UM-Flint 50^th Anniversary Celebration

Sep. 28, 2006

Welcome to this most important day in the history of the University of Michigan-Flint!

I want to extend a special welcome to Lieutenant Governor John Cherry. Thank you for being with us this afternoon.

Last month, I received a special letter from a biochemist at Xavier University in New Orleans.

Professor Tom Wiese told me the story of how he fled Hurricane Katrina for Memphis, and since then has lived in five different places, including nearly half a year in a FEMA trailer stationed in a parking lot at Xavier.

Dr. Wiese wrote to me because he and his wife spent three of the past 12 months at the U-M in Ann Arbor, where they were given temporary shelter in campus housing, as well as visiting faculty status in the Department of Pharmacology in our Medical School.

For all the misfortune of his letter—including the fact that he and his wife lost their home and saw friends move away with no plans to return—Dr. Wiese’s letter spoke of his optimism and dedication to returning to teaching and research.

It also told me one critical fact: he is a very proud graduate of the University of Michigan-Flint.

“My career, character and personality,” he told me, “were formed by my education at University of Michigan-Flint.”

I think that is obvious—Tom Wiese is successful and resourceful, he is gracious, and he is proud of his roots.

Such is the force of a University of Michigan-Flint education.

When the doors to UM-Flint opened 50 years ago this week, it was because an entire community came together to provide a new level of education for its students. It was a genuine act of collaboration, from the philanthropy of Charles Stewart Mott and the support of Flint Junior College, to the contributions of city officials, state taxpayers, and everyday citizens of Flint.

No university in this state that has stronger ties to its neighbors. That is what makes UM-Flint such a valuable asset not only to Flint and Genesee County, but to the University of Michigan system. You exemplify our mission to serve the people of Michigan and beyond.

We see that service in alumni like Tom Wiese, who pushes forward with his cancer research despite facing the most devastating of challenges.

We see that in students like those crisscrossing the campus or ensconced in the library, focused on their studies and unaware of today’s festivities.

We see that in faculty like Larry Kugler, who always put students first.

And we see that in donors who over the years have shared our vision of an extraordinary asset for the Flint community.

Congratulations to all of these faces of the University of Michigan-Flint. This is a golden moment in the history of the maize and blue, and one we all applaud.