Faculty/Staff Spotlights

  1. March 18, 2024 A photo of Isabel Wakefield
    “There are so many elements that can go right but can also go wrong. There’s a lot of variability even though it’s such a short race.”

    — Isabel Wakefield, research area specialist associate in the School of Kinesiology who is attempting to qualify for the Great Britain Olympic track and field team in the 100-meter hurdles

    Read more about Isabel Wakefield
  2. March 11, 2024 A photo of Rafael Marques
    “It’s a fun opportunity for me to travel to places which I love, and on the way, you make friends. I have friends all over the world.”

    — Rafael Marques, a program coordinator in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business’ Sanger Leadership Institute, who referees handball matches and tournaments around the world

    Read more about Rafael Marques
  3. March 4, 2024 A photo of Paul Schaffner
    “You’re organizing things to make them useful to people and presenting them in a way that allows unhindered access.”

    — Paul Schaffner, who manages the creation of electronic texts as well as the revision and upkeep of the university’s 90-year-old Middle English Dictionary, and also maintains a dollhouse at the Saline District Library and serves as the hardware team leader for the Kiwanis Thrift Store

    Read more about Paul Schaffner
  4. February 19, 2024 A photo of Michaelanne Thomas
    “The emphasis on finding tiny mundane ways to find joy in the everyday and be able to share that with other people is really the big takeaway for me.”

    — Michaelanne Thomas, assistant professor of information in the School of Information, who has a lifelong obsession with tiny things and it’s manifested in a wondrous practice that she shares with her two young sons

    Read more about Michaelanne Thomas
  5. February 12, 2024 A photo of Dana Muir
    “I love how calm it is when you’re in the water and things are quiet. You can’t talk to anyone, you’re just floating.”

    — Dana Muir, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Robert L. Dixon Collegiate Professor of Business and professor of business law in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business who is an avid scuba diver

    Read more about Dana Muir
  6. February 5, 2024 A photo of Nick Moroz
    “The many teams that we play at The Henry Ford travel from all over the nation, particularly because it’s such a fantastic venue.”

    — Nick Moroz, director of entrepreneurial practice at the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship, plays vintage base ball with Greenfield Village’s team the Lah-De-Dahs

    Read more about Nick Moroz
  7. January 29, 2024 A photo of Lauren McCarthy
    “Tai chi is something you can do for the rest of your life that you don’t actually have to memorize.”

    — Lauren McCarthy, senior applications analyst for the Department of Learning Health Science at the Medical School, who with her wife, Karla Groesbeck, opened Tai Chi Love more than five years ago.

    Read more about Lauren McCarthy
  8. January 22, 2024 A photo of DeAndre Hicks
    “I don’t know if it feels different because I’m on the field now or because of the season the Lions are having, but it’s fever pitch at this point.”

    — DeAndre Hicks, social media specialist at the Center for Academic Innovation and UM-Dearborn alumnus who is a member of the Detroit Lions Drumline

    Read more about DeAndre Hicks
  9. January 15, 2024 Photo of Katherine Ziska
    “It’s very intense, fine motor focus, which is really nice because in some ways focusing on something so intently gives your mind a break.”

    — Katherine Ziska, a research associate with the Marsal Family School of Education who also is a visiting potter with the Ann Arbor Potters Guild and spends hours each week creating mugs, bowls, vases and other objects

    Read more about Katherine Ziska
  10. December 4, 2023 A photo of Patricia Brainard
    “Working and being around people who are not the same as me, it really makes me appreciate diversity a lot.”

    — Patricia Brainard, department administrator for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who has helped support the Special Olympics for six decades

    Read more about Patricia Brainard