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Office of the Provost
Office of the Provost

From the Desk of the Provost: July 2024

In academia, summer is about performing the rituals of relaxation, reflection, and resolution that, for most others, define the end of the year. 

This feels appropriate, since summer is often a time of transition for our colleagues on campus, and we bid farewell to old friends and welcome newcomers all at once. My longtime colleague Dr. Lori Pierce concluded her 19-year tenure as vice provost for academic and faculty affairs this summer to focus on her work as a renowned radiation oncologist. Her departure makes it clear that we can never replace anyone; we can only build on what they have accomplished and meet the challenges of the next era. Fortunately, I believe Chris Friese, our new vice provost for academic and faculty affairs, is ready to do just that. He is an accomplished and extraordinarily active scholar, a nationally-recognized expert on nursing, and passionate about improving the experience of faculty at the University of Michigan. I hope you have the opportunity to learn about him in this month’s Vice Provost Q+A. 

Even in the relatively relaxed atmosphere of campus in July, it is no secret that tensions are running high across our society right now. One of the most common sentiments I hear from faculty, staff, and students is the hope that our campus culture could be an exception to the climate of polarization pervading the nation. I believe we have the will and the tools to make it so. A culture is built from ten thousand small acts every day; when we, as individuals, choose empathy over indifference, when we make genuine efforts to understand our colleagues and even those radically different from ourselves, we are building the culture I believe we all, deep down, want to experience. 

We are fortunate to have many efforts across campus in place to do that as we enter the Year of Democracy and Global and Civic Engagement. In this newsletter, you can learn more about U-M’s efforts to get students to the polls from Jenna Bednar, faculty director of the UMICH Votes program. Professor Bednar is an expert on resilient democracies, and is deeply engaged in related work on campus. 

There is much work being done in the name of dialogue, democracy, and constructive disagreement, and faculty and staff have many opportunities to engage. Spots are still open for the Program for Intergroup Relations’ Intergroup Dialogue Basics Seminar; as the fall semester begins, you may want to visit Hey, We Need to Talk at the Art Museum, an exhibition exploring flourishing through art and conversation, from Philippa Pham Hughes, Visiting Artist for Arts & Civic Engagement; and faculty won’t want to miss the Promoting Democracy Teaching Series, sponsored by the Edward Ginsberg Center and CRLT. 

From all of us in the Office of the Provost, we hope you are finding time this summer for what relaxes or reinvigorates you. We would like to feature pictures of the various adventures faculty and staff experienced over the summer in our fall newsletter. If you would like to send pictures of your intriguing discovery, unique locale, or passion project, please do so here – we would love to learn more about how our community spends their summers. 

Warm regards,
Laurie

Mythbreaking: Adaptive Sports

Adaptive Sports practice for Track and Field. Photo by Marc-Gregor Campredon

Sport can be a unifying language, institutionally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. The epitome of this is the way that the Olympics and Paralympics quite literally bridge the world together in celebration of sport. However, sport is not always equitably accessible to everyone, like in the case of disabled athletes. People assume “disabled-athlete” is an oxymoron and can’t exist in unison. The mission of University of Michigan Adaptive Sports & Fitness is to increase awareness, knowledge, access, and participation in adaptive sports among people with and without disabilities so that all people understand that disability is not inability.

As adaptive sports begin to receive more recognition within the University of Michigan and in the collegiate landscape, especially with Paris 2024 on the horizon, it is important to discern myth and fact in our discovery process that adaptive sports are truly for everyone. Below, the Adaptive Sports & Fitness team addresses some of the most common myths about adaptive sport.

Myth: “The Paralympics are for people that suffer from paraplegia.”

Fact: The term “Paralympic” originates from the Greek “para” (beside or alongside) and “Olympic,” signifying that the Paralympics run parallel to the Olympics. This epitomizes the coexistence and similarities of the two events. This principle guides UM’s Adaptive Sports & Fitness department (ASF), which aims to enrich student life through inclusive sports programs, both recreationally and competitively, catering to all individuals’ highest athletic aspirations at the University of Michigan.

Adaptive tennis practice. Photo by Marc-Gregor Campredon

The term “Paralympic” is often misunderstood, with many assuming “Para” comes from ones disability status. References like “Para-Olympics” or “Regular Olympics,” although not intentional, carry significant implications to the Paralympic movement. Some of these implications are a hierarchical structure within the games that assume the Olympics are at the top. Similarly, people often confuse the Paralympics with the Special Olympics, which is a separate – though no less important – movement that also serves the disability community, but is unique in its mission and goals. 

The notion that one “suffers” from an injury or resulting disability can be very reductive within the disability community. Disability is not inability and we do not need to “cure” disability, rather we need to relook at how we can change structures and values that allow all people to have equitable access. This concept comes from the “social model of disability” and is a unit wide methodology that does not just guide UM Adaptive Sports & Fitness, but the entire unit of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS).

Myth: “Adaptive Sports are for people with disabilities.”

Fact: Adaptive sports (also known as para sports) and inclusive recreation are competitive or recreational sports for people with and without disabilities. Adaptive sports use modifications of rules or equipment that allow for equitable participation in sport by people with disabilities. Some adaptive sports are variations of existing able-bodied sports that run parallel to those sport activities (e.g. wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis). Some adaptive sports have been specifically designed for persons with a disability and do not have able-bodied equivalent activities (e.g. goalball). 

Wheelchair Basketball with UM Adaptive Sport in Port Huron, Michigan. Photo by Marc-Gregor Campredon

Sport should be a universal language, but often people with disabilities are relegated to the sidelines due to limited access. By having inclusive adaptive sports, athletes of all abilities are given more opportunities to participate. The modification of equipment and rules in adaptive sports allow for everyone to play together; friends, family, peers, colleagues, or people in the community. 

Sometimes people without disabilities are concerned that by participating in adaptive sports they are simulating disability or displacing the disabled athletes. ASF believes that through adaptive sport we can dismantle those pre-existing concerns and demonstrate that adaptive sport is a unifying experience. Simply put, adaptive sports are sports. The same way one plays pick-up basketball at the NCRB or IMSB, all are welcome to join us for drop-in wheelchair basketball. We are fortunate to have support from the University of Michigan and Student Life such that we have adaptive sports equipment for everyone to play. We have a sports chair waiting for you!

Myth: “Adaptive Sports & Fitness is a novel department at the University of Michigan.”

Fact: Adaptive Sports & Fitness officially became part of Student Life at University of Michigan in 2020 and is a relatively new movement within UM. Since its inception ASF has grown rapidly to meet the needs that exist within the UM and larger adaptive sports community. 

While adaptive sports are new at University of Michigan, they are not new to the collegiate landscape. The first wheelchair basketball team (and adaptive sports program) was started in 1948 at the University of Illinois. Since then, many other institutions, approximately 20, have joined the growing collegiate adaptive sports landscape. 

ASF has tried to learn from our predecessors by developing a program that includes competitive and recreational adaptive sports opportunities, community based initiatives like RX to Play, the Adaptive Sports and Inclusive Recreational Initiative, and research. 

2024 was a significant landmark year in collegiate adaptive sports history with the following accomplishments resulting from the work of the institutions mentioned above, many governing bodies, and sponsor organizations like Guardian and their Adaptive Student Athlete Program.

  • Wheelchair Basketball: Inclusion of a collegiate wheelchair basketball showcase at Women’s NCAA March Madness
  • Wheelchair Tennis: The Intercollegiate Tennis Association formally includes collegiate wheelchair tennis as part of the governing body and includes wheelchair tennis for the first time in NCAA history at the NCAA National Championships
  • Wheelchair Track: The NCAA, in partnership with with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, includes wheelchair track at the outdoor national championships for this first time in history as part of the 2024 Track & Field National Championships

Q+A with Christopher Friese, Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs

Christopher R. Friese, the Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing and Professor of Health Management and Policy, began his 5-year term as Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs on June 1, 2024. In partnership with Vice Provost Sara Blair, he is responsible for overseeing core faculty-centered processes, including the promotion and tenure process, as well as the Provost Office’s funding programs in support of recruiting, hiring, retaining, and promoting faculty. Friese will have oversight of the seven health science schools and the Life Sciences Institute, as well as the Ross School of Business, the Marsal School of Education, the College of Engineering, the School for Environment and Sustainability, the Law School, and the Ford School of Public Policy.

What are your initial and long-term goals for the position?

I was attracted to this position because I have benefited greatly from various faculty-focused initiatives that have been led from this office. I’m excited to pay forward the tremendous support I’ve received over my 16 years at Michigan and develop initiatives and policies that allow Michigan faculty to learn, grow, and thrive. 

My predecessor Dr. Lori Pierce served in the Provost’s Office for 19 years and accumulated exceptional wisdom and acumen in this multifaceted role. In my first three months, I will focus on connecting – across schools and units – with our various partners across the University to better understand our core functions and generate aspirational goals. Following this, the team and I are poised to examine existing practices and propose new efforts that align with both the Vision 2034 framework and mission of the Provost’s Office. My long-term goal is for Michigan to be recognized among its peers as providing exceptional support to our faculty community. 

The University faces a unique fulcrum with regard to faculty support: the higher education climate writ large poses challenges for successful faculty recruitment and retention. So what can we do here at Michigan to better support faculty we are hoping to attract and make Michigan their career destination? We are well-positioned to foster an exceptional climate for faculty creativity, scholarship, and teaching excellence, and that’s incredibly exciting work to be doing right now.

What are some of the key areas of focus for the next year?

I won’t be doing this work alone. We have an exceptional team in the office, as well as partners across the Schools and Colleges. It’s an honor to work with them to ensure our policies and processes are sound. As time demands continue to increase, we’ll be monitoring ways in which the promotions and tenure process can be managed efficiently, while maintaining rigorous standards and ensuring equitable treatment. The diversity of scholarship and creative activities across our campus is a wonderful challenge to have: we want to be sure we recognize all the many ways our faculty contribute to the community.

I am also interested in examining ways in which we can make working at Michigan easier for faculty, especially those among our community with a disability or who have caregiving responsibilities. Both of those resonate for me as I was a remote caregiver as a newly-appointed Assistant Professor. The faculty are the engine of this academic enterprise. By identifying ways in which we can align policies, resources, and partnerships to support faculty in their individual endeavors, the University will stand to gain as well.

Chris with his Schnauzer, Dunkel, in Dusseldorf, Germany.

How do you plan to approach this work?

People who know me would tell you I’m a pretty informal person. On multiple leadership style inventories, I’ve been termed a “connector.” I get excited about connecting ideas and people and it’s not unusual for me to hear one idea at a meeting and bring it to another colleague. This fall, I’m looking forward to a listening tour with my colleagues in schools who lead faculty affairs efforts to better understand and address their needs. It’s also incredibly humbling to review casebooks from our faculty and those who wish to join our campus. The work our faculty do is inspiring. Whenever and wherever I can, I will be celebrating – virtually or in person – the accomplishments of our faculty and asking them, “What more can we do?,” and integrating their feedback into our future work. I also want to publicly thank the many members of our community who contribute to this work, by serving as reviewers, committee members, volunteers for ad hoc working groups, and the like. This team effort is essential to the university.

What are some of your favorite events on campus?

I have sung with the UMS Choral Union for many years. I always enjoy our concerts in Hill Auditorium, including the complete Handel’s Messiah every December. I am a fan of Michigan football and basketball, in good times and bad. Because I was on sabbatical during the national title game, I streamed the game on German sports television at around 1 a.m., while listening to the Ann Arbor radio broadcast (thanks, technology). A favorite day of the year is the May Regents’ meeting when all faculty promotions are announced. I’m thrilled to get to support that effort in the years ahead in this new role.

UMICH Votes and the Year of Democracy and Global and Civic Engagement with Jenna Bednar

Ford School professor and political scientist Jenna Bednar recently joined the Office of the Provost as the faculty director of UMICH Votes and Democratic Engagement. Her academic work concerns federalism and democratic structures and norms. Her recent focus investigates how to encourage human flourishing within democratic systems.

In addition to her position as UMICH Votes faculty director, she is working in many related arenas: in collaboration with Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and academic leadership from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts on the university’s Year of Democracy and Global and Civic Engagement initiative; on the Democracy, Civic and Global Engagement pillar of Vision 2034; and at the Ford School on projects studying resilient democracies. Professor Bednar also serves as a subcommittee chair on the Committee on the University of Michigan Principles on Diversity of Thought and Freedom of Expression.

Given the theme of her work, we began this interview with what might be the era’s defining question.

Provost’s Office: You study the success and failure of democracy – a weighty topic, especially as we approach November. With so much at stake, what gives you hope right now? 

Jenna Bednar: Can I pick two things?

PO: We’ll allow it. 

JB: The first is our students. They are enthusiastic about changing the world, and a lot of them are undaunted. Some of the circumstances we have watched evolve in our lifetimes are all these students have ever experienced. They’re ready to get into the world and make it better. Their energy is contagious and wonderful. 

PO: What’s the second thing?

JB: This might sound odd, but…anger. When I talk to colleagues, students, or other political scientists, I hear a lot of frustration with the state of the country, and with electoral politics specifically. Anger isn’t always a productive reaction, but in this case, it comes from a good place. People are angry that we find ourselves grappling with the political situation we do because they have such a deep love for the potential of this country. That’s the kind of patriotism and sense of agency that gets people to the polls as well as working every day to create real change. 

PO: Getting students to the polls is the focus of UMICH Votes. What can you tell us about this project?

JB: UMICH Votes is a coalition of groups with different functions but the same mission: to help our community vote. The process begins with our student organization, Turn Up Turnout (TUT); this is a peer-to-peer effort, where students register other students at orientation and throughout the fall. They also organize walks to the polls with students from as many departments as possible.  The Ginsberg Center supports our efforts at civic engagement and building our relationships with other Big 10 campuses.  UMMA and the Duderstadt Center provide gorgeous, well-placed spaces. And the Creative Campus Voting Project, led by Stamps professors Hannah Smotrich and Stephanie Rowden, uses their formidable design skills to create welcoming and informative polling sites and helpful language for registration. None of this would be possible without the Ann Arbor City Clerk, Jackie Beaudry, who has been 100% supportive, agreeing to open two satellite city clerk offices on our campus. 

People from all of these organizations meet multiple times weekly to coordinate and collaborate. One exciting new project is a system of messaging. Students don’t have a shortage of voting information; instead, they are bombarded with too much. Our UMICH Votes team has tackled this problem of information abundance with straightforward, just-in-time messaging to help students get access to the information they need to participate fully in elections.

PO: Are these efforts directed only toward students voting in Ann Arbor?

JB: No. First, we serve all students, in-state and out-of-state. The law allows students to choose whether to vote in their college town or hometown. We help students to find accurate information about registration and voting whether they plan to vote in Ann Arbor or in their hometowns. In addition, our goal is to serve all three campuses. TUT has built relationships with student organizations at UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn, and we share best practices, our system of messaging, access to accurate sources of voting information, and generally support one another’s efforts.

PO: What can you tell us about the Year of Democracy and Global and Civic Engagement?

JB: Planning is underway for the campus-wide theme year of Democracy and Global and Civic Engagement. Look for a calendar packed with events and programming to inspire and inform. In the fall we’ll focus on Get Out The Vote, in alignment with the great work of UMICH Votes. In the winter semester we’ll turn our focus both outward and inward: outward, to the global experience with democracy, and inward, to examine the health of our own. Our aim is to lift up the expertise that currently exists in our democracy-related research community as well as to build up the knowledge and skills of our students, who as Michigan alumni will become the generation of democracy leaders. You’ll have to invite me back to talk more about it!

PO: Consider it done! We’re looking forward to another update in September.

From the Desk of the Provost: March 2024

 

Campus is brimming with fascinating work and inspiring stories. That is a testament to the vibrancy of our community. 

In the Office of the Provost, one crucial means of supporting our academic mission is connecting people, especially across departments and disciplines. Early in his tenure, President Ono said that he was struck and encouraged by the low barriers to collaboration at our university. This may not always feel accurate across our famously decentralized institution, but plentiful evidence exists in every sector of campus; collective efforts like the Arts Initiative, the Center for RNA Biomedicine, and the ASSET Research Group working on our student success initiatives demonstrate that worthy goals have the power to unite people. By focusing a wide lens on campus in this newsletter, I hope to promote collaboration across this vast landscape. 

Another key part of our office’s mission is keeping the impact and ingenuity of our faculty and staff front and center. This includes everything from aligning budgetary resources to facilitating the promotion and tenure process. It also includes shining a light on opportunities like CEW+’s Financial Empowerment Initiative or Global Michigan’s new education abroad grant program. 

Speaking with people about their jobs across our enterprise through the years, I have noticed two prevalent themes: 1) We are curious about the professional lives of others on campus. 2) Most people feel their area/discipline is not well-understood. In this newsletter, we have an opportunity to better explore, in people’s own words, how our faculty and staff transform our mission into action. 

In this issue, the inaugural vice provost for undergraduate education, Angela Dillard, walks us through what it’s like to take on a colossal imperative in a new position. In our first podcast, CEW+ Director Tiffany Marra and financial therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin talk about how assembling strangers to discuss financial anxiety has created surprising bonds across age, background, and economic status. And in a feature called “Mythbreaking,” experts from the U-M budget team dispel common misconceptions about the university’s financial ecosystem. 

On behalf of the many who contributed to its contents,  we hope you enjoy the newsletter. 

If you have questions or feedback, please share it with me at: [email protected]. 

Sincerely,

Laurie K. McCauley, DDS, MS, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
William K. and Mary Anne Najjar Professor

The letter above appeared in the March 2024 Office of the Provost newsletter. 

Mythbreaking: The Budget

Promoting budget literacy is a significant goal and challenge of the budget team and the Office of the Provost more broadly. The Office of Budget and Planning has produced explanation videos and articles about the budget model and state appropriations. The university’s Office of Public Affairs regularly updates its Key Issues page with budget-related materials. And this year, the annually-released University Budget Book received a beautiful makeover. 

Budget myths are persistent: they resurface in conversation, at open forums, and on social media. Below, the budget team addresses some of the most common budget misconceptions.

 

Myth: “Student tuition/tax dollars paid for the new scoreboards in the Big House.”

Fact: Intercollegiate Athletics, which includes the university’s football program, is an “auxiliary unit,” which means it is a self-sustaining budgetary unit. Tuition and state funding do not fund the budgets of auxiliary units. Auxiliary units are responsible for generating their own revenue, and use  that revenue to fund their expenses. In the case of the Athletics department, revenues from football tickets, donations, media contracts, and sales of licensed apparel fund expenses like stadium renovations and the salaries of the university’s coaches. Tax dollars or student tuition are not attributed.

There are many institutions which subsidize their athletic department operations, either by charging students an athletics fee or transferring a portion of tuition to athletics.  The University of Michigan is one of a handful of institutions nationally where the Athletics department fully funds its own operations.

Other examples of Auxiliary units – units which “pay their own way” without receiving a portion of U-M’s state funding or tuition support – include Michigan Medicine, Student Housing, and Student Publications.

A related myth is that the Athletics operation is so substantial that it plays a large role in University finances and therefore decision-making. Our large fanbase and the media attention paid to teams, not to mention the volume of traffic on game days, add to this impression. In fact, U-M Athletics has an annual budget of about $200 million, whereas the FY24 General Fund budget totals $2.8 billion. In other words, our academic enterprise is 14 times larger than the Athletics department. The university’s total operating budget for FY24 is more than $13 billion, or 65 times larger than Athletics.

In general, budget confusion occurs when people don’t distinguish between the University’s General Fund and other funds. The General Fund’s sources include student tuition and fees, state support, and indirect cost recovery from sponsored research. It pays for teaching, student services, facilities and administrative support. 

 

Myth: “As a public university, the General Fund’s main source of funding is the State of Michigan.”

Fact: While the State of Michigan’s contribution to the U-M budget is essential, it is approximately 13% of the $2.8 billion General Fund.

When expressed in real dollars (i.e., purchasing power in 2023 dollars) the state appropriation for the Ann Arbor campus peaked at $363.6 million in FY 2003. In 2003, U-M received the equivalent of $12,257 per student in appropriations, when adjusted for inflation and for present day enrollments. In FY23, U-M received $6,508 per student, 47% less purchasing power per student compared to 2003.

We are always grateful when the State increases our appropriation, as these increases help the University to meet rising costs and relieve some of the pressure to increase tuition.   But the purchasing power calculations shared above illustrate how recent increases have not been sufficient to overcome cuts and disinvestment.

The majority of the University’s General Fund revenues come from tuition and fees paid by our students.

 

Myth: “Much of the General Fund goes to central services and administration.” 

Fact: About 14% goes to what is called Central Services. This includes, for example, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, The Center for Students with Disabilities, the Registrar’s Office, the University Career Center, and the university’s legal, human resources, and fiscal offices. 

The majority of the General Fund goes to Academics: 67% is allocated to schools and colleges, libraries, research institutes, museums, capital renewal, and academic program support. 

13% is allocated to financial aid. (This is why, for instance, many students see no net tuition increase even when tuition increases.) 

The remaining 6% goes to a collection of miscellaneous mandatory costs, including insurance, utilities, and health services.

Grants support the launch of new faculty-led education abroad programs

Two new grant programs from the Office of the Provost aim to encourage the development of new faculty-led education abroad programs at the University of Michigan. 

Funded by the Vice Provost for Engaged Learning’s Global Engagement Strategic Plan, launched in Autumn 2023, these grant programs are designed to address the primary goal of the strategic plan – namely, to increase and diversify both U-M’s education abroad offerings and student participation.

In their inaugural year, ten grants of up to $24,000 each will be awarded to support programs in nearby international locations in North America or programs in less-traveled destinations across the globe, such as Africa, Asia and Central and South America.

In February, the first four grants were awarded to María Arquero de Alarcón, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, for a new program on urban transformation in Brazil; Susan Atkins, Marsal Family School of Education, for a new program in teacher preparation in Mexico; April Bigelow, School of Nursing, for a new program in global primary care training in Thailand; and Brian Stewart, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, for a new program on archaeology in Lesotho.

“Short-term programs led by faculty affiliated with a student’s home institution are a critically important gateway to global learning experiences for first-time international travelers,” said Valeria Bertacco, vice provost for engaged learning. 

“We hope that the creation of new short-term programs in nearby international locations will increase accessibility and affordability of our education abroad offerings, while the creation of new programs in other lesser-traveled regions of the planet will diversify the range of opportunities for our students across the globe.”

Faculty and instructional staff employed at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor campus, who are leading a new education abroad program, are eligible to apply. The program must be offered for credit and/or tied to a course and include travel of up to eight weeks to an eligible destination. 

Applications will be accepted year-round, with three review and selection periods annually. For 2024, upcoming deadlines are May 17 and September 27.

More Information

For questions or more information, contact Amy Carey, assistant vice provost for international engagement, at [email protected]

How U-M’s AI services are making a difference in the classroom

Last year, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) had an impactful debut at the University of Michigan. Over the summer, the university’s Generative Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee published a groundbreaking report, offering guidelines and recommendations for how U-M – and any other educational institution – could thoughtfully welcome GenAI to their community.

A few months later, U-M’s Information and Technology Services (ITS), partnering with colleagues across the campus, released a suite of custom generative AI tools which were specifically designed to meet the needs of U-M’s students, faculty, and staff. This made U-M the first university in the world to launch an exclusive AI platform for its community.

With so many creative minds at the university, it makes one wonder: how is U-M actually using these GenAI tools?

There are hundreds of current use cases, ranging from student projects to staff implementations, but some of the most interesting utilizations are coming from U-M faculty.

One particularly successful example is how the Ross School of Business has incorporated U-M’s GenAI tools into the classroom. Last September, Andrew Wu, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations, and Jun Li, Associate Professor of Technology and Operations at Ross, decided that they wanted to do a comparison test of the popular Chat-GPT against U-M’s new Maizey tool.

Maizey lets users build their own version of a ChatGPT-like service that can be trained on custom datasets, which they can then share with others. Wu and Lin trained a new Maizey instance on the materials for an undergraduate course in operations management for their test case. Following an encouraging test, Wu and Lin created a special Maizey AI tutor for 313 Operations Management, a class with over 500 students.

According to Wu, the Maizey tutor is “specifically trained using your own course materials. With a click of a button, Maizey can enroll in your Canvas site, then absorb the materials there into a structured knowledge base. Then it taps into that knowledge base to answer student questions.” Students can ask whatever questions they want from the tutor in natural language. The tutor can then respond with answers that come straight from the course materials, and it even cites where the answer comes from.

One of the biggest benefits is that the AI tutor is available to students 24 hours a day, so anyone struggling to finish a late-night paper or cram for an exam always has a support tool at their disposal.

Maizey can easily integrate data from Google Drive, Canvas, Dropbox, and other popular tools. This allows faculty members to set up a Maizey for their classes in a matter of minutes. Wu has even produced a series of videos showing how to create a classroom tutor with a minimal amount of work. (All an instructor would need is a few minutes, their course materials, and a valid shortcode.)

The integration of the Maizey AI tutor into Ross’ Operations Management class was a success. The students in the class asked Maizey over 1,000 questions before assignment and exam due dates during fall semester. Wu noted that, based on an average of 150-350 class questions asked per week, assuming (conservatively) that it takes instructors two minutes to answer a single question, this translated to between 5 to 12 instructor hours saved every week. 

Also, according to a self-reported survey, students who said they used Maizey throughout the class noted an improvement in their grade performance. This improvement, as measured by assignment/quiz scores post-Maizey usage, was as high as 5%.

Wu said their team has “now rolled out Maizey to thousands of students in several core classes throughout the university. Our frontline results show that Maizey works well as a capable system in your classroom – one that has a photographic memory of the course content, is smart enough to pick the right content for each question, and, with the GPT engine, can deliver high quality responses that encourage further learning.”

Bob Jones, ITS’ Director of Support Services and Emerging Technology, says this use case is a fantastic preview of what U-M’s AI tools can do for our students and faculty. “This shows how powerful these AI services can be in a classroom setting,” said Jones. “GenAI literacy is going to be vitally important to the future of higher education. We are prepared and excited to help our campus partners to find creative ways to bring these tools into their classrooms.”

The ITS Emerging Technology team is continuing to work with partners across the university to develop new AI tools for the U-M community. One notable example is LSA’s new Maizey AI Advising tool, a 24/7 AI chatbot they call a “smart sidekick for college life.”

Any faculty members who would like to learn more about the capabilities of these tools can visit the ITS AI Services resources page. They can also contact the ITS Emerging Technology team directly with any questions or ideas for potential collaborations via this form.

CEW+ launches financial empowerment initiative

By Sandra Iaderosa, Associate Director, CEW+ 

Listen to the audio interview with CEW+ Executive Director Tiffany Marra and financial therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin. 

Register here for an FEI workshop (Click on the “Finances” box on the left once on the CEW+ page to see dates/times.)

Money stress can lead to depression, shame, isolation, and anxiety, along with accompanying physical manifestations. There is no end to the resources available at our fingertips to instruct and guide money decisions. And yet, there is a chasm between practical knowledge and the myriad unseen and underappreciated forces that influence our behaviors related to money.  

To help bridge the divide between emotions and financial decision making, CEW+ debuted an innovative approach last fall that delves beyond spreadsheets and interest. The Financial Empowerment Initiative (FEI) deviates from the “instructional” model of teaching about financial literacy by taking a holistic approach to the underlying  forces that shape our decisions, our values, and our fears related to money. 

In partnership with Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a clinical social worker and financial therapist, CEW+ is hosting a rolling series of 5 workshops that explore spending and saving from an individualized, psychological perspective. Each workshop is intended to provide a safe and judgment-free environment; participants explore their own relationships to money as well as share some of their insights, if they are comfortable doing so. 

The workshops are designed to be taken sequentially, but they can be taken in any sequence. These include:

Workshop 1: Your Money Story: In the first workshop, Lindsay shares a statistic that we form our ideas about money by the age of 8. Our concept about money is shaped by our environment and early exposure to our parents, caregivers, neighborhood, religious community, school and friends. She poses questions like: What did we learn that guides our behavior even as we become adults? Do those beliefs serve a purpose in the present? 

Many are not aware of how we embodied these ideas and where those messages originate. By looking at the genesis of our “money stories” we can gain valuable insights into our spending habits, as well as anxiety related to money.

Workshop 2: Making Confident Money Decisions: This session explores why making money-related decisions can cause so much stress, how to deal with financial choices, and ways to lessen the discomfort in the process. 

Workshop 3: Ultimate Financial Wellness:  This session defines financial self-care by learning how to identify when uncomfortable feelings arise related to engaging  with money and exploring strategies to manage these feelings. 

Workshop 4: Caring for Your$elf: This session discusses the “dry and boring” topics such as budgets, interest rates, and credit scores with a focus on the emotional/ psychological and systemic reasons why it can feel so overwhelming. Finance terms are explained and discussed in a supportive, shame-free environment.  

Workshop 5: Be the Boss of Your Finances: This final session focuses on financial boundaries and how to make decisions that align with our values rather than perceived expectations from friends, family, society or some version of ourselves. Financial boundaries help create and maintain healthy relationships and create realistic goals that truly support “self care”.    

We live in a culture that is constantly giving us messages about what an ‘ideal’ life looks like. We cannot escape the reach of social media, television, advertisements and the influence that they hold in our society. How we respond to these perceived or real pressures depends a great deal on our belief system, the values we hold and the life we want for ourselves. By examining the forces that shaped who we are, we can more confidently make financial decisions that reflect those values and embody the true meaning of “wellness.”

Register here for an FEI workshop (Click on the “Finances” box on the left once on the CEW+ page to see dates/times.)

Q+A with Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Angela Dillard

Angela Dillard, U-M’s inaugural vice provost of undergraduate education, addresses attendees at the Provost’s Seminar on Teaching. (Photo by Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

Angela Dillard, U-M’s inaugural vice provost of undergraduate education, addresses attendees at the Provost’s Seminar on Teaching. (Photo by Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

Angela D. Dillard, the Richard A. Meisler Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, began her five-year appointment as vice provost for undergraduate education (VPUE) on January 1, 2024. The VPUE will be responsible for leading, overseeing and advancing continual improvements in education, including accreditation, for undergraduate students in partnership with schools and colleges that enroll undergraduate students.

At a recent Provost’s Seminar on Teaching co-sponsored by the Center for Research on Learning and the Provost’s Office, more than 130 faculty, staff and administrators joined Vice Provost Dillard, Provost McCauley, and a panel of visiting student success experts from other universities to discuss the future of undergraduate education at the university. 

What’s it like to occupy an inaugural position and begin in January?

AD: It’s a little like moving into a big and empty house, which is both inviting and intimidating. This “house” has good bones and an equally good view. And, as my cousins in real estate would say, location is everything; if you have that right then everything else will eventually fall into place. My location in the Provost Office is excellent for the kind of cross-campus work I’ve been tasked with undertaking, and I have enjoyed exploring this “neighborhood.” A January 1 start date is always challenging as everyone returns from winter vacation, and can make onboarding tricky – even more so if your first days correspond to a national championship football game. January 5, 2024, which was my first full day in the office; many new colleagues were in Houston with the team, preparing to bring home that Natty. Not that I’m complaining! I roamed freely and started to dream big, making plans for my first 100 days – plans that will, I hope, lay the foundations for realizing all of the potential of this new position. 

 

You’re charged with building student academic success initiatives at Michigan. What exactly does that mean?

AD: Bringing aspects of the national student success movement to Michigan is at the top of my “to do” list. One of the distinctive features of this movement is to encourage institutions to look to their own structures and assumptions as explanations of persistent gaps in the 4 and 6 year graduation rates; for high levels of students dropping, failing, and withdrawing from courses and for problems in student retention and achievement. Instead of blaming students for being unprepared; the student success movement tends to put the blame on institutional systems. It’s not them, it’s us, for short. One major recommendation for addressing the consequences of gaps in equity and opportunity among students is to encourage everyone to register for and complete 30 credits in their first year. It’s called Early Momentum and a mountain of data generated here and nationally has equated early success with a full academic load as a good predictor of long-term success in retention and graduation. These data also tell us that no category of students (e.g., Pell-eligible and first generation students or student athletes) are harmed by institutions setting this expectation. It does, however, require us to reconsider some of our current practices around advising, teaching, and academic supports, ideally in the context of student well-being and mental health. Indeed, I have a full set of recommendations from the Well-Being Collective’s Academic Policies Work Team that have already been extremely useful for thinking through the intersections of student success and student wellbeing. 

 

How will you go about this work?

AD: Using data analytics and qualitative analysis we can better understand gaps in opportunities and then begin to design remedies. I’ll be working closely with the Analytics for Student Success and Equity Transformation (ASSET) team, which is a group of researchers, faculty, and administrators from several colleges, schools, and offices who investigate questions related to equity and student success. Their goal is to provide people like me with analysis that informs decisions about policies and practices that impact students in differential ways. They publish a newsletter distributed twice each fall and winter semester. Their February edition (February 2024.) includes an analysis of “credit gaps” that exist even before students matriculate at Michigan. Students who attended high schools that offer robust Advanced Placement classes, for example, come in with a block of credits that provide advantages. Such students have a buffer that allows them to take a lighter load, withdraw from a course without major credit consequences, and even to skip some introductory courses. If your high school did not offer AP courses then you missed this opportunity. We explored the intersection of data analysis and creative problem solving at the February Provost’s Seminar on Teaching (“Undergraduate Education at Michigan: Forging a Common Vision”).

Catherine Badgley, director of the Residential College and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and in the Residential College, and of earth and environmental sciences in LSA, leads a discussion at the Provost’s Seminar on Teaching on Feb. 20 at the Michigan Union. (Photo by Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

Catherine Badgley, director of the Residential College and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and in the Residential College, and of earth and environmental sciences in LSA, leads a discussion at the Provost’s Seminar on Teaching on Feb. 20 at the Michigan Union. (Photo by Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

The seminar brought national leaders in the student success movement to campus to share their experiences with Early Momentum and other recommended practices. It also offered faculty, advisors and student life professionals concurrent working sessions geared toward creating action plans for our campus. I’m fortunate that much of the groundwork has been laid by ASSET and by various task forces over the years that have produced a solid set of recommendations for continuous improvements in undergraduate education. I intend to honor – and act on – the work that has already been done while staying open to new ideas and innovations from all parts of campus. I mentioned the recommendations from the Wellbeing Collective above. There is also the report from a Post-COVID Grading Committee, for the Initiative Planning Group on Academic Student Success, and from the Task Force on Undergraduate Education in the Third Century, from 2019. We have no shortage of ideas to pursue together. 

 

What about students themselves? Do you have plans to involve them?

AD: Students were involved in and consulted in all of the reports I mentioned above, and I value their insights and reflections. In fact, one of the first meetings I did back in December after I was appointed and as I began to prepare for this role was to meet with the student leadership of optiMize, which is a partnership between a student organization and the LSA Dean’s Office. (It’s LSA’s main social innovation and entrepreneurship effort that serves students of all ages, from first years to PhD candidates, from all degree programs on all three UM campuses, as well as transfer students through optiMize’s community college partnerships and programs: aMplify and moMentum). Each year they sponsor the Social Innovation Challenge that provides mentorship and community support for student teams to turn their ideas into action. I worked closely with them when I was LSA’s associate dean for undergraduate education and very much wanted to reconnect. As part of this year’s Challenge, student teams will be invited to pitch their best ideas to me for promoting academic achievement and student success at scale. The winners will be offered paid fellowships to further develop their ideas and innovations over the summer. I can’t wait to hear what our talented optiMize students come up with, and I look forward to developing partnerships with other student orgs and associations. I’ve learned a lot from student innovators over the years about the necessity of being bold and taking risks, about the power of diverse teams and active collaboration, and about what our students can do to change the world.