By Terry Gallagher
U-M-Dearborn

The U-M-Dearborn will celebrate its 35th anniversary this year with a series of events and activities highlighting the campus’s role in southeastern Michigan.

The first day of classes at Dearborn, Sept. 28, 1959, saw 34 students enrolled in degree programs in industrial and mechanical engineering and business administration.

Since that time, the campus has developed into a comprehensive university with more than 8,000 undergraduate and professional students pursuing degrees in the liberal arts and sciences, education, engineering, management and public administration. U-M-Dearborn has more than 19,000 alumni, most of whom live in southeastern Michigan.

“Reflecting on the origins of the University of Michigan-Dearborn gives us a sense of the enormous legacy that has been entrusted to us,” says Chancellor James C. Renick. “From a small beginning only a generation or so ago, this campus has grown into a major feature of the intellectual, social, cultural and economic life of this region. We have much to be grateful for, and high standards to match in our future growth and development.”

Events scheduled as part of the campus’s anniversary celebration this fall include:

A ground-breaking ceremony for new state-funded facilities for the schools of Engineering and of Management, and the Center for Corporate and Professional Development, Oct. 4.

An open house for prospective students and their families and other members of the community, Oct. 9.

A poetry reading by Detroit native Lawrence Joseph, Oct. 26, as well as lectures, exhibitions and social events focusing on the history of the campus and its role in the region.

The Dearborn campus was founded with a gift of 200 acres of land and $6.5 million from the Ford Motor Co. The campus includes the estate that was home to Henry and Clara Ford, now a national historic landmark visited by more than 100,000 persons each year.

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