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Dear Colleagues,

We hope you are enjoying the beginning of the summer term and the slower pace of our campus! Below is some information and dates that we hope you find useful over the coming months.

Meet the New Provost: Dr. Ghassan Kridli
I’m honored to step into the role of Provost after serving as Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for the past five years.

Throughout my career, I’ve been passionate about program assessment, curriculum development, and creating strategies to support student success. I also work closely with STEM faculty to develop programs that help K–12 teachers incorporate engineering into integrated STEM education.

I earned my B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Miami, and my Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Since 1997, I’ve been proud to serve as a faculty member in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at ������-Dearborn.

Congratulations to the New Faculty Senate Chair & Vice Chair!
We would like to offer congratulations to the new Faculty Senate chair, Professor Liz Rohan, CASL and the vice chair, Librarian Raya Samet! The Office of the Provost is looking forward to working with you over the next year. And again, we offer our sincerest gratitude and thanks for the previous chair and vice chair, Professors Bruce Maxim and Sheila Smith, for their tireless work and partnership over the past years. 

Faculty Awards
On Tuesday, May 6th, we celebrated the 2025 Faculty Award winners! Please join us in congratulating them once again on these prestigious awards and achievements!

• Collegiate Lectureship Awards: Judy Nesmith, Dr. Geraldine Pappas
• Distinguished Academic Citizenship Award: Dr. Anna Muller
• Distinguished Research Award: Dr. Lei Chen
• Distinguished Research Team Award: Sustainability Center of CECS (Doctors Pravansu Mohanty, Christopher Pannier, Lei Chen, Armen Zakarian, Georges Ayoub, Zhen Hu, Abdallah Chehade, and Xuan Zhou)
• Distinguished Teaching Awards: Dr. DeLean Smith, Dr. Shunyao Jin
• Lecturer Excellence in Inclusive Teaching Award: Dr. Hussein Nasralah

Library Promotions
Please join us in congratulating our librarians who have received successful promotions:

• Nadine Anderson, supporting Psychology and Criminal Justice faculty and students, from Senior Associate Librarian to Librarian on the strength of faculty collaborations for student success
• Anne Dempsey Moussa, Student Engagement, from Assistant Librarian to Associate Librarian on the strength of scholarship informed instruction and campus outreach.
• Heidi Keppen Palmer, Library Tech Systems, from Assistant Librarian to Associate Librarian for innovation “under the hood” focusing on accessibility and discoverability of our resources

Important dates for Summer I, Summer II and Summer terms

• Summer full-session/Summer I start: Monday, May 5
• Summer I session ends: Friday, June 20
• Summer I study days: Saturday, June 21 & Sunday, June 22
• Summer I final exams: Monday, June 23 - Wednesday, June 25
• Summer full-session/Summer II: Friday, August 15
• Summer full-session/Summer II study days: Saturday, August 16 & Sunday, August 17
• Summer full-session/Summer II final exams: Monday, August 18 - Thursday, August 21

For the full academic calendar and important dates, please visit our website.

New Student Orientations 2025
Orientations for new students begin on Tuesday, June 3rd and run on most Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer culminating in Wolverine Welcome Day on Tuesday, August 26th! 

Google Certificates - Free for our Students!
The Center for Academic Innovation and Google have partnered to make programs free through Michigan Online for all U-M students in Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint. These Google certificates and Essentials courses cover topics including data analytics, digital marketing, UX design, business intelligence, project management, and artificial intelligence tools. Currently enrolled students at ������-Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint are able to access the courses via Michigan Online using their U-M credentials. Enrollment in the courses is available at no cost. If faculty are interested, it is possible to integrate Google Career Certificates with Canvas. staff are available to connect you to the individuals who can facilitate such requests.

This will be the last Provost Office communication until August. Enjoy the summer!

With all the best wishes,
 

Ghassan Kridli
Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs