Current Students

Broadside Lotus Press and the University of Detroit Mercy Press will host a virtual reading and conversation with Joanne Godley, author of How the Black Panthers Fell from the Sky and winner of the 2025 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award.

The reading will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. Please register below to obtain Zoom link.

Godley grew up in Detroit during the city’s industrial heyday and amidst the activism of the labor unions. Her memoir reflects on her teenage years, when, impatient with someday freedom songs and despairing at the horrors of the Vietnam war, she is swept up by the daring promise of those militant “cats” in black leather jackets. The poems remind readers of the hopefulness and exhilaration of Panther Party times as well as provide Godley’s mature reflections on the Party’s dismantlement.

How the Black Panthers Fell from the Sky is the fourth co-publication of Broadside Lotus Press and UDM Press. It can be purchased at the Detroit Mercy bookstore and online through Hatteras printing.

University Ministry will hold an overnight Social Justice retreat from Friday, March 27, to Saturday, March 28, filled with speakers, reflection and rest. The theme of the retreat is Contemplatives in Action.

Participants will meet on Detroit Mercy’s McNichols Campus 4:30 p.m. March 27, and head out to Maxis Spirituality Center for community building, fun, food and learning about some of the social justice issues of our day. The Maxis Center is located in Monroe, Michigan, 45 minutes south of the University.

All Detroit Mercy undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. Transportation to and from the retreat is provided.

This retreat will focus especially on immigration, nonviolence, activism, community care and mindfulness, and more. Through the theme of Contemplatives in Action, alumni and community partners will speak about how they have been inspired to do the work of justice. There will be opportunities for reflection as a group and individually.

Those attending the El Paso, Texas-Mexico Border Immersion are required to attend this retreat as pre-trip formation. The El Paso group will also go over trip logistics while at the retreat.

Deadline to register is March 20 (or request an extension).

For questions or concerns, please contact University Ministry at ministry@udmercy.edu or 313-992-1560 or stop by the office, located in the Student Union Lower Level, to speak with Anna or Sammy.

Learn more about Detroit Mercy’s Post-Graduate Certificate in Addiction Studies program by attending an upcoming virtual information session. During the session, you will meet the program director, watch a presentation and have the opportunity to ask questions.

The next session will be offered on Wednesday, March 25 at noon.

SACD will host Patrick Morrissy ’67 and Wayne Meyer on Wednesday, March 25, for the next installment of its lecture series with a presentation, titled Urban Neighborhoods: Strategic Intervention, Stability, and the Power of Street-Level Practice. The talk is a street-level view of neighborhood change rarely captured in textbooks.

The lecture will be held in the Loranger Architecture Building Exhibition Space. A reception at 4:30 p.m. will precede the lecture, which begins at 5 p.m. All are invited to this event.

Led by Detroit Mercy alumnus Patrick Morrissy, a pioneer in high-impact urban neighborhood intervention, this lecture will explore how HANDS, Inc., a small, disciplined nonprofit, worked with neighborhoods around Newark, N.J. Morrissy and colleague Wayne Meyer will discuss how strategic property acquisition and resident-centered community engagement produced durable neighborhood stability. They will also outline how this work influenced property laws, funding programs and community development finance and became the model for neighborhood stabilization work during the foreclosure crisis and remains relevant in Detroit today.

Morrissy is the founder and former executive director of HANDS, Inc., where he pioneered a high-impact community development strategy that stabilized and revitalized declining urban neighborhoods in the two cities that border Newark, N.J. Morrissy is also a founder and former editor of Shelterforce, the online publication for affordable housing and community development practitioners, and is the author of the 2025 book, Staking Our Claim: The Fight for Better Housing in the 1970s.

Meyer is president of Brick By Brick Training & Development Corporation, a nonprofit focused on building generational wealth through affordable homeownership and community-centered real estate investment. He served as president of New Jersey Community Capital, where he led a transformative strategy benefiting more than 100,000 individuals and families nationwide. At HANDS, Inc., Meyer led a place-based revitalization effort that developed more than 400 affordable housing units and catalyzed neighborhood stability and reinvestment.

Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA) and Detroit Mercy collaborate with three other Mercy Universities — Gwynedd Mercy University, Saint Joseph’s University and Georgian Court University — along with the Peace History Society, to offer an online Mercy Peace Forum event each semester.

The spring 2026 event is set for Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m. All are invited to this free event.

This webinar features Steven Brady, associate professor of History at George Washington University, who will discuss his new book Less Than Victory: American Catholics and the Vietnam War, and how an earlier generation of Americans responded to the moral dilemmas posed by a troubling war.

This semester’s event is hosted by Michael Clinton, professor of History at Gwynedd Mercy University.

For more information contact Clinton at clinton.michael@gmercyu.edu or Director of CLASA Gail Presbey at presbegm@udmercy.edu.

Detroit Mercy welcomes guest speaker Nada Fadul on Wednesday, April 1, who will present virtually on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and give a general overview of Sudan’s history with an in-depth description of the current war, including the role of international actors.

The presentation will begin at 5 p.m. Please register below to receive a Zoom link to the presentation.

With the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, there are staggering numbers of casualties and many wounded, displaced or facing food insecurity. As hospitals and medical facilities continue to be targeted in the conflict, Fadul will discuss how mobile clinics are trained to respond to medical crisis situations in these dangerous conditions. She will also introduce SuDRO, the organization she works with, which focuses on sustainable development and provides both primary care and trauma services during the ongoing war.

Fadul is assistant dean and professor of Medicine at the Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). She is a board member of the Sudanese American Public Affairs Association (SAPAA).

This event is co-sponsored by Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA), the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. For more information or any questions, please contact Gail Presbey at presbegm@udmercy.edu.

Start your morning with a sweet treat and a conversation!

Join the Dean of Students Monica Williams for a casual drop-in opportunity to share ideas, ask questions or just stop by to say hello Monday, April 6, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the Zalke Lounge, lower level of the Student Union. All students are welcome.

Free donuts while they last are available for all.

The deadline is quickly approaching to submit your idea for the AI AgeWell Challenge.

The AI Challenge returns for its third year to UDM’s McNichols Campus this April, bringing together students, faculty, community organizations and professionals to tackle real-world challenges using artificial intelligence.

This is your opportunity to turn a creative concept into an AI-powered solution that helps older adults live healthier, safer and more independent lives.

Teams will explore AI solutions that help people thrive at every stage of life, in areas such as:

• Aging in place and independent living
• Mental health, social connection and loneliness
• Care coordination and caregiver support
• Chronic disease management and wellness
• Community access, equity and inclusion

Challenge participants can win cash prizes and sponsor-supported awards, including:

• Innovator Award: $1,000 plus Tejara Innovation Hub Membership — Sponsored by AACC/Tejara, this award honors the most creative and groundbreaking solution. The winning team will also receive mentorship, entrepreneurial support and a media spotlight on the AACC/Tejara platform.
• Impact Awards: Two $500 prizes — Sponsored by PACE Southeast Michigan, these awards recognize solutions with strong potential for real-world impact, equity, accessibility and measurable benefit for older adults.
• Feasibility/Market Readiness Award: $500 Prize — Awarded to the team with the clearest path to real-world deployment.

Participants will work in interdisciplinary teams, receive mentorship, and finalists will be selected to present their ideas in the live pitch competition on Friday, April 10, from 5-9 p.m., in Room 114 of the Chemistry Building. The evening includes prizes, food and networking with campus and community partners. Students, faculty, mentors and sponsors are invited to participate.

PACE Southeast Michigan’s mission is to keep chronically ill aging adults in their homes by supporting their medical, social, and overall wellbeing. They are a proud to sponsor of the AI AgeWell Challenge, which brings innovative solutions to help older adults live healthier, more independent lives.

Come for the innovation, stay for the fun, enjoy a guest speaker, great food, fun activities, games, prizes, gift cards, more than $1,000 in giveaways and networking with professionals throughout the event.

Submit your idea by March 30, 2026, and register now to attend.

University Ministry will hold a Public Witness event for migrants on Tuesday, March 24 at 12:45 p.m., by the Jesus Statue, located between the Chemistry Building and Commerce & Finance Building.

The gathering will include a short interfaith prayer service, a table offering free information and advocacy resources and free baked goods for all attendees.

All are welcome, and participants will have the opportunity to share their perspectives with government officials.

For questions or more information, please contact Director of University Ministry Anita Klueg at kluegag@udmercy.edu.

Detroit Mercy’s School of Architecture & Community Development (SACD) will host Egest Gjinali and Colleen Lashuk from 4:30-6 p.m. Monday, March 30, for the next installment of its lecture series with a presentation titled PIVOT Coopérative d’Architecture.

It’ll be held in the Loranger Architecture Building Exhibition Space. All are invited to this event.

This lecture explores what it means to build an architectural practice grounded in collective responsibility, democratic governance and care for existing social and built environments.

Founded in Montreal in 2017 as Quebec’s first worker-owned architecture cooperative, Pivot operates through shared decision-making and collective stewardship of the practice. Authority and responsibility are distributed among its members, shaping both how projects are designed and how the office itself is run. This structure encourages long-term engagement with partners and a design process rooted in dialogue, negotiation and participation.

Using the work of Pivot Architecture Cooperative, the lecture frames architecture as a practice of repair—working with existing buildings, institutions and communities while exploring how to operate within and transform the processes shaping our social and built environments. By presenting projects such as social and cooperative housing, community facilities, shelters and cultural spaces, the lecture demonstrates how architectural work can respond to complex social conditions and underserved communities. The speakers will reflect on practicing architecture as a cooperative, and how shared governance influences the design process and promotes participatory design.

Gjinali is a co-founding architect of Pivot Architecture Cooperative. Trained at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he began his career in Switzerland before relocating to Montreal, where he helped establish the cooperative model that structures the practice today. Gjinali has also represented Albania as co-commissioner of its national pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. His work brings an international lens to questions of socially engaged architecture and the role design can play in supporting communities.

Also a co-founding architect at Pivot, Lashuk’s training bridges architecture and anthropology. With deep roots in community housing work, she has spent her career designing alongside people whose needs are often overlooked, including communities living with mental health and disability-related challenges. A skilled facilitator, Lashuk has developed methods for drawing non-architects meaningfully into the design process, treating community input not as consultation but as a core design tool.