Faculty, Staff and Administrators

Faculty/Staff Announcements from Campus Connection

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• March 12: ‘Becoming A Better U’ returns March 28

  Thursday March 12, 2026
  

  

  Becoming a Better U returns to campus this spring as the Alumni Relations team invites all faculty, staff, alumni and students to a morning devoted to personal and professional development.

  The free half-day event is set for Saturday, March 28, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the Student Union on the McNichols Campus. Registration opens 8:30 a.m. the morning of the event.

  Enjoy a morning of inspiring speakers, hands-on sessions and a complimentary professional headshot. Workshops cover a wide variety of topics and are sure to have something for everyone. Click the registration link below for a full list of workshops.

  Free breakfast is also provided. Please register by March 23. For more information or any questions, please call 313-993-1540.

  Register for Becoming A Better U.

• March 12: Poet Joanne Godley to launch award-winning collection at reading, March 25

  Thursday March 12, 2026
  

  

  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.

  Register here.

• March 12: Donate clothing items for TENN drive, through April 3

  Thursday March 12, 2026
  

  

  Clear out your closet for a cause! Students, faculty, staff and the Detroit Mercy community are invited to support Titan Equity Nourish Network’s (TENN) Thrift Shop event by donating new or gently used clothing in good condition. Drop-off between March 16 and April 3 to Room 05 of the Commerce & Finance Building or by reaching out to Chelsea Manning at mannincp@udmercy.edu.

  Donated clothing will be sold at TENN’s Thrift event during De-Stress Fest.

  The student or faculty group that donates the most clothing will win a pizza party! To enter, mention your group name when dropping off donations.

  Donate, declutter and make a difference!

  

• March 09: Men’s basketball advances to HL Championship game; plays Tuesday on ESPN

  Monday March 09, 2026
  

  

  The Titans are one win away from the NCAA Tournament.

  The No. 3-seeded University of Detroit Mercy men’s basketball team erased a three-point halftime deficit Monday night and nailed its free throws late to top No. 2 Robert Morris, 70-64, in the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship from Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Titans trailed at the halftime break, 36-33.

  Senior guard Orlando Lovejoy had a game-high 21 points and made 11-of-12 free throws. Freshman guard Lance Stone added 16 points as three Titans scored in double figures in the victory. Freshman Tyler Spratt had 10 points and senior Legend Geeter added 10 rebounds.

  The red, white and blue were 17-of-22 from the free throw line, including 10-for-12 in the second half to help seal the triumph over the Colonials. UDM shot 52% in the second half and forced 15 Robert Morris turnovers in the win.

  Detroit Mercy (17-14) plays No. 1 Wright State for the title game 7 p.m. Tuesday in Indianapolis. The game will be televised on ESPN.

  The winner of the contest automatically advances to the NCAA Tournament. It’s UDM’s first championship game appearance since the Titans won it all at Valparaiso in 2012.

  Complete coverage can be found at DetroitTitans.com.

• March 09: Triptych virtual author series features poets Ilya Kaminsky & Katie Farris on March 19

  Monday March 09, 2026
  

  

  Detroit Mercy’s English Department welcomes poets Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris, who will read their work for the 2026 Triptych series on Thursday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

  Triptych is a virtual reading series featuring award-winning authors in conversation with Detroit Mercy’s Poet-in-Residence Stacy Gnall. Triptych events are free and open to the community.

  Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1977, and arrived to the United States in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the American government. He is the author of the poetry collections Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa, and is co-editor and co-translator of many other books.

  His work, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, has been a finalist for a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the winner of many awards. Kaminsky, who currently teaches at Princeton, was selected by the BBC as “one of the 12 artists that changed the world” in 2019.

  Katie Farris is the author of the memoir-in-poems, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, which was listed as a Publisher’s Weekly’s Top 10 Poetry Books for 2023, as well as shortlisted for the 2023 T.S. Eliot Prize. She is also the author of the hybrid-form text boysgirls, and the chapbooks A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving, winner of the 2021 Chad Walsh Poetry Award, Thirteen Intimacies and Mother Superior in Hell. Most recently she is winner of the Pushcart Prize.

  Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation and Poetry, and has been commissioned by MoMA. She is the co-translator of several books of poetry from the Ukrainian, French, Chinese and Russian. She also teaches at Princeton.

  Triptych events are held via Zoom on third Thursdays in January, February and March, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

  Register here!

  

• March 09: Author Alfred Babo to speak on academic impact of being a professor in exile

  Monday March 09, 2026
  

  The College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) will welcome Alfred Babo, professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Fairfield University, to speak about his experiences as a researcher and teacher living in exile.

  The conversation will take place on Thursday, March 26 at 4 p.m., in the Bargman Room of the McNichols Campus Library.

  The event will also feature an introduction to Babo’s recently published book, Exiled Scholars in Western Academia: Refugees or Intellectuals?, which presents experiences of scholars residing in exile and how they experience a paradox of inclusion and exclusion.

  In his talk, Babo will highlight how academics and intellectuals are often among those who must flee their home countries and are rescued during times of crisis. He will explore how those who seek asylum or exile in the United States face challenges of acceptance in ways that shift their research and practice.

  Currently serving on the board of Scholars-at-Risk (SAR), Babo also co-founded the initiative called Share the Platform, which advocates for refugees’ self-representation and expertise. He received the Fairfield University 2023 Martin Luther King Vision Award for his engagement with refugees and vulnerable individuals. Babo is also a member of several professional organizations.

  This talk is sponsored by CHASS and African American Studies and is free and open to the public.

• March 09: Cushing Distinguished Lecture series features Ruben Habito, April 8

  Monday March 09, 2026
  

  Ruben Habito

  The Detroit Mercy Department of Religious Studies presents the 2026 Cushing Distinguished Lecture series, featuring Ruben L.F. Habito. The lecture is set for Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m., in the Fountain Lounge of the Student Union.

  Habito‘s lecture is titled, “Contemplation in Action: Emerging from Helplessness to Being of Some Help amidst our Wounded and Troubling World.”

  Living in the midst of our deeply divided, demoralizing and deteriorating world, one tends to ask: How may I be of help in alleviating this situation? This important talk will offer guidelines for contemplative practice that may inspire and empower one to active engagement toward healing our collective woundedness on many fronts. 

  Habito is professor emeritus of World Religions and Spirituality at the Perkins School of Theology (Southern Methodist University) and founding teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas. He is the author of Healing Breath: Zen Spirituality for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World, and many other titles.

  This event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided. Please contact Todd Hibbard for more information at 313-993-1088 or hibbarja@udmercy.edu.

  The Cushing Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by the generous endowment of Drs. Ralph and Barbara Cushing, alumni of the graduate program in Religious Studies at Detroit Mercy.

  Register here.