February 2012

Greetings,
 
The month of Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to celebrate relationships and partnerships. As a campus, we have many relationships that are important – among faculty, staff and students; with our public officials and community leaders; with our colleagues across the state; and with our donors and volunteers. Together, we are all working toward the same mission – to provide higher education to our region and beyond.
 
One of the most important kinds of partnerships we have is that with our organizations who provide opportunities for student clinical experiences, internships, and community engagement. These include hospitals, clinics and other health-care providers, our public schools, social service and other non-profit entities, and local businesses and cultural or civic organizations. Just recently, the UM-Flint Physical Therapy Department was selected by the Veterans Affairs (VA) to prepare physical therapy residents for advanced specialty practice. UM-Flint is the first university in the country to work with the VA on the Cardiopulmonary PT Residency. Only six universities were selected this year to provide special training.
 
As we proceed through the year, we will be looking for partnerships in other areas, particularly those that benefit students and help them gain the education and applied experience that they need to be successful graduates. We will need many new partners and new relationships with old partners to fulfill the strategic goal of providing every student with an applied experience. To accomplish this goal, we need the help of all of our constituents to identify opportunities that might lead to new relationships. Please let us know if you have an opportunity to assist a student by providing a learning experience.

Ruth J. Person
Chancellor

Compete

At the recent 2012 Priority Children’s Breakfast, we had five nominees: faculty member Dr. Rose Casement, campus supporter Bud Prottengeier, our Early Childhood Development Center, our Health Careers Opportunity Program, and Theta Chi fraternity. Our Theta Chis won the “Outstanding Business, Organization on Community Initiative Category! Thank you for all who work on behalf of our children.

Scholastic Parent & Child magazine recently released its new list of the “100 Greatest Books for Kids.” Guess what book is #21? Bud, not Buddy, by our very own graduate, Christopher Paul Curtis. What an honor!

Convene

On February 15, a group of us convened at a Press Conference in Hartland to announce a new initiative with high schools in Livingston County. All of the schools in the county were represented and we were also pleased to welcome a number of school board members. It’s always great to spread the good word about UM-Flint, especially when we are not as well known.

Connect

On February 16, our Admissions Office hosted an event at the Flint Institute of Arts for prospective students and their parents featuring a number of our very successful alums. Our featured speaker was attorney David Sprague; other alumni who were present included: Jennifer Blackwood, Linda Boose, Heather Burnash, Mark Childress, Jay Cook, Teresa Cummings, Theresa Curtis, Todd Gilbert, Allison Hillaker, Samantha Honea, Katrina Khori, Paul Knific, Amy Krug, Ryan Londrigan, Linda Moxam, Paula Nas, Heather Nassar, Kara Pattison, and Brian Tesler.
 
Thank you to all for helping to connect with new students!

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