Last Thursday, the U-M Board of Regents extended Chancellor Domenico Grasso’s term to another five years. U-M President Santa J. Ono celebrated Grasso’s reappointment with a -Dearborn campuswide celebration on Friday. To a standing room-only crowd, Ono said he’s confident -Dearborn will continue to thrive with Grasso’s strategic mind and caring heart. “Beyond the accomplishments, which are many, in your first term . . . what resonated with me is how you made people feel,” said Ono, remarking on his time with Chancellor Grasso and the conversations he’s heard from campus community members. “We’re inspired by you, by this campus and by your leadership, Chancellor Grasso.”
Among those accomplishments: Since 2018 -Dearborn research funding has grown exponentially, graduation rates increased and there are record-breaking international student enrollment numbers. In addition, -Dearborn reorganized its financial aid model to better support students with the most financial need, the campus' Engineering Lab Building opened and we’ve navigated a pandemic.
Looking ahead to the next five years, Grasso shared with Reporter what he’s learned, the challenges he anticipates and a Judy Garland quote he applies to the -Dearborn campus.
One of the lines that stood out from your recent State of the University address was this idea of building a “model 21st-century nonresidential campus.” Could you paint us a picture of what that means to you, and in particular, why the nonresidential part is something we could now view as an asset?
That’s a great question, and I’m still queried about it by different people who have different views of what a university should be like. Part of the answer boils down to numbers. We have enough qualified individuals in southeastern Michigan who live within commuting distance and may not need or want a residential experience to populate our campus to its capacity and have a vibrant experience here. At the same time, we’re seeing that we can easily reach beyond our borders with online education. In terms of substance, my thinking about the 21st-century nonresidential campus draws on what I’m seeing, for example, in California, where people are excited to go to work at a place like Google or Amazon or Apple. They go to work there, they don't live there. But those campuses are very visually attractive and provide nourishing and exciting experiences while people are there. So why can’t we do the same thing?
What’s key to making that work is having activities and opportunities on campus that go beyond just taking classes. Of course, the main attraction will always involve outstanding classroom or laboratory experiences with our terrific faculty, but we want to have experiences that enrich our students' lives in other ways. You’re already seeing some of that, whether it's enhancing our outdoor spaces with the new Adirondack chairs, lawn games or student lounges like the Wolverine Commons. I’ve even asked our folks to explore the idea of sleeping pods, so students could take a nap between classes if they needed to. The idea is students can still have a rich experience with us, but they don't have to stay here at night or on weekends, and can live at home to save money, or live in a city like Detroit or Ann Arbor, if that’s more of the experience they’re looking for.
So you’ve been here five years now. Put us in the time machine and talk about how you were approaching the job then, and some ways in which your views have shifted as a result of getting to know the community better.
When I came here, I had some appreciation for the Dearborn campus, but all of my experiences to that point were on residential campuses. I was at UConn, Smith College, the University of Vermont and then the University of Delaware. They all had beautiful residence halls, especially Smith. Smith had this house system where they had dining in each of the houses and seated meals on Thursday nights. It was almost like being at a country club. When I came here, I saw that as something Dearborn didn’t have. Like many of my predecessors and many of the faculty members and even some students, my thinking was that congregate living would be the next evolution of this campus. But I think this is where that famous quote by Judy Garland applies: “Always be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.” Having been here through the pandemic, seeing the resilience of our students and how they’re successfully fitting <