Alumni News

Alumni are invited to Theatre Afterglows

The College of Liberal Arts & Education and College of Health Professions Alumni Councils are hosting complimentary receptions following selected productions from the 2009-2010 Theatre Company season. Sponsored by Integrity Home Health Care and John Lechner '92, '92, the next afterglow reception is on February 6, 2010, following the 8 p.m. production of Recent Tragic Events at Marygrove College Theatre.

The receptions take place in The Gallery, 4th floor, Liberal Arts Building, Marygrove College. Following the production of Bleacher Bums, the final afterglow reception for the season is sponsored by Robert Rogowski '77, '79, and Claire Boyce on April 9, 2010. Order tickets.

Phil Cousineau '74

Author and filmmaker Phil Cousineau '74, speaks to UDM students

Oscar-nominated author and filmmaker Phil Cousineau '74, returned to campus in September to speak to students about his career in documentary film. He has worked with Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith, authored more than 20 books, including The Art of the Pilgrimage, and written or cowritten numerous documentaries, including: Forever Activists: Stories from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best feature documentary of 1990; The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell, a staple of PBS; Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey' Eritrea: March to Freedom; Peyote Road: Ancient Religion in Contemporary Crisis; and A Seat at the Table, a conversation between Huston Smith and American Indian leaders.

Alumnus finishes 30-mile bike ride through Detroit

Along the bike tour, Page discovered UDM architecture student Veronica Allen (pictured next to Page).

Tom Page '71, '76, was one of approximately 2,000 cyclists who participated in the 2009 annual Tour De Troit. According to the Tour De Troit web site, the event is a leisurely, 30-mile, police escorted bike ride, which allows bike and city enthusiasts to explore Detroit's historic areas and most breathtaking sights free of cars and traffic signs.

The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of biking as a mode of transportation, to publicize the growing greenways network in the region and to raise funds for the Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink in Detroit, a project of the Greater Corktown Development Corporation.

Alumnus to create documentary about NCAA champion 1972 Titan Fencing Team

Carlton T. Stanton '74, chairman and CEO of SCI Global Communications, LLC, and award winning executive producer/director/documentary filmmaker, is developing a documentary film about the University of Detroit's 1972 NCAA Championship Men's Fencing Team, and the city of Detroit during the 1970s, called Duel of the Titans.

The film will highlight the fencing careers of Tyrone Simmons '72, Olympian, Pan-American, NCAA Championship All-American fencer, and his teammates, including Freddie Hooker '72, and Stanton, who also were on the NCAA championship team. The 1972 U of D fencing team, of which half were African American, is the only sports team in the history of Titan athletics to win the NCAA Championship title.

Student news

Varsity News students win 2009 Michigan Press Association awards

Five UDM students who work on The Varsity News were award recipients in the annual college newspaper contest hosted by the Michigan Press Association. The awards are for stories that appeared in college newspapers last school year. The students competed in Division III for papers (like The Varsity News) that are published less frequently than once a week. This is the first time in many years that The Varsity News has received honors in the competition.

The awards:

• Second place, best sports news story, Michael Martinez for "Titans Take Advantage..."
• Third place, best sports page design, Michael Martinez
• Third place, best sports feature, Roshelle Vogel for "Five Famous Figures..."
• Third place, best feature photo, Starsha McCrary for "Tug of War"
• Honorable mention, best sports feature, Marcus Acuna for "The Tallest Titan"
• Honorable mention, best feature story, Kevin Marlinga for "Birdie"

Student exhibit at Detroit Historical Museum explores Mineral Bath era of Mount Clemens, Mi

This past winter and summer terms, students in the HIS 494/MLS 594/Museum Studies course planned, researched, fundraised, developed, and promoted an exhibit titled "Bath City U.S.A.", under the direction of their instructor Kim Parr. The completed exhibit opened at the Detroit Historical Museum on Oct. 24 and runs through January 2010. More exhibit information see the exhibit web site.

College news

Theatre Company performance helps address issue of homeless in local community

The UDM Theatre Company is proud to announce a special benefit production of Unheard Voices, Feb. 26-29. Conceived and directed by Yolanda Fleischer and written by the UDM Theatre Community, Unheard Voices is a play that will address the issues and problems of the overwhelming epidemic of the homeless in Southeast Michigan. The stories behind the homeless are as varied and surprising as the population.

The Theatre Company's goal is to present the voices, lives, visions, hopes, dreams, pains and spirits of the local homeless community on stage for the audience to recognize and acknowledge through financial support. All donations raised will go the Homeless Action Network of  Detroit (H.A.N.D.), whose help has made this program possible. The production will be performed at University of Detroit Mercy as a free ticket event. See the rest of the Theatre Company's 2009-2010 season.

UDM faculty to participate in national composition and rhetoric conference

The writing program will represent UDM at the Conference for College Composition and Communication—the largest national gathering for composition and rhetoric—in March in Louisville, Ky. In addition to an individual presentation by program director Laurie Britt-Smith on digital literacy and social justice rhetoric, a panel of three UDM instructors will be on the program.

The panel entitled "Motor City Remix: Negotiating Identity and Notions of Property in Post-Industrial Detroit" focuses on writing issues that matter across the curriculum. Individual presenters are Amanda Hiber, "I Can't Get Next to You: College Campus as Gated Community"; Stephanie Amada, "Come See About Me: Visual Rhetoric, Student Identity and Multi-modal Writing in Detroit"; and Andrew Wright, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing: Copyright, Copyleft, Copied Homework and Copy Machines."

LCT Program to provide ESL training in Detroit

UDM's Language & Cultural Training Department received a $1,200 grant from the Father Clement H. Kern Foundation to help sustain its "Lifeskills for Latinas: ESL" classes. LCT's director Lara Wasner and coordinator Jean Krystyniak applied for the grant, which will fund one six-week session for up to 15 women to learn English.

Six six-week sessions are scheduled to run at three Detroit Public Library locations in Southwest Detroit. "Thanks to the Kern grant and money from the Friends Foundation, our library ESL programs are fully funded for the 2009-10 school year, keeping language training accessible," says Wasner.

Grant will allow UDM to continue economic symposiums

Harry Veryser, assistant professor of Economics, was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation for continuing economic symposiums at the Macomb University Center and the University of Detroit Mercy campus.