UM-Dearborn fall enrollment down; freshman class strong
UM-Dearborn’s incoming fall 2020 freshman class has a stronger GPA and a higher percentage of students of color than classes in previous years. The 2020 numbers show first-time freshmen — with a class average of a 3.71 GPA and 28.8 percent indicating they are persons of color — totaled 1,003, up more than 10 percent from a decade ago. Total fall 2020 UM-Dearborn enrollment is 8,783 students — 6,725 undergraduates and 2,058 graduate-level — a 4.5 percent decrease from last year. Enrollment Management Vice Provost Melissa Stone said a major area of decline is among international students, many of whom had COVID-19 travel restrictions. She said the enrollment decrease was expected and planned for due to the pandemic challenges. Another bright spot in the numbers is the 81.6 percent first-year student retention rate across campus, a more than a 4 percentage-point increase from two years ago.
Board of Regents to meet virtually Oct. 22
The Board of Regents will conduct its October meeting virtually on Oct. 22. The meeting currently is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Additional information will become available when the October meeting agenda is posted to the board’s website at regents.umich.edu at noon Oct. 19. People who wish to offer public comment during the meeting can sign up at regents.umich.edu/meetings/public-comments/form by 9 a.m. Oct. 21. They will receive instructions from the university on how to call in at the appropriate time to share their comments as part of the meeting. The public will be able to listen to the meeting by going to umich.edu/watch at the meeting’s scheduled time.
Nominations sought for Sarah Goddard Power and Rhetaugh Dumas awards
The Academic Women’s Caucus is accepting nominations from the university community for the 2021 Sarah Goddard Power and Rhetaugh G. Dumas Progress in Diversifying awards. Nominations for both awards are due Nov. 1. Find more information and nomination forms online. The Sarah Goddard Power Award recognizes those who have made significant achievements in contributing to the betterment of current challenges faced by women in one of the following areas: distinguished leadership, scholarship, or other activities related to their professional lives. Eligible candidates include U-M faculty including instructors, lecturers, primary researchers, librarians, curators, and senior administrative staff. The Rhetaugh G. Dumas Progress in Diversifying Award recognizes a U-M academic unit’s progress in establishing and maintaining a concurrent ethnic or racial and gender diversity at the full professor and associate professor ranks, both tenured and non-tenured, and concurrent ethnic or racial and gender diversifying in junior ranks.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month features efforts to boost online safety
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and U-M is offering various events and activities to help promote online safety. These include the introduction of Virtru, an extra layer of security for U-M GMail that allows users to send end-to-end encrypted email and control access to messages, an upgrade to existing antivirus and anti-malware protection for university computers used on the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses, and more than a dozen online discussions and sessions about specific cybersecurity topics. More details about the Cybersecurity Awareness Month activities can be found at safecomputing.umich.edu/events/cyber-security-awareness-month.
CEW+ sets Advocacy Symposium kickoff for Oct. 23
CEW+ has rescheduled its annual Advocacy Symposium kickoff event to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23 The theme is “Creating Change through Introspection, Dialogue, and Action” with a keynote by Martha Jones on the role of Black women in the civil rights and voting rights movements and the ongoing struggle for voting rights for different populations. The event will also highlight 2020 CEW+ Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change awardees who will present lightning talks about their work as a precursor to a full-length workshop that will happen later in the academic year. The symposium is free and open to all activists, advocates and allies from all U-M campuses as well as the local community. For more information and to RSVP, visit cew.umich.edu/events/2020-cew-advocacy-symposium/.
— Compiled by James Iseler, The University Record
