Faculty/Staff Spotlights
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November 10, 2025
“I don’t call her ‘mom’ at work. But we are a lot alike. We are both detail-oriented, methodical and practice empathy.”
— Rebekah Awood, a UM-Dearborn graduate program coordinator, about her co-worker (and mom) Sherry Boyd
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November 3, 2025
“I started collecting games when I was 17. Now I’m 53, and I thought, if I don’t get these games together and put them on display, they’ll just sit in a dark room unloved.”
— Mitch Rohde, a tech entrepreneur and lecturer in the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship
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October 20, 2025
“The culture wars of the 19th century were largely about sexuality and gender. Those questions are still with us, whether women can control their own bodies, and the relationship between church and state.”
— Andy Kirshner, U-M professor emeritus
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October 13, 2025
“I want students to learn how to improvise by telling a story. It’s not about showing off your chops. It’s about making people feel something.”
Dennis Wilson, associate professor of jazz at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance
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October 6, 2025
“Our modeling showed that painting a corrugated-metal roof with white reflective paint would lower the temperature inside a São Paulo shack in January by 9 degrees.”
— Ana Paula Pimentel Walker, associate professor of architecture and urban and regional planning in the Taubman College
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September 29, 2025
“I’ve created something beneficial to my clients and students, and that my own very diverse family can coalesce around.”
— Laura Sanders, a senior lecturer in the School of Social Work
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September 15, 2025
“Every person has a slightly different sign. It’s like accents in spoken language. You have to be able to recognize and respond to that.”
James Cech, senior American Sign Language interpreter for Michigan Medicine
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September 8, 2025
“The students who serve during professional dinners at the Michigan League or Michigan Union must understand how to conduct themselves, and I wanted to help them shine.”
— Keith Soster, director of student engagement and sustainability at Michigan Dining
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September 2, 2025
“I don’t remember ever being told to be quiet when I was playing around on the piano.”
Stephen Ragsdale, the David Ballou Collegiate Professor and professor of biological chemistry at the Medical School
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August 25, 2025
“I think I’m most myself when I’m trying to make other people laugh.”
— JT Godfrey, research communications writer and podcast producer for the Ross School of Business.
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