Faculty, Staff and Administrators

Faculty/Staff Announcements from Campus Connection

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• March 24: Poet Joanne Godley to launch award-winning collection at reading, March 25

  Tuesday March 24, 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 24: University Ministry to host overnight social justice retreat, March 27-28

  Tuesday March 24, 2026
  

  

  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.

  Register for retreat here.

  

• March 24: Post-Graduate Certificate in Addiction Studies to hold virtual info session, March 25

  Tuesday March 24, 2026
  

  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.

  Register here.

• March 24: Next installment of SACD lecture series set for March 25

  Tuesday March 24, 2026
  

  

  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.

• March 24: Steven Brady to discuss Catholic perspectives on Vietnam War at CLASA Mercy Peace Forum, April 9

  Tuesday March 24, 2026
  

  

  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.

  Register for webinar here.

  

• March 24: Cushing Distinguished Lecture series features Ruben Habito, April 8

  Tuesday March 24, 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.

• March 24: Nada Fadul to speak on humanitarian crisis in Sudan, April 1

  Tuesday March 24, 2026
  

  

  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.

  Register for Zoom presentation here.