In the first week in May, fresh from grading for the winter term, 29 faculty members boarded a bus and became the U-M's first class of Road Scholars on a 1,200-mile weeklong journey across the Great Lakes State.

For those who joined U-M only recently, like Asst. Prof. of Nursing Deborah S. Walker, it was a chance "to relate to my students 'in context' by knowing more about their communities." And for lifelong Michiganders like Prof. Frank Ascione, an associate dean of the College of Pharmacy, "Tbe pace of the tour provided a good overview of the complexity and diversity of our state."

Pharmacy Dean George Kenyon, the newest Michigan resident on the tour at eight and a half months, said he had arrived with the feeling that the state was highly industrialized. The tour corrected that notion but confirmed his impression that the state "is very uneven in economic development."

Lincoln B. Faller, professor of English, "looked forward to meeting people outside the University who weren't academics, so I'd have a better idea of what my students might become. The trip confirmed to him that the state is "very divided" along lines of class, race and the urban-rural split, Faller added. "We didn't see much in the way of bridges being built across class lines and the urban-rural divide," he said, "though the smoked fish entrepreneur [Jill W. Bentgen of Mackinac Straits Fish Co.] in St. Ignace was a notable and fascinating exception."

Ex-astronaut Anthony England, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of atmospheric, oceanic and space science, frankly reported one important reason for the program: "No matter how much we think of ourselves as a 'national' university, we must function successfully within the context of Michigan. To do that, we must understand Michigan's problems and be aware of significant efforts to address those problems."

The Road Scholars in Flint's GM Truck and Bus Assembly Plant.