UMSI students part of effort to boost election transparency
Five School of Information students will use their skills in user experience research and design to improve how the state of Michigan communicates election results, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced Oct. 16. During a press conference in Detroit, Benson unveiled the Michigan Voting Dashboard, a new tool from the Michigan Department of State that provides real-time data on early voting and absentee ballots. Updated daily during active election periods, this dashboard offers a user-friendly snapshot of voting metrics. UMSI students will aid in a future phase of the project: the development of a dashboard focused on election results. The students’ project, which aligns with U-M’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement, aims to increase Michiganders’ trust in the democratic process by making election data more accessible and transparent for voters and other key stakeholders. Kathleen Andonian, Susan Cheng, Jackson Gelbard, Allison He and Dylan Siewert — all seniors in the Bachelor of Science in Information program — are undertaking the yearlong project as part of their User Experience Design Capstone. Read more about this project.
Ten candidates vying for Senate seat on police oversight committee
Ten candidates are vying for the Faculty Senate member seat on the university’s Police Department Oversight Committee. The committee considers grievances against police officers and the U-M Police Department. It may make recommendations to the executive director of the Division of Public Safety and Security. The six-member committee includes two students, two faculty members (one Senate faculty and one non-Senate faculty) and two staff members (one union and one non-union). Committee members are nominated and elected by their peers through separate processes and serve two-year terms. The 10 candidates for the Senate seat are:
- Ajjai Alva, Maisel Research Professor of Translational/Clinical Oncology and clinical professor of internal medicine, Medical School.
- Nick Camp, assistant professor of organizational studies, and of psychology, LSA.
- Erica Campagnaro, clinical associate professor of internal medicine, Medical School.
- Michael Robert Hickok, lecturer I in history, LSA.
- Victor Hong, clinical associate professor of psychiatry, Michigan Medicine.
- Nancy Khalil, assistant professor of American culture, LSA.
- Kathleen Kruse, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, Medical School.
- Pamela Smock, professor of sociology, LSA; and research professor, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research.
- David Tindle, clinical associate professor of dentistry, School of Dentistry.
- Golfo Tzilos Wernette, associate professor of family medicine, and of psychiatry, Medical School.
Online voting will take place Oct. 23-29. Faculty Senate members can find more information about the election online.
Arb’s student-curated nature walk features poems by Black authors
A student-curated Black Nature Walk this semester winds through Nichols Arboretum in the trails around the Peony Garden. Titled “Earth Song,” referencing a poem by Langston Hughes, the exhibit showcases nature poems by 11 Black authors, laser engraved onto wood panels. These panels are interspersed along the trails, with a final panel at the council ring, a circle of stones at the northeast corner of the gardens. A QR code on the welcome panel leads to the exhibit website, where visitors can listen to the students read the poems. The walk has been curated by students enrolled in Black Ecologies: Race and Nature, a course taught by Bénédicte Boisseron, professor of Afroamerican and African studies, and of romance languages and literatures. The introduction to the exhibit provides the definition of Black ecology as “the study of Black people in relation to their environment.” Read more about the nature walk.
Library shares information about how U-M community can access resources
A recent survey revealed that some people in the U-M community aren’t aware they have full access to the U-M Library. Everyone with a current Mcard can use the library’s spaces, services, expertise, events, exhibits, and one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. The collection is built to serve research and scholarship, but there are plenty of general interest materials, including books, feature films, magazines and newspapers. The library also offers database access to many periodicals and other publications with issues both past and present. Some publications restrict access to the most recent content, but many offer full access. Learn more about library access and available resources.
Study shows vaccine uptake influenced by politics, socioeconomics
COVID-19 vaccination rates have varied significantly based on partisanship and socioeconomic factors, with Democrats getting vaccinated faster and at higher percentages than Republicans and Independents. A U-M study published at NPJ Vaccines also revealed that vaccine uptake was lowest among Black Americans, individuals with incomes below $30,000 and those with a high school education or less. Furthermore, female, Black and Hispanic respondents were less likely to get vaccinated early. At the same time, individuals ages 45-65, those with postgraduate degrees, and Independents and Democrats were more likely to be early adopters, according to the research conducted in partnership with Georgetown University. Read more about the research.
— Compiled by James Iseler and Jeff Bleiler, The University Record
