Faculty, Staff and Administrators

Faculty/Staff Announcements from Campus Connection

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• January 27: UDM unites for wide-ranging Black History Month celebration

  Tuesday January 27, 2026
  

  

  A wide variety of events featuring award-winning poets, films, talks and workshops are being planned at all Detroit Mercy Campuses to celebrate Black History Month.

  The events are designed to show the importance of Black history in the United States.

  You’re sure to find something educational, inspiring and entertaining at these events. Please see full listing of events below. Check back regularly as new events and updates will be added periodically.

  Full BHM info.

• January 27: Detroit Mercy Eye Institute offering $35 exams for Titans

  Tuesday January 27, 2026
  

  

  The Detroit Mercy Eye Institute is currently offering the Titan community comprehensive eye exams for just $35.

  Faculty, staff and students at the University can takes advantage of the $35 exams, 50% off optical frames, contact lens exams starting at $70 and 30% off prescription lenses, among other deals and services.

  Titans may utilize their Heritage Vision or UnitedHealthcare (Spectera) benefits for additional allowances.

  The Detroit Mercy Eye Institute, located at 41555 W. 12 Mile Road in Novi, is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Call 248-675-0800 to schedule an appointment.

  Learn more.

• January 27: Psychology alumna Ashwak Alshami to discuss mental health in the Muslim American community, Jan. 30

  Tuesday January 27, 2026
  

  

  The UDM Psychology Department will host a talk featuring clinical psychology MA alumna Ashwak Alshami, who will discuss mental health in the Muslim American community.

  This event will take place on Friday, Jan. 30, at 2:30 p.m., in the Lower Level of the Student Union. A destresser will follow the discussion. All are welcome to attend.

  This is an opportunity to hear from a Detroit Mercy alum conducting meaningful work in the field of psychology. This event is sponsored by UDM’s Shifa Institute.

  For questions, please contact Lee Eshelman at eshelmlr@udmercy.edu.

• January 26: Busy Person’s Retreat begins Feb. 9, registration now open

  Monday January 26, 2026
  

  

  Detroit Mercy’s Busy Person’s Retreat is a four-week retreat run in daily life. Registration is now open for the retreat, which begins Monday, Feb. 9 and concludes on March 6.

  The retreat is designed for those who may not be able to physically get away from life/work for a few days and is held wherever you are, at your desk, in your car, in your dorm room, in your office, outside, etc.

  Each week there will be a theme and selection of materials to pray and reflect with. Participants will be assigned a spiritual companion to meet with once a week for about an hour. The spiritual companion serves as a guide through the retreat process.

  Participants will also have the opportunity to meet with others in the retreat for group spiritual direction, where they can reflect on their retreat experience and discuss their spiritual journey in a supportive setting.

  All retreat materials will be provided. After you register, you’ll receive the materials along with a form to share your availability for the group meeting.

  The retreat is open to students, faculty, staff and administrators, and is free to all participants.

  The last day to register is Feb. 5 at 5 p.m.

  For more information, visit the University Ministry retreats website or for questions please contact Anna Lawler Bryson at lawleran@udmercy.edu.

  Register here.

  

• January 26: URec unveils intramural sports programming for winter semester

  Monday January 26, 2026
  

  

  Detroit Mercy’s University Recreation (URec) has something for everyone this school year with its intramural sports programming.

  Sports leagues and tournaments are offered to all UDM students, faculty and staff, and provide the opportunity to compete against one another throughout the academic year for intramural championship prizes. The leagues are FREE for all.

  URec strives to have a diverse selection of programming available to students and employees. Winter 2026 intramural programming includes:

  • Futsal (indoor soccer)
  • Basketball
  • Pickleball
  • Spikeball
  • Bowling
  • Disc golf

  Please contact Assistant Director of Recrational Sports Allen Seales at sealesv@udmercy.edu or 313-993-1781 with any questions.

  Register here.

  

• January 26: UDM Nursing professor stars on FOX show ‘Extracted’

  Monday January 26, 2026
  

  

  

  Longtime UDM Nursing professor Molly McClelland has always shared close bonds with her twin sister Polly.

  Their latest adventure teamed the two of them up with McClelland’s daughter Bailey in a tense survival game.

  This past summer, McClelland, Polly and Bailey, a 2024 graduate from Detroit Mercy’s PA program, spent the summer in the Canadian wilderness as contestants in FOX’s survival reality series, Extracted.

  The first of 10 episodes airs Monday, Jan. 26, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX and streams the next day on Hulu.

  The show produced by Sylvester Stallone pits 12 competitors attempting to survive in the wild with no training, no supplies and only two family members as lifelines. Alliances are formed and tensions mount as families negotiate and compete to send essential resources to their competitors. A $250,000 prize awaits the survivalist and family that outlasts everyone else.

  Polly was one of the 12 “survivalists;” McClelland and Bailey were Polly’s lifelines back at “headquarters,” also in the Canadian wilderness.

  McClelland watched the first season with her family and found out pretty quickly that she would be starring in the second installment.

  “We’re all watching this show and at the end my sister Polly made a comment, ‘that would be fun to do,’” McClelland said. “She didn’t tell us she was applying for it until after she did.

  “They contacted Polly back and said we’re interested in your team, so then she reached out to me and my daughter Bailey and said, ‘oh by the way I applied for us to be on this show and they like us.’ At that point, ‘it’s like here we go.’ We’re all gamers, and we always just try stuff.”

  McClelland, Polly and Bailey began the journey with the show back in April with interviews and headed to the Toronto region in mid-August. After their team was selected as one of the final 12 for the show, they made their way to the wilderness for the beginning of filming.

  “They put you in sequester before the show starts and during that period in our hotel room, we had no access to the outside world, no phones or computers. They brought our meals to us,” McClelland said. “Those nine days we still didn’t know if we were going to be selected as one of the final 12 teams. They did interviews with us. At the end, we were selected.”

  The next day, McClelland and Bailey were separated from Polly and the show began. McClelland and Bailey arrived at their headquarters along with the 11 other teams.

  “We arrived and nobody knew what we were doing. We had a desk assigned to us with a computer where we could see and hear the survivalists, but they couldn’t see or hear us,” McClelland said. “That’show it all started. It was quite the experience.”

  The teams kept an eye on their survivalists, while also competing with the other teams at headquarters in different competitions.

  “My daughter and I have a great relationship and we get along really well,” McClelland said. “Polly was on camera all of the time. There were times I was scared for her and times I was really proud of her.

  “The show pitted the teams against each other, and it became really difficult, because it forced you to backstab each other. Some competitors were ruthless and cutthroat. Others couldn’t do it. Bailey and I had a hard time deliberately sabotaging other teams.”

  McClelland, who teaches graduate and undergraduate Nursing courses, and Bailey were the only contestants on Extracted with medical experience (besides the show’s adequate medical personnel). McClelland said it came in handy several times.

  “There were a couple of situations where people were looking to us for advice,” she said.

  For McClelland’s sister, competing on the show was a chance to prove herself following a health scare.

  “Polly’s the adventurous one,” McClelland said of her twin sister, who lives on a farm in Nebraska. “She’s outdoorsy, has climbed mountains all over the world.

  “Three years ago, she found out she had stage 3 uterine cancer. She and Bailey were climbing the Grand Tetons and Polly started struggling, wasn’t able to summit to the top and she didn’t know it at the time, but she had cancer. Bailey was with her, so they have that bond.

  “Polly went through the whole cancer journey. She’s a survivor. Part of this journey was that Polly wanted to prove to herself that cancer didn’t beat her, cancer didn’t win. She’s always been really physically fit and active and then she’s going through surgery and chemo, it really took her down. So, part of her desire was to show that cancer hasn’t beaten her.”

  She can’t talk much about the show, since it hasn’t aired yet, but McClelland did say she is thankful to the many people who allowed her to take part in the show that took her away from the start of the 2025-26 school year, including College of Health Professions Dean Ahmed Radwan and other colleagues at the University.

  And she’s also thankful that she competed on the show.

  “I never envisioned myself doing this,” she said. “My sister Polly, yes. She’s wanted to do this for awhile. The nature of the show is three people and we like to try stuff. Polly said, ‘we are doing this.’

  “The three of us have a really tight bond, but this really brought us close together.”

• January 26: SACD opens Middle Passage exhibition, Feb. 6, for Black History Month

  Monday January 26, 2026
  

  

  In celebration of Black History Month, the School of Architecture and Community Development (SACD), in collaboration with the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Detroit Mercy, will host a month-long exhibition designed by Elgin Cleckley, NOMA. The exhibition will kick off with a public lecture and exhibition opening on Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. in the Warren Loranger Architecture Building Exhibition Space.

  The exhibition revisits the drawings and methods British abolitionists once used to show the harsh conditions aboard the Brookes Slave Ship (1781-1804). It includes models representing each of the ship’s 11 voyages, along with full-scale sections from its third voyage, which carried 740 enslaved people, based on historical records. These models are paired with drawings that reflect the 43 days spent crossing the Middle Passage.

  At the exhibition opening, Cleckley will join Detroit-based art historian Samantha Noël to discuss the research and creative process behind the exhibition and stories it highlights about the Middle Passage.

  Cleckley is an associate professor of Architecture and the undergraduate program director at Detroit Mercy. He leads _mpathic design, a multi-award-winning pedagogy, initiative and professional practice, and has collaborated on multiple award-winning civic projects. Cleckley was a Muschenheim Fellow at the University of Michigan and has taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

  The free exhibition will run from Feb. 6 through 27, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or by appointment.