Faculty News

For CLAE faculty news, see the Faculty News page.

Theatre Company's Malice Aforethought goes on the road

Last February, the UDM Theatre Company's production of Malice Aforethought: The Sweet Trials played to the Company's largest audience in more than 10 years. The play, which was partially funded by a Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs grant, was written by UDM Professor and Theatre Department Co-Chair Arthur Beer. It captured the essence of the civil rights landmark Sweet Trials in which Dr. Ossian Sweet, a prominent black Detroit physician, was charged with the murder of a white man, defended by noted attorney Clarence Darrow, and acquitted by an all-white jury in the courtroom of Judge Frank Murphy. Though the play's run ended in February, the Theatre Company took the play on the road in May to schools and community centers throughout Michigan. The play was condensed to a one-hour version and included five faculty, students and alumni.

The play's production was part of the Sweet Trials Project, which included a series of statewide activities, including a traveling exhibit to several Michigan libraries, panel discussions and talks at bookstores by Kevin Boyle '82. Boyle is author of Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age, which also focuses on the Sweet Trials. The Project spurred a great deal of interest in the story of Ossian Sweet, such that libraries and bookstores ran out of Boyle's book.

UDM Counseling programs receive national recognition

UDM's Counseling/Addiction Studies department received national recognition for its Addictions Counseling program. Assistant Professor Nancy Calley accepted the Outstanding Program Award from the International Association of Addictions and Offenders Counselors at the annual American Counseling Association convention held March 23-26 in Detroit.

Also at the convention, Lahaska Press (an imprint of Houghton-Mifflin) presented the UDM Counseling Clinic with its 2007 Lahaska Cares Campaign award. The award recognizes the clinic's social justice mission of providing no-cost mental health counseling services to individuals without the means or access to services in the Detroit area.

At the conference, Counseling and Addiction Studies' Assistant Professor Nancy Calley, Instructor Sheri Pickover, Assistant Professor Daniel Lawrence, two alumni and one student presented "Counseling in the Motor City: Roadblocks, Potholes and Building New Bridges."

Education program participates in national program to increase student interest in science, technology, engineering and math

The Department of Education was invited to attend the National Science Foundation Academy for Young Scholars (NSFAYS) kick-off meeting in San Francisco, January 11-12, 2007. Instructor of Education Lorri MacDonald attended and represented the College.

The NSFAYS is a new initiative designed to increase student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. UDM's College of Engineering and Science has been involved in the Detroit Area Pre-College and Engineering Program (DAPCEP) for over 25 years and serves 1,600 students each fall and spring through six-week Saturday programs on campus.

The NSFAYS has a new twist because now, the Department of Education is involved in curriculum development, professional development of teachers and qualitative research over a two-year span beginning late spring 2007. MacDonald will work with veterans of the DAPCEP program in the curriculum development portion of the project. She'll design and implement the professional development sessions that begin summer 2007 and conduct a qualitative study that will be shared with NSF. Qualitative baseline data begins this spring as MacDonald gathers data through observations and surveys of teachers involved in the study.

The University of Detroit Mercy Department of Education is pleased to be a part of this nationwide initiative, which includes Boston College, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Calvin College, and the University of Chicago.

Faculty News

For CLAE faculty news, see the Faculty News page.