Faculty/Staff Spotlights
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March 20, 2023
“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
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March 13, 2023
“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
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March 6, 2023
“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
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February 20, 2023
“They’re not too expensive. They’re cute. The caveat is they are not very affectionate. They can be easily startled, so you have to get them acclimated to you.”
— Kelly Jones, sustainability programs manager for the Graham Sustainability Institute, who has had three hedgehogs as pets since she and her partner moved to Michigan in 2016
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February 13, 2023
“Getting fruit right off the tree is just an amazing experience. And so, when people experience that for the first time, they’re just blown away and astounded.”
— Attia Qureshi, a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy who helps operate Wunsch Farms in northern Michigan
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February 6, 2023
“I just really love being in the water. And I love the saltwater because it’s so buoyant.”
— Ann Evans Watson, clinical associate professor of musical theater specializing in vocal training in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance who takes part in long-distance saltwater swims
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January 30, 2023
“In the sport, you know, we’re outside, we’re hiking in mud or playing through rain sometimes and so it does take some grit to like it.”
— Jennifer Trombley, an orthotic assistant in Michigan Medicine’s orthotics and prosthetics department, who started Grit & Grace Ladies DGC, a disc golf league for women, five years ago
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January 23, 2023
“I love expressing myself through movement. … There are certain things you can’t express in writing that movement can allow me to access.”
— Petra Kuppers, the Anita Gonzalez Collegiate Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture in LSA who with her wife launched Turtle Disco, weekly group sessions that incorporated writing and movement
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January 16, 2023
“Painting and art for me — especially when I’m creating art that’s reflective of things I’ve grown from and a variety of experiences — are very healing for me.”
— DaJaniere Rice, multimedia graphic designer for LSA Advancement, who shares her love of art through paint parties and murals
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January 9, 2023
“Once you start a tree, the plant has evolved, and it never ends there. You continue to have to work with them to keep their shape.”
— Jack Sustic, the bonsai specialist at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, who has his own extensive collection of more than 60 bonsai trees in his home
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