Current Students

Fall Festival at Homecoming returns to UDM’s McNichols Campus Sept. 25-26. The weekend is packed with activities, and this year Detroit Mercy is partnering with Live 6’s Six Mile Street Fest, providing additional entertainment, local cuisine and family-friendly activities on the UDM Front Lawn (outside the McNichols gate).

This two-day event offers something for everyone—from exciting games and tours to informative sessions. Among the highlights are the annual bike tour of the historic areas surrounding the McNichols Campus, an open kickball game, a taping of Detroit Mercy’s long-running show “Ask the Professor” and an improv show as well as an evening of creative writing in the newly established Black Box Theatre in the Student Union.

Attendees can also cheer on the Titans men’s soccer team at Titan Field as they take on Purdue Fort Wayne at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The main event is the Fall Festival which is slated to begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday. It features arts and crafts, bubble soccer, yard and casino games, an escape room, food trucks, skating, scavenger hunt and much more.

Attendees also have the opportunity to take historical tours throughout campus, even one of Calihan Hall, featuring the newly renovated Titan Club.

After dusk, a bonfire will be lit to celebrate all Titan Athletic teams, followed by the NPHC Yard show, where multicultural fraternities and sororities will showcase their chapter’s history and traditions through steps, strolls, chants or dancing.

Also included in the weekend’s events and numerous reunions are the College of Health Professions Research Symposium, a Golden Jubilee reunion for the Class of 1976 and the presentation of 2026’s Alumni Achievement Spirit Award honorees.

Join in Fall Festival activities as you reconnect with the University during two exciting days filled with food, fun and celebrations.

The Detroit Mercy English Department will host the first Creative Writing Collective (CWC) of the fall semester on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 5:15-6:30 p.m., in the Briggs Building, Room 202. The gathering will be led by Senior Adjunct Instructor and Poet-in-Residence Michael Lauchlan.

The CWC provides a relaxed, supportive environment for all students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the community to read, write and chat together.

All are welcome, and no creative writing experience is necessary.

For questions or if you would like to be added to the CWC mailing list, please email english@udmercy.edu.

The Department of Religious Studies is hosting a series of small group discussions on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas led by Fr. Greg Banazak. The encyclical deals with AI and its implications for our shared humanity.

Given the urgency of this issue, the sessions will offer a timely opportunity for students, faculty and staff to think through this important document. The series is planned as part of the 2026 Bruttell Series in Religion and Social Ethics. All are invited.

All sessions will be held in Briggs Building, Room 305, and refreshments will be available.

• Wednesday, Sept. 30, 12:45-1:45 p.m.: “Dialoguing with Magnifica Humanitas: AI and Ethics”
• Thursday, Oct. 15, 12:45-1:45 p.m.: “Dialoguing with Magnifica Humanitas: AI and Religion”
• Monday, Oct. 26, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m.: “Dialoguing with Magnifica Humanitas: AI and Everyday Life”

“Wilson,” by Lance Poole. From [sic] Issue 33Do you have a discerning eye, a good ear and an ability to work closely with writers and visual artists?

Student editors are wanted for the next issue of [sic], Detroit Mercy’s irreverent, profound and visually innovative student art journal, which is slated to start production during the fall 2026 semester.

[sic] publishes photography, graphic arts, poetry, fiction and prose. Its mission is giving voice and vision to Detroit Mercy’s exceptionally creative student body.

Undergraduate students with a stylish commitment to seeing the job through should complete an online application by Thursday, Sept. 24.

Please contact Associate Professor of English Rosemary Weatherston with any questions at weatherr@udmercy.edu.

The 2027 CHASS El Salvador spring break journey provides an opportunity to learn from the Salvadoran people about their lives, histories and hopes for the future. This journey highlights the importance of working for justice, understanding how we can be better stewards of the earth and humanizing the various issues present in our societies.

This transformative experience is open to the entire UDM community.

Those interested can learn more about the experience and how to participate at one of two upcoming information sessions:

• Online: Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m. Register here for Zoom link.
• In-person: Friday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m., in the Briggs Building, Room 301.

Trip participants can reflect on their faith and its role in promoting justice and compassion while exploring different realities through an understanding of diverse perspectives. These include the impact of war, economics, foreign policy, migration, the environment and faith.

Sponsored by CRISPAZ, the program aims to build relationships and deepen your understanding of the people of El Salvador and has been leading delegations since 1985.

UDM students can experience the arts in New York City during spring break through the Performing Arts in New York City Immersion Trip.

Students will travel to New York City to see incredible shows, meet successful Detroit Mercy Theatre alumni and explore the creative and cultural offerings of the city.

To learn about trip activities, costs and other important details, students are invited to attend an information session on Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 12:45-1:45 p.m., in the Detroit Mercy Black Box Theatre, located in the Lower Level of the Student Union.

Please contact Sarah Rusk at hawkinsk@udmercy.edu or 313-993-3273 with any questions.

The first speaker in the UDM Philosophy Department’s 2026-27 Public Lecture Series will be Guido Parietti, assistant professor of Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy at Michigan State University.

In commemoration of the 120th anniversary of German thinker Hannah Arendt’s birth, Parietti’s lecture, “Why Politics? Why Arendt?” will explore her infamous answer to a fundamental question of our age: what is politics for?

The event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Warren Loranger Architecture Building Exhibition Space and is free and open to the public.

Parietti is the author of On the Concept of Power: Possibility, Necessity, Politics (Oxford, 2022) and has published numerous works on deliberative democracy, political theology and the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and Thomas Hobbes.

For more information, please contact Kieran Aarons at aaronska@udmercy.edu.

The Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA) invites the UDM community to two free discussions on nonviolence on Wednesday, Sept. 23, featuring Ben Peters of University of St. Joseph. Both talks will take place in the Briggs Building, Room 317.

The first presentation begins at 4 p.m. Peters will be joined by Karen Donahue, RSM, a longtime member of the Mercy Justice Team. Donahue will discuss how the Sisters of Mercy gradually changed their focus from service to addressing the five Social Concerns that were at the root of many contemporary problems and how nonviolence intersects with the other four Social Concerns. Peters will then present “Artisans of Peace: A Counter-tradition of Nonviolence in US Catholicism.” The term “artisans of peace” came from a recent Vatican statement at the U.N. calling for peace in our war-torn world.

A second talk at 7:30 p.m. will spotlight Peters’ new book, Catholic Pacifist: The Long and Lonely Quest of Gordon Zahn. The discussion will explore the life of Zahn, a Catholic peace activist, who promoted the life story of Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian who was beheaded in 1942 for refusing to fight in Hitler’s army. Jägerstätter was beatified in 2007, just before the death of Zahn. UDM Senior Adjunct Instructor Michael Hovey, who worked with Zahn during his time with Pax Christi USA Center on Conscience and War, will also participate in the conversation.

Both events are cosponsored by CLASA, Gesu Peace & Justice Committee and the Office of Mission Integration.

For more information contact CLASA Director Gail Presbey at presbegm@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1124.

The Wellness Center and CVS have partnered to bring a vaccine clinic to the McNichols campus. The clinic will take place during the Wellness Expo on Thursday, Oct. 1, from 12-2 p.m., in the Student Union, Room 208.

Flu, COVID and many more vaccines will be available.

All are welcome to attend and receive vaccine(s). Please be sure to register ahead of time at the link below.

CVS requires 20 participants to be registered prior to the clinic, otherwise the event will be canceled. Once the 20 timeslots are filled, you will not be able to preregister. However, walk-ins are still encouraged and welcome.

Please contact the Wellness Center at (313) 993-1185 with any questions.

The UDM Wellness Center will hold this fall’s Wellness Expo on Thursday, Oct. 1, from 12-2 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

Over 40 vendors will be present, and attendees will have the opportunity to get this year’s flu shot. Free snacks are also available as well as a therapy horse, raffles and more.

All are welcome to this free event.