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State Outreach

• Michigan Road Scholars
  Community Assistance Directory

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University of Michigan

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State Outreach

State Outreach

The Office of State Outreach within the Office of the Vice President for Government Relations provides a direct line of communication between the University of Michigan and Michigan communities. Our goal is to increase awareness of U-M resources for research and service of benefit to those communities. To accomplish this, we regularly travel the state to establish and maintain personal contact with community leaders. We also arrange for community group visits to the Ann Arbor campus and for faculty orientation tours of the state, and we maintain an on-line directory of U-M's many outreach initiatives in the state.

  Michigan Road Scholars
The Michigan Road Scholars Tour for faculty at the University of Michigan is a five-day traveling seminar on the State of Michigan, run by the office of State Outreach. This educational tour exposes participants to the state's economy, government and politics, culture, educational systems, health and social issues, history, and geography.

Designed to increase mutual knowledge and understanding between the university and the people and communities of the state, the tour introduces participants to the places the majority of our students call home, encourages university outreach to the public, and suggests ways faculty can help address state issues through research, scholarship and creative activity.

Community Assistance Directory
This directory is designed to help Michigan residents find information about the University of Michigan's many outreach projects and services that can benefit their lives and their communities. It is maintained by the State Outreach office in the Office of the Vice President for Government Relations. Each listing gives a description of the program, lists those areas in which it is available, and provides web site links and contact information for further details.

Many University of Michigan departments organize community service and learning programs. Each program has different requirements, eligibility, and structure

The Edward Ginsberg Center

The Ginsberg Center strives to engage students, faculty members, university staff, and community partners in a process which combines community service and academic learning in order to promote civic participation, build community capacity, and enhance the educational process.
Arts of Citizenship
Arts of Citizenship supports faculty in strengthening and expanding their public scholarship.
Michigan Americorps Partnerships
AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
America Reads
We are committed to meeting the challenge to have all children reading well and independently by the end of third grade.
Project Community
Project Community is committed to engaging students in meaningful community service and complementary active learning.
Serve
To foster, through community service and social action, a student movement at the University of Michigan that thoughtfully addresses the challenges we face as a society.

Student Outreach Initiatives
Through our student initiatives, the Ginsberg Center also supports student organizations as they work toward their service and activist missions in the community.

State Issues Conferences

The State Outreach Office, in collaboration with UM schools and colleges and various community or state organizations, organizes one-day conferences on issues impacting the state and its citizens.  Presenters include both community practitioners and university faculty.
Recent Conferences have dealt with issues such as literacy, school design and construction, land use, and effective use of public health data.

Adolescent Literacy Symposium 2006:
The School of Education and the Office of Government Relations at the University of Michigan co-sponsored a symposium on adolescent literacy titled: Toward the Improvement of Secondary School Teaching and Learning: Integrating Language, Literacy, and Subject Matter. The symposium was held on Monday, March 6, 2006, at the Michigan Union and was a great success. 

Information about the speakers and their presentations can be viewed here.

Informatics

Saginaw Civic Leaders

  Look for Summer Camp listings on the CAD.

  Your Bay, Your Say - Traverse City Program
More events are planned for January 2006 including the UM graduate student team presentation of their "Character Study", and the MSU team's community discussion of their plan. Complete Updates on the Project

NEWS AND EVENTS

• "A Case About Diversity:
  The Affirmative Action Lawsuits at the University of Michigan" traveling exhibit.
  A visual experience about the two 2003 Supreme Court decisions regarding race and admissions policies.   The web site contains information about each case and a 2006 schedule of the traveling exhibit.

• The Mars Rover visited the Woodward School for Technology and Research in Kalamazoo as U of M Senior Chad Rowland and grad student Ilya Wagner talked about life on Mars.

• Grand Traverse Lighthouse Excavation
  John O'Shea, professor of anthropology and curator of Great Lakes archaeology at the Museum of Anthropology, and a team of nine students from the U-M Summer Field Training Institute spent five days in June excavating the site of the original 1852 Grand Traverse Light state tower in Leelanau State Park. The concept for the dig began with Stefanie Staley, executive director of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum, who, with assistance from State Outreach, was able to receive permission from the lighthouse historical society, and connect with professor O'Shea who provided the expertise and manpower.
  Read the article about the lighthouse excavation from the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum newsletter.

• The Spaces and Music of Ritual
  A collaborative project between the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Native Americans and the University of Michigan's College of Music and College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

• Fenton Studio Project (PDF)     
  The Tri-County Times reports on the Fenton Studio Project. Graduate students from U-M create videos of various attractions in the city of Fenton and build models for the Cultural Center Research Committee (CCRC).