Faculty/Staff Spotlights

  1. May 22, 2023 Chuck Aoki, community access navigator with U-M’s Adaptive Sports & Fitness program, who has competed in wheelchair rugby in three Summer Paralympics Games

    “It’s always a thrill to get to put on the Team USA jersey and head out there and compete on the world stage.”

    — Chuck Aoki, community access navigator with U-M’s Adaptive Sports & Fitness program, who has competed in wheelchair rugby in three Summer Paralympics Games

    Read more about Chuck Aoki
  2. May 1, 2023 Tamara Havermahl, a research communicator with the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology in Michigan Medicine who has designed and created dozens of mailboxes and birdhouses

    “My creative instincts take eclectic items I’ve found in nature to assemble them in a free-form manner.”

    — Tamara Havermahl, a research communicator with the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology in Michigan Medicine who has designed and created dozens of mailboxes and birdhouses

    Read more about Tamara Havermahl
  3. April 24, 2023 Among those preparing to graduate are Annabelle Ha from the School of Kinesiology, Rhianna Lucas from the Marsal Family School of Education, Zachary Marmet from LSA's Program in the Environment, Cedric Preston McCoy from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and Meghana Tummala from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

    Among those preparing to graduate are Annabelle Ha from the School of Kinesiology, Rhianna Lucas from the Marsal Family School of Education, Zachary Marmet from LSA’s Program in the Environment, Cedric Preston McCoy from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and Meghana Tummala from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

    — Each year, the Record highlights the range of experiences and people who attend U-M by profiling selected graduates about their time at the university and their plans for life afterward.

    Read more about the seniors
  4. April 17, 2023 Devon Janks, director of catering for Michigan Dining who was a collegiate ski racer and coaches high school ski racing at South Lyon United

    “I would spend summers at Mount Hood ski racing in Oregon, so I was very thankful for the opportunities my parents gave me to live a different life than other people.”

    — Devon Janks, director of catering for Michigan Dining who was a collegiate ski racer and coaches high school ski racing at South Lyon United

    Read more about Devon Janks
  5. April 10, 2023 Sascha Crasnow, lecturer in Islamic arts and culture in the Residential College in LSA, who has helped teach her 2-year-old beagle mix, Parker, to “speak” through the use of nearly 100 buttons in her home

    “I think seeing how much more similar we are and our ability to kind of like cross-species communicate is better for both of us and for them.”

    — Sascha Crasnow, lecturer in Islamic arts and culture in the Residential College in LSA, who has helped teach her 2-year-old beagle mix, Parker, to “speak” through the use of nearly 100 buttons in her home

    Read more about Sascha Crasnow
  6. April 3, 2023 Darcy Brandel, a lecturer in creative writing in the Residential College and with U-M’s Semester in Detroit program, who serves as a “death doula” to help families facilitate the passing of a loved one

    “I just kind of felt a calling to it. It was kind of slow and quiet at first, but then it just got more powerful.”

    — Darcy Brandel, a lecturer in creative writing in the Residential College and with U-M’s Semester in Detroit program, who serves as a “death doula” to help families facilitate the passing of a loved one

    Read more about Darcy Brandel
  7. March 27, 2023 James Kibbie, professor of organ at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, who will perform the last of 18 concerts featuring all 281 solo organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach on April 16, shortly before his retirement

    “There is such immense variety, such genius there. Out of those 281 works, I don’t think there’s a bad piece, and I don’t know of another composer I could say that of.”

    — James Kibbie, professor of organ at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, who will perform the last of 18 concerts featuring all 281 solo organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach on April 16, shortly before his retirement

    Read more about James Kibbie
  8. March 20, 2023 Mark Meier, lecturer II in architecture in the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, who builds furniture, sculpts ceramics and explores his expansive curiosity through digital means

    “I love wood. That’s what I’m really into. But I’ve come to appreciate ceramics, because I can come up with an idea and realize it so quickly, which is appealing.”

    — Mark Meier, lecturer II in architecture in the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, who builds furniture, sculpts ceramics and explores his expansive curiosity through digital means

    Read more about Mark Meier
  9. March 13, 2023 Frank Marsik, lecturer IV in climate and space sciences and engineering in the College of Engineering, who with his wife, Theresa, has made homemade syrup from their solitary sugar maple since 2018

    “It’s a fun operation. We’ve used it a little bit to teach our daughters about nature. We’ve always appreciated and valued local production.”

    — Frank Marsik, lecturer IV in climate and space sciences and engineering in the College of Engineering, who with his wife, Theresa, has made homemade syrup from their solitary sugar maple since 2018

    Read more about Frank Marsik
  10. March 6, 2023 Kaj Althaus

    “It shows just this sense of comfort and relief and purpose. It all kind of coalesces when you get to get together and play with a band.”

    — Kaj Althaus, a Michigan Data and Policy Fellow with the Ford School’s Youth Policy Lab, performs in a funk-rock band called Toed

    Read more about Kaj Althaus