The university has launched a new email newsletter designed to keep alumni in all segments of the state informed about important U-M connections across Michigan and throughout the region.
Called “Michigan Impact,” the newsletter will be sent to U-M alumni currently living in Michigan. In addition to news of statewide interest, each issue will be tailored to one of four segments of the state — western Michigan, northern Michigan, mid-Michigan and southeast Michigan.
“The University of Michigan is having tremendous impact throughout our communities,” President Mary Sue Coleman said in an introductory message for the newsletter.
“From the downtowns of Detroit and Grand Rapids and the shorelines of Traverse City and Muskegon, to the community colleges of the Upper Peninsula and the medical clinics in mid-Michigan, U-M is committed to improving the quality of life in the Great Lakes State.”
The first newsletter was sent Friday and is posted on the Michigan Outreach website at outreach.umich.edu. The site includes data and stories from the university’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.
There are news items about U-M partnerships in each of those regions along with an interactive map that allows alumni to get additional details on the university’s impact in each of the state’s 83 counties.
For example, click on Alpena County and up pops a box that indicates there are 302 alumni, 494 donors and 62 current students from the county. Also highlighted is information about the number of U-M clinic and hospital visits by county residents and the number of companies from each county that are U-M vendors along with the dollar value of purchases from those companies. Information will be updated annually.
The newsletter highlights several new U-M initiatives under way to help the state and the region. Among the stories included in the initial newsletter are:
• U-M launches $9 million effort to strengthen Great Lakes: A new $9 million Great Lakes research and education center will guide efforts to protect and restore the world’s largest group of freshwater lakes by reducing toxic contamination, combating invasive species, protecting wildlife habitat and promoting coastal health.
• Donors offer transformative support for the arts: Nearly $1.7 billion in support for U-M comes from donors and gifts from every county across Michigan. Support also comes from alumni, and that happened in a significant way this year as two families made major contributions to support the arts.
• U-M tech transfer agreements set record: It’s not just the health of Michigan residents that U-M wants to improve — the university is committed to revitalizing the state as well. The invention culture at U-M has led to another record-setting year with more agreements with commercialization partners than ever before — 123 licenses and options in fiscal year 2012.
• U-M again tops in research spending: At a record $1.27 billion, the university is again ranked No. 1 in research and development spending among the nation’s public universities — virtually all of which occurs in the state.
