To All Members of the Campus Community:

Welcome to a new academic year at the University of Michigan!

Learning and research have always been the most fundamental components of a U-M education, and as I welcome you to the fall semester in Ann Arbor, I also welcome the return of a more traditional residential experience. As a university community, we are proud to provide what we do best: strong academic programs taught by the very best faculty and grounded in a deep commitment to discovery and creativity that makes us the nation’s top public research university.

We’ve been doing a lot of learning, too. Those of you coming back to campus will notice a few improvements we’ve made – based on what we’ve learned over the past several months.

Many of our classes are using digital technologies to make in-person time more valuable and foster interactions that were previously more difficult. We’ve adopted hybrid work arrangements in many of our units to help address the realities faced by our employees in their personal and professional lives – and to hopefully assist us in meeting our carbon neutrality goals. We’ve upgraded the U-M Library’s technology and added new episodes of the Michigan Minds podcast.

In Ann Arbor, we are welcoming thousands of new students and more than 300 new faculty members. For many of our students, this semester will be the first in-person educational experience they’ve enjoyed in more than a year. This year’s Welcome Back video celebrates our ability to convene to advance knowledge and understanding in our world.

Thank you all for choosing to be part of our spectacular community. Please stay safe, help us keep everyone healthy and as always, Go Blue!

Sincerely,

Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D.
President