Multimedia Features | The University Record

April 11, 2022

Decolonizing U-M’s Philippines collections

U-M is 8,199 miles from Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Spread throughout multiple campus locations is one of the largest collections of historical Filipino artifacts outside of the archipelago nation. “It’s outrageous when you think about it. What are these Philippine artifacts and photographs and archival materials doing here, halfway around the world, in the middle of the United States? Do Filipinos even know they exist?” asked Deirdre de la Cruz, associate professor of history and of Asian languages and cultures. De la Cruz (right) and Ricky Punzalan, associate professor of information, are leading a project to look at the collections with fresh eyes, repair harmful historical descriptions, and construct new models for how to best engage community members and scholars with the plethora of Filipino history stored at U-M.

Look to the rainbow

A rainbow arcing across the sky is an ethereal symbol of hope after a storm, and this photo by research lab specialist John Den Uyl, shot in Baraga County, Michigan, creates a poetic narrative. “Rainbow over the Michigamme Highlands” took first place in the 2021 Photographer-at-Large Contest conducted by LSA’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Den Uyl said he captured the breathtaking image soon after arriving at his canoe-in campsite: “I remember thinking ‘I’d better get my tent set up, those clouds to the west look pretty dark.’ Then I turned around and saw one of the most beautiful landscapes I’d ever seen.”

Read more and view other contest entries

April 6, 2022

ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards

The 2021 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award recipients were honored April 5. Awardees received a $1,000 honorarium recognizing exceptional scholarly work and completion of their doctoral degrees in 2021. The annual competition is co-sponsored by ProQuest and Rackham Graduate School. (Photo compilation by Jameson Staneluis)

View a full list of the recipients

April 3, 2022

The fools are back

Larger-than-life puppets, spring foolishness and smiling faces, young and old, returned to downtown Ann Arbor as the 2022 parade of FestiFools took over South State Street from North University Avenue and Williams Street for an hour or so the afternoon of April 3.

View a gallery of images from FestiFools

March 31, 2022

Detroit Observatory

Nearly 170 years after it was built, and following a three-year expansion project, the Detroit Observatory is ready for the U-M community and public to again explore the stars. The observatory will launch its next phase with an April 8 symposium titled “Seeing Anew: The Detroit Observatory Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.”

Read more about the observatory’s reopening

March 30, 2022

Return to beauty

The MorningSide neighborhood is a 1.5-square mile community located on Detroit’s east side. Once a stable neighborhood, MorningSide has been dramatically affected by population loss, and mortgage and property tax foreclosures. U-M Urban and Regional Planning Program graduate students and faculty helped develop “Stabilizing MorningSide,” providing tools and resources to build upon the assets of the community to strengthen its housing market and make it a neighborhood of choice again. This video details the needs of the community and the successes of the plan.

Read more about “Stabilizing MorningSide”

March 29, 2022

Avian secret

A collaboration between U-M aerospace engineers and University of British Columbia biologists has revealed that the key to agility in bird flight is quickly switching between stable and unstable gliding. It had long been assumed that bird flight was almost entirely unstable. In this video, researchers explain how this discovery is important to the design of aircraft, most specifically in the design of uncrewed aerial vehicles.

New recreation center

Plans for a new 200,000-square-foot recreational sports center to replace the Central Campus Recreation Building took another step forward Thursday, as the Board of Regents approved the building’s schematic design. With an estimated cost of $165 million, the facility will allow greater opportunity for students, faculty and staff to improve their health and well-being. This is an artist’s depiction of the new building’s exterior. (Image courtesy of Architecture, Engineering and Construction)

Read more about the new recreation building

March 23, 2022

Helping to teach sustainability

The Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowship, a program created for K-12 teachers interested in sustainability issues, is the first program of the Andrew N. Liveris Institute, a partnership of the School of Education’s Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research, the Dow Company Foundation and Delta College. In this video, a Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowship fellows and students talk about the benefits of the program to help K-12 students learn about sustainability.

Read more about the Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowships

March 22, 2022

Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health

U-M is seeking nominations for the Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health, named after the renowned U-M physician, virologist and infectious disease researcher, and recognizing individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of global public health. In this video, F. DuBois Bowman discusses the accomplishments and contributions of Thomas Francis Jr. and those honored with the medal that bears his name.