE student organization, which raises money for medicine, education and development projects in underdeveloped countries.

  “When I first came here, I didn’t know anybody,” she said. “I feel like the Detroit Mercy community has really become my home; the people have been amazing to be surrounded by. I’ve had a lot of good experiences.”

  While she volunteered at a cancer institute and alongside physicians, nurses and other medical professionals in high school to further her interest in health and medicine, Detroit Mercy has offered her the opportunity to fully prepare for a life in the medical field through her academics.

  Patterson said that professors such as Michelle Andrzejak, Klaus Friedrich, Greg Grabowski, Jacob Kagey, among others, in the College of Engineering & Science have been integral with their time, support and encouragement.

  “Dr. Friedrich met with me almost every day of the week to tutor me, he’d meet with me over Zoom to try and explain something to me,” Patterson said. “I’ve had a lot of amazing professors like that. I feel well-prepared for medical school because the classes are set up in a way where you’re kind of preparing for it.

  “The way they teach, it seems synonymous with how med school will be, especially with some of the research assignments they give us to do.”

  Beyond the professors, the UDM community impacted Patterson, including Dan Greig and Anna Lawler in Ministry and Si Hendry, S.J., among others.

  “There’s been a lot of people here who have believed in me even when I wasn’t sure I could do it, people who have rooted me on throughout my education here,” Patterson said. “There’s a lot of those connections that I’m going to miss when I graduate from here.”

  Patterson said she felt the Jesuit and Mercy values and mission throughout her UDM career.

  “I liked the individualized care aspect of it,” she said. “It really does show through courses and how staff and faculty conduct themselves, you can tell that our University is really grounded in its mission. We’re trying to actively better our community.”

  Patterson started her UDM career during COVID and arrived in Detroit not knowing anyone on campus. She’ll leave with lasting relationships, a degree that prepared her for the next step in her life and the distinction of being a valedictorian.

  “The fact that UDM chooses a valedictorian using a ‘whole person’ concept, not solely on academic achievement, lends to the entire experience I’ve had on campus and the person I’ve been molded to become,” she reflected. “Receiving this privilege is a reminder that anything is possible.” 

  From early days Patterson, the oldest of four children who grew up in a military household with her dad being deployed multiple times throughout her childhood, was a caretaker helping with her younger siblings.

  Her interest in caretaking was then strengthened by watching the care her mom received and volunteering at a cancer center shortly thereafter.

  Now, with a college career full of new experiences and an education preparing her for medical school, Patterson is ready to care for the world at large.

  “When I decided to attend Detroit Mercy, I had no idea if I was making the right decision, but now I know with certainty that I was meant to be at Detroit Mercy,” she said. “I don’t know if it was luck or fate, but Detroit Mercy saw something in me that I had not yet seen in myself.

  “Looking forward, I can only hope to repay that kindness by going out into the world and showing them what a Titan can give.”

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

• Class of ’24: First-Gen, Pre-Law grad felt supported by Detroit Mercy

  Thursday May 09, 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.

  Jacob Yasso didn’t know if a four-year college was for him.

  His high school guidance counselor suggested that he should possibly try the community college route first to see if college was the right call.

  That’s when a University of Detroit Mercy Admissions counselor visited his school.

  “He looked at my transcript and he said, ‘you’re in.’ I was really kind of shook, I didn’t think that I would get in anywhere,” Yasso said. “All of my friends were applying, touring and putting in applications and I was really behind. I guess I was considered a late applicant, but Detroit Mercy didn’t make me feel like I was late at all.”

  Jacob Yasso (right), with Genevieve Meyers.

  Flash-forward to May 2024 and Yasso confidently says he made the right call in choosing Detroit Mercy. Yasso will be the first in his family to graduate from college when he walks across the Calihan Hall stage May 11 to receive his Political Science, Pre-Law degree.

  UDM answered every question Yasso had from the start, helping him fill out his FAFSA, assisting with scholarships and just being there for him.

  Matt Fortescue, the UDM Admissions counselor who visited his high school, Henry Ford II in Sterling Heights, also identified Yasso as a candidate to be a tour guide at UDM. Yasso was able to feel at home during his freshman year of 2020-21 — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — because of his tour guide job.

  “Matt recommending me for that position already made me feel like I was at home because he knew me so little, but he saw my potential,” Yasso said.

  If he hadn’t felt at home before, he did during the first week of classes, which were held online due to the pandemic. Sitting in a parking lot outside of the Fisher Building on the McNichols Campus, Yasso found out he was the only student who hadn’t taken a quiz in Associate Professor of Political Science Genevieve Meyers’ Basic Government class.

  He didn’t even realize there was a quiz. What happened next was a turning point.

  “Professor Meyers said, ‘it’s okay, thank you for your honesty and I’ll reopen it for you,’” Yasso reflected. “And I thought, ‘this is going to work out for me the next four years.’

  “That’s really when I became more comfortable with my studies, I really started to care about my work and do better and now my grades are much better than they were in high school.”

  The caring gesture from Meyers was a theme Yasso saw throughout his time at Detroit Mercy: The supportiveness of many throughout the UDM community, from Financial Aid, Student Life and Admissions to many staff and faculty in the College of Liberal Arts & Education and many more.

  That care began the day Fortescue visited his high school.

  “Everyone has been so supportive, otherwise I don’t think that I would be here right now.”

  Starting as a tour guide, Yasso became involved in much more during his Detroit Mercy tenure, joining the Honors Program, Political Science Student Association, Chaldean American Student Association and Student Alumni Leadership Council, and serving as an ambassador for his college and in Admissions, in addition to many other activities.

  Yasso was director of freshman orientation during the summer of 2023 before his senior year. He said it was by far one of the best experiences during college.

  Academically, Yasso started as a Theatre major but switched to Pre-Law, which he says fits him well. Theatre actually helped get him there.

  “Every stage you step on is a stage for justice, no matter what show you’re doing,” he said. “That’s how I got there into law was from theatre. I was always argumentative and my theatre teacher in high school taught us about intersections of theatre in law.” 

  He said partaking in the moot courts — even during COVID — only solidified his ambitions of becoming a lawyer one day.

  “My first year I had Intro to Law with Victoria Mantzopoulos, and she found a way to let us do a Moot Court online during COVID and she asked me to serve as the judge,” he said. “It was a really fun experience for me even though I was at home. We did at least one-to-two every year.”

  Yasso said that his Literature minor also had a big impact on him, especially as he prepares for law school.

  “Reading a lot of older literature books with diverse voices, it helps you articulate your ideas and write better, which is great for law school,” he said. “My literature minor is something that I’m proud of.”

  He said he felt the Jesuit and Mercy values embedded throughout his course work, and not only in the community service classes each UDM student is required to take.

  “These pillars that we have opened up our eyes to new possibilities and I think my career goal may be law school, but a real-life goal is a utilitarianist idea of creating the most happiness for the most amount of people,” he said.

  Yasso, who has two older brothers who are also considering college, is following the lead of his parents in the way that he attacks each day.

  “I watched them work hard during their lives and be successful and I just try and mimic that, working hard,” he said. “They wanted me to go to college, but if I didn’t, you obviously have to work. It motivates me every day.

  “It’s definitely very special for my parents.”

  A fixture for nearly four years to hundreds, if not thousands, of prospective students, parents, alumni and many others as a tour guide, leader and face of the University, Yasso is glad he decided to attend UDM even if his first tour of campus was a little terrifying.

  “The initial tour was scary, I think most people would be nervous going on a campus tour,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect from a college campus as a first-generation student, I didn’t even know where the Admissions office was.

  “But Detroit Mercy definitely helped me figure out my way.”

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