Good afternoon, everyone.

Good afternoon and welcome to the 
2023 State of the College Address.

I'm delighted to see so many of you 
here and I'd like to welcome everyone

who's watching on livestream as well.

I'm Anne Curzan.

I'm the Dean of the College of Literature,
Science and the Arts, which we affectionately

refer to as LSA, no ampersand anymore.

And I'm also a professor of English and Linguistics
with a courtesy appointment in Education.

It is amazing to say this out loud, but I
am in my 22nd year on the faculty at 

the University of Michigan.

I am also an alum of LSA.

I got my PhD here in English Language and
Literature.

So I'm a very proud alum.

And this is a poignant State of the College
for me because this is my fifth of five.

I started in the Fall of 2019.

And I will be returning to the faculty, as
you all know at the end of June 2024.

So here at the beginning, I want to note an
important tool for accessibility.

And let's see if I can get these slides working.

Maybe not.

There we go.

So as part of the live stream for today's
event, we have live captioning so if you're

watching remotely, you should be able to turn
on the captions on your browser.

And if you're here, and you would like to
have captions, you can visit this web address,

or you can use a QR code that is here and
you'll be able to follow along with captions

on your phone.

So I also want to before I turn to the State
of the College Address, I want to acknowledge

what a heartbreaking and terrifying couple
of weeks we are experiencing that so many

in our community are experiencing as we grapple
with the horrific violence in the Middle East,

and the repercussions for members of our own
community.

As a human in the world, and as the dean of
the college.

I condemn antisemitism, Islamophobia and
other forms of hate.

And it is my intention to support all members
of our community as we continue to pursue

our mission as a college and live into our
values.

Recognizing each other's humanity, even when,
and perhaps especially when we disagree.

And when we disagree about issues that are
deeply, deeply personal to many of us.

So I will continue to do all that I can as
the dean of the college not to let the fabric

of our own community tear as we navigate our
way through this.

So the State of the College is an opportunity
for us to step back each Fall, and to consider

our accomplishments as well as our values
and goals, our challenges, our budget.

I know you all look forward to that part and
our priorities for the year ahead.

TL;DR, the State of the College is strong.

For those of you who do not perhaps know TL;DR
This is TL semicolon DR

There are not that many acronyms that
have a semicolon in them.

We should celebrate everyone that does so
TL;DR which stands for too long; didn't read.

And it is actually now in the Merriam Webster
dictionaries should you wish to look it up.

It was got in there into it is dated back
to 2002 and it is defined in Merriam Webster

as "a briefly expressed main point or key message
that summarizes a longer discussion or explanation."

So TL;DR the State of the College is strong.

And now I'm going to provide a longer explanation
of that.

So what does it mean that the State of the
College is strong?

So yes, it means that the budget is balanced.

And I will come back to that.

But I think about this in terms of 
alignment between what we do and 

our mission, vision, and values.

I think about it in terms of academic excellence
in our research and education.

And I think about it in terms of impact, 
among many other things.

And I have been thinking about with the State
of the College, I actually went back and watched

my first State of the College.

I don't recommend this as an activity but
I and and remember that in that first 

State of the College, I was talking about what we
were about to launch which was re-articulating

our vision mission and values as a college.

And I'm so glad that we did that work as a
college and part of it was that we could come

together to think about as a liberal arts
college what is our mission, vision, mission

and values within the university, but also
these guided us as we then went through a

very challenging couple of years as a college
and helped us as we were both addressing urgent

issues arising and as we were keeping ourselves
on track with the priority items that we wish

to keep moving forward.

And I see my role fundamentally as being 
the fiercest advocate of the college

and liberal arts and keeping us moving forward
on priority initiatives from the units and

from task forces that we have set up as a
college.

And as the dean, I have the real privilege
of seeing what's going on in every corner

of the college across all the divisions, across
all of our units, the administration.

It is so different from the many years I spent
as a member of the English department where

I knew the English department really well
and some of my neighbors both physically and

intellectually, but very, very different to
come into the dean's office and get to see

into all of our classrooms among our researchers,
what our undergraduate and graduate students

are doing, postdocs, staff, and faculty.

And I will say that, as I reflect on this
one of the things from this view, is a real

sense of awe and admiration of this college
and and a real sense of inspiration.

And one of the things that I, let's see, that
I often say and I say I say this because it

is true, is that we are the University of
Michigan's largest college at the heart of

the university.

And this really is I think, something that
we should not take for granted in LSA 

that we are the largest and we are at
 the heart of the university.

I think about this when I'm at meetings of
all the deans and the provost.

These are the shorthand is APG meetings.

I was in one this morning.

And there are times when the provost will
say things to the dean, like, go find out

what your community thinks about this.

And there are Dean's of small schools who
nod like that is a reasonable request.

And I think, that is, I can't actually do that.

Although I can because what I do is I come
back and I talk with the my leadership team.

I talk with the chairs and directors.

I talk with the chief administrators, they
talk with their teams, we go all the way down

we have the conversations, we bring it all
the way back up.

And then I go to the provost and I say here's
what LSA, here's what's going on in LSA.

So I want to take these one at a time that
we are both the largest college and that we

are at the heart of the university.

So let's start with we are the largest college
I think we all know that LSA is really big.

But when you step back and look at the numbers,
some of them are jaw dropping, and some of

them are really fun.

So I'm going to share some of these facts.

We're going to start with people.

So we will start with students. At this moment.

At last count, we have 21,972 students.

That's over, as you can see here, 19,168 undergraduates,
592 Masters students, and 2132 PhDs students

That is an astounding number.

And I love this circle graph as we look at
LSA compared with other units, so we are more

than twice as big as engineering, which is
the next biggest unit.

And if you look at Psychology and Economics
together, they have larger enrollments than

many of the other schools and colleges, just
two of our departments.

Many of the other schools and colleges.

We have 1806 faculty and postdocs, 1214 staff.

In the calendar year 2023, we taught 11,105 classes.

I see some people, that is a lot of classes.

I think about that sometimes in terms of March 2020,

 when we took, in four days, over 4000 classes online.

We have in the college 1.7 million 
square feet of building space.

In fiscal year 2023, our generous
 donors gave or pledged

 63 million dollars, one piano, and 
a viola. And this is supporting

80 different academic units and other student
support units in the college. 

In fiscal year 2023, we had $96.8 million dollars of research funding
awarded 

and we had 229 million in research expenditures. 
And that is an 8.25% increase from fiscal year 22.

In fiscal year 2023, the LSA movers completed
1300 tickets and Technology Services managed

28,806 requests for help, of which some number
that will remain unnamed are from me.

So we had 45, more than 45 million website page views.

The LSA team, the Marketing and Communications team, 

updated 8000 variations of individual unit logos.

We are a big place.

LSA students are studying abroad in 45 countries.

We are doing research projects in 53 countries.

Each year we use 7600 sticks of chalk, that
is about 216 pounds of chalk, and that is only

in the math department.

I do not know what is happening in 
all of the other departments.

In the research museums, we recently added
a very large collection of snake specimens, 

which means that we now have over 65,000 Snake specimens, the biggest collection in the world, 

as far as we know.

We teach more than 50 languages, from Aramaic
to Vietnamese, from Hebrew to middle Egyptian

hieroglyphics, Punjabi to Ojibwe.

We are really proud of this.

The Natural History Museum hosted hosts over
154,000 annual visitors.

This is what it means that we are a big place
and it also captured some of the diversity

of the many things that are in LSA 
from academic departments,

 to all of our support units of our mission.

We have museums, we have boats.

We have we have all kinds of 
things going on here.

So we are very large.

And then I want to talk about the fact that
we are at the heart of the university.

So the scale of LSA, when I think about that,
the scale of LSA matters because the mission

of LSA matters. We often say that LSA sits at the heart, 

because when I think about what
 does it mean that we're the heart.

Well, one thing it means is that 
every undergraduate student at  

the University of Michigan takes 
classes in LSA. I love that fact.

No matter what school in college they 
are in, they take classes in LSA. 

Our work is at the core of the university's mission.

What we are doing in our research 
and our education is fundamental.

Our teams manage and support buildings, not just for LSA, but

for other schools and colleges as well. 
Our student support units

support students from all across the college. 

That's the Science Learning Center, Sweetland, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program,

CSP Summer Bridge Scholars Program and the list goes on.

We have museums that serve not just the entire university, 

but the Ann Arbor community and beyond.

And behind each of the facts that I shared
about the size of LSA, there are, of course, people

and to take just one example.

Let's think about the skill and tenacity it
takes to teach over 11,000 classes every year.

So it's the instructors who are 
planning and conducting the course 

it's the department staff who are providing support 

the classroom and technology teams making the

presentations and lectures and discussions possible.

The movers who are moving teaching aids to the building, 

the custodial services, who are keeping the buildings in order

and, of course, the students themselves
who are coming in to explore and learn.

And when I think about it, you can do this 
with every single example of what we do.

It also exemplifies what I mean, when I talk
about the outstanding organization of LSA,

we are an incredibly well organized college,
and I don't say that as praise for me as the

dean, it's praise for all of you in the college.

It's what makes this big college work is that we are
 so well functioning at every level of the college.

And we do things at scale.

I say that all the time about LSA, 

we do things at scale.

And it's one of the reasons that we often
have decided to pilot things in LSA, because

if it works in LSA, then the university can
pick it up because it works at scale.

So we did that with the student laptop program, where
we were loaning laptops, and it worked so

well that it became a university program.

We did that with the transitional funding
for graduate students who are supported 

by a [inaudbile] in their labs, that's another university program.

Right now we are showing how the 
disability navigators work within

the college and we hope that will
 also become a university program.

So, this is, as I think about LSA, this is for all of these
reasons why I'm so proud of who we are and

what we do and why I talk about us as being
 at the very heart of this university.

And I also think it's why it matters
 how we talk about what we do.

So this is where I'm going to put my linguist's hat on.

It really matters how we talk about the value
of the liberal arts, we need to make it clear

what it is that we do and how it 
addresses the common good.

So as you all know, I think about 
language and words a lot.

And I think that we can find better terms
in two spaces to talk about what we do.

And I've been thinking about this for years
and I decided this State of the College was

where I was going to roll it out.

So the first is that we need to talk about
Foundational Science.

Let's make sure that we do not use the term
basic science.

Let's talk about Foundational Science.

It is the foundation of technological breakthroughs.

It is the research that unlocks our understanding
of the natural world and the universe, from

the makeup of cells to the expanses 
of oceans and the universe.

We all know there are connotations of basic,
we may mean it as synonymous with foundational,

but it has other meanings as well, and that
this is Foundational Science.

I also hope that we can talk about 
Foundational Skills.

These are skills that are often 
referred to as soft skills.

This is one of my least favorite terms.

Because soft skills at some level implies that 
these are easy, sort of squishy, in some way.

And in fact, the the skills that we're talking
about here are some of the hardest skills

to acquire.

And they are foundational.

This is understanding the world from perspectives
that are different from your own.

This is why we study history.

And Art and Literature and Languages
 and Cultural Studies.

It is communicating effectively with versatility
across audiences and contexts and media.

It is asking probing analytic questions about
information that is presented to us it's about

having the courage to pause and consider whether
we need to rethink what we think we know.

It is steering through uncertainty and having
the creative impulse to find multiple solutions.

These are Foundational Skills.

And I was actually just in a meeting this
morning where somebody pulled out soft skills,

and I thought you should come to the 
State of the College.

But I say this because it is so important
that we talk about the value of what we do

and that we think about the 
language we use to do that.

That this research we do this education we
provide is foundational, it's so important,

and I thought that I would share three stories.

I tell many, many stories about the college.

That's one of my jobs as the dean is I get to
tell stories about the college and I thought

I would share three stories that I have been
telling over the last year.

So the first story is about 
Saturday morning physics.

So, Josh Cassada, who is an astronaut beamed
in from the space station last winter, and

several hundred people attended.

This was in our new classroom building.

And you can see in here photos of the live
stream and that was projected in the classroom.

You can also see to the right three year old
astronaut, Vivian, who was one of many kids

who attended and were clearly thrilled to
ask questions. Although,

I will say the adults were equally thrilled
to ask questions.

I was there that was when I was on crutches,
but I made my way over there.

And Josh Cassada was so good at 
answering these questions.

His enthusiasm for science and for the work
he is doing were absolutely infectious and

this sense of wonder, and I think that one
thing that it can be easy to forget when we

are exposed to this kind of wow technology,
which does just create a real sense of wonder

whether this is the space station or smartphones
or AI is that all of this was built on 

Foundational Science.

And if we think about something like the 
Space Program, this is Physics.

This is built on Physics. Someone pointed
out there's some chemistry too 

but, um, So, and at Saturday morning physics, 

it was also of course about people  
who made this activity so wonderful.

So here you have a picture of John Foster,
who is in the College of Engineering.

He's a professor of Nuclear Engineering 
and Radiological Sciences.

He is also an LSA graduate.

He got his PhD in our fabulous 
applied physics program here in LSA.

And he was there explaining the space station
to all of us, and then the team who made it

all possible from the physics department,
LSA Technology Services.

And the disability navigators.

So I had been sharing this because one of
the things on our research page we talk about

LSA and the wonder of why and this sense of
wonder, and this was a really special for

me once in a lifetime event to get to be 
there to experience this wonder.

The second story that I've been telling is
about transfer student Zena Issa

I met Zena when she gave the featured student

address at the LSA scholarship dinner just about a year ago.

She grew up in Baldwin, Missouri, until the
age of 12, when her family moved to Kurdistan.

As the environment there became more dangerous.

She and her family returned to 
the US in 2018 to Detroit.

And as she explained at the dinner, no money,
no friends, no degree of any kind, but a degree

a drive to excel no matter my circumstances.

She quickly got a job at a coffee shop.

She got her GED.

She enrolled in community college.

And that is where she discovered 
her passion for journalism.

She says I needed to be in front of a camera
bringing attention to things and to people who

don't receive enough attention.

She applied to transfer to the University
of Michigan, and she will graduate from U of M

this spring, having earned fellowships and
phenomenal internships, all along the way.

And, she was one of,

she was so inspiring to this entire group,
students were rushing up to her afterwards

 to talk with her about her story.

And she is one of the thousands of astounding
students who we have here in LSA.

We encounter them every day.

These are people who are already changing
the world in positive, purposeful ways.

And I think as a college we are honored and
uplifted by having these students here.

This story also highlights the importance of 

the transfer student programs that we've created.

We have been working hard to encourage more
community college students to transfer

to the University of Michigan and specifically to LSA, 

these are the transfer students from community colleges

having taught many, many in my own classrooms,
phenomenal set of students, and we have needed

and wanted to make it easier for them to transfer.

So that has meant looking at our own policies
as well as a really wonderful team who is

supporting students along with student 
ambassadors once they get here.

This is the kind of student support that we are 
getting better and better at as we realize that it

is not just getting students to LSA and to the
University of Michigan but supporting them

when they are here with much more wraparound support.

So, the third story I'm going to tell you is 
about Sara Buss, professor of Philosophy.

There has been so much conversation about
AI and I think it has been approximately 20

minutes before I have mentioned AI 
with any depth in this talk.

So I'm going to take some credit for that

didn't make any jokes about AI 
writing my speech, I wrote this.

So, clearly AI is transforming our research,
our teaching, questions about how 

it's transforming learning.

This technology also raises fundamental questions
about humans, and about what it means to create

fake humans.

What we're going to do with the fake humans.

So I was talking with Sara, and she shared
with me her reflections with students on the

first day of class in one of her philosophy courses.

And she talked about the importance of experiencing
things and doing things and I asked her if

I could I was inspired by she described this to me.

I said would you send me your comments
 to the students, which she did

And then I have said 
Can I quote them to other people?

And she said that I could.

So in terms of talking about experiencing things.

She points out that the music we've 
listened to, the books we've read, 

the people we've talked to, 
of course, shape who we are, 

and, what possibilities are open to us 
as we move forward.

And then she talked with students about the
importance of doing things and here I'm going

to quote with a little bit of length, but 
I think it's totally worth it.

Because this is how philosophers think and
write about some of these questions.

If you don't practice playing the guitar or
shooting baskets, or drawing portraits, or

reading challenging texts, or having in depth
conversations, you will not be the person

who is capable of doing these things.

And you will miss out on the 
great pleasures of doing them.

Of course, someone else can do them instead.

Eventually a machine will probably be able
to play tennis and the piano better than any

of us ever could.

Is this a reason for us to spend our lives
doing nothing more than eating, sleeping,

pooping, and seeking out the sort of bodily pleasures 

that do not require hard work or experience?

To my mind, the answer is obviously no.

Playing chess or soccer or piano can enrich
your life in a way that no machine can.

And there are certain capacities we should
all seek to develop no matter how different

our life trajectories may be.

This brings me back and I'm still quoting her.

This brings me back to this class and to the
artificial intelligences that stand ready

and willing to help us avoid the hard work
involved in developed developing the capacity

to think our own thoughts and to craft the
sentences and construct the arguments that

are part of thinking these thoughts and 
communicating them effectively to others.

As I said these machines can be 
extremely helpful to us.

My point is that we should resist the temptation
to allow these machines to prevent us from

taking advantage of opportunities to enrich
our lives by learning how to form our own

opinions in the only way we responsibly can.

By struggling to consider the reasons for
and against different positions we might take

on the issues that matter to us.

And as part of the struggle by spelling out
these reasons for ourselves in speech and writing.

And as Sarah notes and this is what I love
there is a real joy in learning, even when

it's frustrating.

And that that is part of why we do this work
is that there is pleasure and joy in it.

And that this kind of learning allows 
for a self transformation 

that no machine can do for us.

And I wanted to highlight this as I think
about the value of the liberal arts because

questions like Sara's are in and of 
themselves transformational.

They up end the conversation.

They challenge our assumptions about what
matters, and they ask us about the kinds of

people that we want to be both 
individually and collectively.

This is at the heart of the liberal arts and
this kind of work that challenges what we

know, what we think we know, how we think.

In the world.

This is happening in the natural sciences,
the social sciences, and the 

humanities all across LSA.

And I will say this is why LSA needs to be
at the table as we have conversations across

the university, across higher education, and
across the country about AI, 

about sustainability and climate change, 
about economic inequality,

about structural racism, about war, about global health 
equity, bias and privacy in the digital world.

The list goes on and on.

And you need scholars like the ones we are
training and the people who are working here

to be at the table.

We have never been more relevant.

So with that, because there is no good transition.

I'm gonna talk about the budget 

I know you have all been waiting with 
bated breath for this moment.

So now I will put you out of your misery and
we will talk about the budget 

Um, I do want to thank the Finance team for their help

 putting together these slides and also 
to thank the Communication

and Marketing team for their help with the
entire State of the College Address.

My team in the Dean's office, Technology Services,
the Facilities team who set up this room.

If we could just do a round of applause for
everybody who made this possible

[Applause]

So, the State of the College, 
financially, is strong.

We have a balanced budget with a surplus
 I am pleased to report.

So the first slide I'm going through the slides
we usually do at the State of the College

of where does the LSA money come from?

This is a an overview of all of our revenue sources.

You will see that the vast majority of our
funding comes from the general funds and I

will come back to that sponsored funds these
would be research grants and the like that

are coming in there along with 
gifts and designated funds.

So the general fund which is the biggest
part of our budget, as you will see here is

that over 75% comes from undergraduate tuition

this is true year after year is that we are

a college whose budget is driven by undergraduate tuition.

And I think about that every time I make

 financial decisions in the college.

This is students money that we are using and
I take that with such seriousness in terms

of the responsibility of how we use that money.

So that is there you can see the 
chart of the general fund.

Where do the funds go?

So as has been true every year most of the
funds go to people and that is how it should

be the excellence of the college is about
the people who are in the college.

So you will see that this is financial aid
and then instructional salaries, staff salaries,

employee benefits, this is the bulk of our
budget is going to people 

then of course we pay taxes.

We won't get into the whole budget model but
we pay taxes and then you will see other costs

in terms of running the college.

You may have noticed on the first slide of
how much money did we have?

We had 1.1 billion. 1.1 billion.

That is the size of this college.

How much did we spend? 1.05
That is good, that's how we would

 like this to look. Which is that we
are bringing in more than we are spending.

You will also see here captured in these slides
is the fact that when I say things like we're

running a surplus that's actually important
because one of the things we need to do is

save money for things like large capital projects.

So for us to be able to do things like renovate
the chemistry building, renovate Lorch Hall, 

we need to save money away so that we
can take on some of these big projects as

a college.

So with that, I'm going to turn the last part
of this talk to our investments in the Liberal

Arts, because we are responsible 
and prudent with our money.

We are able to make smart and strategic investments

and we are investing in the 
liberal arts at a time when not all

universities are doing this and we know that
and I'm so proud that we are able to invest

and we are investing across all 
divisions of the college.

So I'm going to quickly go through a list
of highlights of investments.

And then I would welcome questions during
the Q&A about any of these.

So in terms of our academic research missions,

some of the places where we are investing

we've been investing for several years now

in the Digital Studies Institute which is

a vibrant research and teaching Institute on campus, 

a new investment which is the Quantum Research Institute.

We established the Meet the Moment research
initiative a couple of years ago we gave four

grants through that that were focused on issues
such as climate change and mass incarceration.

And we are doing the second round right now
with decisions to come this spring.

And we are investing in building renovations.
As I mentioned, right now Chemistry and Lorch Hall 

and we're looking ahead to the other
renovations that lie ahead.

And then as some of you will know, we sent
out a survey recently to research faculty

to ask about how we can provide better support
for our research mission.

And if you haven't, if you are someone who
does that and you haven't filled out this

survey yet, I will send a reminder and 
you'll get a chance but lots of

[Audio Issue]

 more in support for our research mission.

In terms of Undergraduate Education, we have
launched the Program in Computing for Arts 

and Sciences to help Liberal Arts students
get the computing and digital literacy that

they are trying to get we are working on our
LSA First Gen Commitment.

This is we have a lot of first generation
students and it is an ever growing population.

And we are thinking about student success
as student thriving and the support that we

want to be able to provide all first generation
students in the college so that they can thrive.

We have now officially launched our 
Student Mental Health and Well-being Advocates.

There are two of them in the undergraduate education office, 

and we are showing, they are 
helping us see what it means 

to look at this question structurally 
in terms of how we can better

support students in terms of their 
mental health and well-being.

I also want to note that the LSA Opportunity
Hub is now hosting employers in our space,

and we are helping our students with their
Foundational Science expertise 

and their Foundational Skills.

Get connected with employers for the next
chapter of their careers.

In terms of our DEI investments, we will have
our DEI launch event for our DEI 2.0 plan

on November 13 in this building at one o'clock
I hope many of you will be able to come to that.

One of the things I'm really there's so many things 
to be proud of in our in terms of our  DEI 2.0 plan.

One is the ways in which it builds on task
forces that we have used over the past few years.

So an anti racism task force, a task force
on preventing sexual and gender based harassment

and then recently the LGBTQ plus working group.

And you'll see here that we also have an event
on November 6, where that report I sent to

you all at the end of September.

It is a remarkable report.

We're going to have a community discussion
on November 6, and our DEI 2.0 work is building

on all of the recommendations that 
are coming out of these groups.

DEI 2.0 focuses on staff, students and faculty.

It provides support so that all units across
the college can focus on core goals for them.

And of course, we, we're going to continue the
LSA Collegiate Fellows Program and extend

it to associate professor hiring.

And of course, we are also lending our expertise
as a college to central efforts such as

there's a new antisemitism initiative, 
which is really important 

we think about the
rise of antisemitism nationally, locally,

and we are lending our expertise to that.

We are partnering on research on equity and
student academic success, which is really

exciting and important work.

Our experts continue to consult on how to
appropriately acknowledge our history and

the land on which we sit.

And so I'm going to share with you one current
version of the land acknowledgement and this

is something that our faculty with expertise
are helping to continue to work through.

And I want to say as a first step, right first
to acknowledge our history, 

but this is just the first step.

There is so much work we need to do in this space.

The University of Michigan is located on the
territory of the Anishinaabeg people.

The Ann Arbor campus currently resides on
land ceded in the treaty of Detroit and 1807.

Additionally, in 1817, the Ojibwe, Odawa, and
Potawatomi nations made the single largest

land transfer to the University of Michigan,
ceded at the treaty of fort Meggs, 

with the hope that their children would be educated.

However, the University of Michigan would
not have another native student enrolled for

another 100 years.

We acknowledge the sovereignty of tribal lands
and the painful history of genocide, 

forced assimilation, and displacement
 of native communities

that facilitated the placement
 of this very university.

We affirm contemporary and ancestral Anishnaabeg
ties to this land, the profound contributions

of native Americans to this institution and
the university's commitment to educate the

children of native ancestors.

There is so much work we still have to do
to make good on that commitment.

There is also so much work we need to do for
so many students we need to do better for

our black students, for Latina Latino Latinx
students, for our Middle Eastern and North

African students for all our students of color.

This is core to our DEI work in the college.

We know that it enhances our excellence in
terms of work that we do here in LSA.

And it is our goal to weave DEI into 
the very fabric of this place. 

Into who we are and what we do. 
It needs to be part of the fabric. 

I will end our investments with Sustainability.

We are going to launch the Year of Sustainability
in January. 2024 will be the Year of Sustainability.

This will involve coursework, it will be programming,
and so much more including 

some funding opportunities 

for units who want to pilot programs initiatives
that will advance our sustainability goals.

We will be looking at structural changes to
policies and the way we do things to enhance

and forward our sustainability goals.

The Year of Sustainability is designed to be a 
launch to many many years of sustainability.

It is a launch pad.

And I don't think I have done this 
yet at a State of the College

 I get to make an announcement.

I am announcing that pending completion
 of a campus level review 

and then approved by the regents.

We will be partnered with the 
Office of the Provost to invest

10 million dollars to make the University of Michigan
 Biological Station carbon neutral.

[Applause]

We've been talking about this for a few 
years and I am glad that we can now 

announce that commitment. That we will 
be making the Biostation carbon neutral.

It is just the beginning, but it feels 
like a really exciting way to kick off 

the Year of Sustainability. [Inaudible]

So I'm going to tell you a story to say all
 of what I've talked about it is possible 

from the ideas to the 
implementation of these ideas. 

because the college is bigger
 than any one of us

We have a coherent and inspiring mission and
vision that is at the heart of this university.

People are pursuing work that is personal,
 they are diving into exploration.

They are advancing our DEI work.   
They are finding ways to promote 

well-being all across the college. 

Together we're building things that 
last we are changing the world 

in positive ways and ways that align
with our values as a college.

So I told you three inspiring stories.

These are three out of 1000s 
of stories in the college.

And to me, as I said, one of the most 
remarkable privileges of this job

 is that I got lifted out of my own 
department and my area of expertise

to see across the entire landscape of the

college in terms of what we are doing and
it is breath taking the scope, the energy,

the creativity, the impact, and this
 is all in one college.

This is why I feel so optimistic that 
whatever comes next and whoever 

is in this role after me, we will 
continue to be the remarkable

place that is LSA that is at the very 
heart of this university.

So thank you all for being here and I 
think I have left enough time that we 

can do a robust Q&A. So thank you.

[Applause]

Now I get to come out from behind the podium.

And I would be delighted.

I see we've got Lauren with a microphone.

We've got a couple of microphones and fantastic

We've got three microphones.

So we're ready for questions 

and I'm a teacher
so I can wait you out

[Laughter]

[Audio Difficulties] 

I wanted to ask about the upcoming Vision 2034

That, um, we don't know exactly what it will entail
but presumably more emphasis on interdisciplinary

and diverse at the university, which there
are many, but then you could also argue that

the decentralized budget model and 
so forth keeps us apart.

I wonder whether it is a in particular with
the three subdivisions could take a leadership

role in bridging the different disciplines
so humanities, social sciences, natural sciences.

In some way.

It's meaningful I mean, sure there are things
going on but could be more.

So Neil, if I understand correctly, if we could 
be doing more even across our three divisions.

As we look toward interdisciplinary 
across the university.

[Audio Difficulties] 

Yeah, so I think, I think the answer
 is we absolutely should.

And one of the things I've liked about some
of the funding models that we have put in

place is that we are requiring 
collaboration across disciplines.

It doesn't always cross divisions, 
but it often does. 

That in order, the Meet the Moment grant 

these these, these have to be 
interdisciplinary teams.

And I actually was in a meeting this morning,
where we were thinking about whether the university

at some point would move more 
into the credentialing space.

And I thought you know, this is a 
place where I would want these 

credentials to be really interdisciplinary.

So you think about something on AI?

Well, I want people to, you know, be doing coding 
and this kind of thing and take a philosophy course.

I want people who are thinking about climate
change to take a communications or a psychology

course, to think about how do you convince
people that climate change is something that

we need to deal with or persuade 
people to do something about it?

So this is certainly the future.

It's something our President is very invested
in, is this interdisciplinary work.

We I will say it's interesting when I talk
with faculty recruits or new faculty who've

come to U of M who are struck by our 
interdisciplinarity of that, that to some extent,

 the walls are already pretty low
 in terms of moving across.

But I do know that moving across schools and
colleges is harder than moving across departments.

And I think that is going to be part of the
Vision 2034. It is something that people are

thinking about in terms of the campaign.

How can we have some things that are crossing
across schools and colleges, you think about

all the topics I've mentioned AI, climate change,
democracy

We have so much expertise across our schools
and colleges and how do we incentivize that

so very much on the university's radar, and
I like your point of how can we model and

be doing that even more than we are here?

Thank you, Anne, 

Can you tell us about the piano
and the viola?

Oh, I'm going to hope.

Nini, Can you tell us about the piano and the viola?

We're going to need to hand you a microphone.

So in development, we often receive gifts in kind

 to different departments,
and I believe the piano and viola 

both went to the residential college

[Audio Difficulties]

Just pianos and violas.

[Laughter]

They are very special because they are in LSA.

So they are very special.

Yeah, we've got a question there.

We can bring you up we can bring you a microphone

Sara can we give you the microphone? 

And I would like to recognize Sara Buss.

[Applause]

I was wondering whether you have any fears,
I mean, because you talk about all the hopes

and I share them, and it's just you know, 
almost gives me goosebumps hearing it all.

But yeah, you know, the darker side.

Do you have any? I mean, maybe not fears, but

apprehension or a sort of,
  identification of vulnerabilities.

Do you think that, or you're
 thinking about especially.

Yes, Sara, it's a good...I love the question.

And particularly because I think 
as you all have come to know 

me I'm a very optimistic 
Pollyanna ish person.

And much of what I'm talking about, 
in many ways, we could turn and 

think about them as responses to challenges.

Right.

So when I talk about the need to talk about
the value of the liberal arts, and to think

about the language we use, this is because
we are in a culture right now that is struggling,

at least in the public discourse to value
the liberal arts and to value higher education

more generally.

And so it does matter how we talk about it.

I know there are people who will say, 
you know, people should just understand 

why we matter.

And I don't actually believe that I think
we need to justify why we matter.

And I really do believe we've never been more
relevant, but we have to make that case.

It is a vulnerability.

And we can see this across higher education
where people aren't always investing in the

liberal arts, I think that is short sighted
to not invest in the liberal arts.

Delighted to be at the University of Michigan
where we are able to do that.

I worry as I know we all do a lot about student
mental health and well being.

I worry about the whole community's mental
health and well being and focus particularly

on students so that's where we're, you know,
when people ask me what keeps you up at night,

you know, students, making sure that we're
really taking good care of students.

I think at the University of Michigan, we
have a lot of work to do on DEI.

We have come we have made progress on our
goals and progress I'm really proud of and

we have taken it seriously as a university
and as a college and we have a long way to

go to live up to our ideals around 
access, around inclusion,

To be as diverse and representative as we
should be as a public university.

We have a long we have a long way to go.

But I'm fundamentally optimistic because the
discourse for those of us who've been here

a long time, the discourse is totally different
from where we were in terms of the way we

talk about the way we're committed to the
actions we're taking, the willingness and

one of the things I'm proud of in LSA is that
we are looking at structures we are willing

to look at structures and policies.

I tried to tell people nothing 
is off the table here.

And then of course, I think 
we're all trying to think about AI 

I mean, it's changing every day.

So valued the way you were talking about
it with students because we have to ask these

fundamental questions.

And what is it going to do to our research enterprise?

How is it going to change the way we do research?

How is it going to change the way we work?

The way we learn?

And we don't know the answer to that.

So there are more but those are 
some fundamental ones.

And as I think about it, I'm like those 
sort of map onto my talk.

In some way or some things that, 
things that I'm thinking about.

Is that a hand?

Katherine, I think we've got a hand right here

Hi, thank you, Anne, for this and for your service.

I have a question related to DEI 2.0

One of the strategic plan initiatives, the
actions is related to staff pay equity, 

which is exciting.

There's a staff pay equity study that's going
to be initiated and I wanted to know what

considerations the college has in the 
potential implications of that study.

And also with the GEO contract negotiations
and how how the budget is going to be impacted

by those things.

And if that's something that the college is
considering going forward.

So thank you for the question.

And absolutely, and this is where I feel lucky
to have really fantastic leadership on the

finance team, and with my leaders 
who are thinking about these 

budget questions all the time.

The amazing thing to me is that 
they tell me they enjoy this.

Now I will say I'm not scared of budgets,
but I wouldn't say that like pleasure in terms

of thinking about okay, let's work out the
impact of the new GEO contract.

So we are working that through right now it
also sort of what what does this mean for

the college?

What does it cost?

I'm delighted that we have a new contract.

I'm delighted everyone is working 
under contract right now.

It is going to cost us in the college.

So the first thing we have to do is figure
out what that looks like.

And then we will have to figure out 
how we pay for that.

So we have to think about you know, we will
have to think about things people know this,

like the size of graduate programs, as we
think about the cost of graduate education.

So that's a reality.

We're going to sort that out.

We will not do any of that 
without consultation, right.

One of the things I've been so proud of is
that we really try to work with as much

transparency as possible and as we figure things
 out we go to chairs and directors, we go to chief

administrators we say here's what we're seeing.

Let's talk this through before we make decisions.

The staff pay equity work is going to 
be really important for us.

And I'm not leading in that space, but I do
think that it's as we think about how staff

colleagues can thrive here in the college
questions of pay equity questions of professional

development, you all have told us that those
are incredibly important.

The question of, you know, how do we handle
that within the budget?

This is this is what we do all the time, right?

We're thinking about this in terms of how
are we going to renovate the chemistry building,

which is super expensive to do.

We do this through centralist thinking about
these questions and we're thinking about them

in the college.

But so I don't have a specific 
answer for you on that.

But to say that I think this work is incredibly
important and so we're creative in terms of

thinking about how we make how 
we make that happen.

Do we have another

So, the university has just released 
preliminary drafts of the campus plan.

So, I'm curious as to if you've seen them 
and what your thoughts on how LSA 

is represented in the 2050 campus plan 

[Audio Difficulties]

Yeah, so that was not a plan.

I would like you all to know we have not actually

I'm like, Dan, what do you think 
about the campus plan?

[Laughter]

So I'll give you my thoughts and afterward,
we can talk about how we both think about this

So one of the things I'm always thinking about
as the dean of LSA, what is my job

here as we think about things like 
campus planning 2050. 

We have, now this is a stat, Daniel,
 tell me if I have it wrong.

We have 20 buildings.

Ish

What I have been told most recently 

is that 11 of those buildings have not 
been renovated in 50 years.

Exactly.

So we teach every student. We have over 19,000
students, this is core mission work for us.

This is also where we're doing research.

So as I look at the campus plan, one of my
jobs as the dean is always to be saying

 that new building is super exciting.

And this building really needs to be renovated
as does this building and this building.

So one of my jobs is also to make sure that
LSA gets our fair share, right?

We have a lot of buildings, if you're a school
with one building, and you get renovated,

you can wait 50 years.

We have a lot of buildings that need to get
renovated, so I'm trying to make sure that

we are thinking about renovating buildings
in addition to building new buildings and

that we're thinking about 
sustainability in all of this.

So that's how I'm trying to to weigh this.

I'm really glad they're doing it.

I think having a campus plan and really 
thinking strategically about this.

And one of the things we're thinking hard
about is how we better connect North Campus

and central campus.

And I think if we can make that happen that
would be transformational as we think about

interdisciplinary research across 
schools and colleges.

If we could travel more easily back and forth
between North and Central that would make

a huge difference.

And so I say that a lot too.

So I think we can take a couple more questions.

So we've got Kelly

Kathrine's coming

Thank you Anne, and thank you 
also for five years almost 

of leadership, which I'm greatly, 
I'm very grateful.

Greatly grateful, 

[Audio Difficulties]

problematic. I stopped.

I wondered about the LSA equivalents
at our campuses in Dearborn and Flint.

And I wonder if you could talk about them
at all, and whether there's plans afoot at

all to do more integration or collaboration
across our three campuses.

Yeah.

Um

Again, really appreciate the question.

It's something that Tim McKay who is 

just left 

he's teaching he had told me he
 had to leave to teach,

that we have been talking about 

so we are of course, different 
at Flint and Dearborn.

Because, of course, they're 
very different campuses.

I would like that partnership to be much more
robust if we're thinking.

I mean, we could think about it also on the
faculty space exchanges, research spaces,

we think about undergraduate education, respecting
the incredible work that both of these campuses

do, and recognizing that for some students
there are things that the Ann Arbor campus

can offer that Flint and Dearborn cannot.

And so how do we facilitate 

right now all of those students go 
through the regular transfer process.

There is no special relationship between 
Flint and Dearborn and Ann Arbor.

So there are conversations about how we could
create better relationships where it'd be

easier for students who want to, but it is
also really important to me that as part of

that these are partnerships with those schools
like I really worry about Ann Arbor, this

sense that in Arbor is just sort of taking
resources from other schools.

I want to think about for for the students,
for who this would be because we can offer

things particularly liberal arts, that both
those particularly Flint can't always do.

But what how do we also think about 
reciprocity in that relationship?

I always want to think about these things
as partnerships and not one way thing so a

work in progress but very much 
on our on our radar.

I very much appreciate you taking the time
to give really thoughtful responses. It's wonderful.

So one thing that you brought up is the fact
that of course, things that we do in the DEI

and liberal arts education, higher education
in general are seeing backlashes or movement

of other parts of the country 
into different directions.

And I'm always amazed how much personal 
outreach can make a difference and 

I keep thinking of, and I've had 
this idea for years, but

this Michigan, Michigan Rhodes Scholars Program
that is mostly about relationships with the

government, Michigan State Government and
visiting factories and things like this, 

but couldn't there be one where faculty and staff
 and others go on a road trip across 

Michigan to actually reach out to communities 
where higher education is looked at 

something that that well, students, I mean, 
kids get brainwashed that they don't want 

their kids to go there and things like this. 
Couldn't there be an outreach that 

that drives home what we bring to the table
and how that's actually beneficial for everyone?

Yeah, well a really nice question to end on
in terms of how could we be thinking about

outreach to the state. So certainly, you know, one version
would be something like the Michigan Rhodes Scholarship

thinking about community outreach.
I will say one of the things we think is true

if we're trying to reach students, and think
about students coming to the University of

Michigan, our best ambassadors, students.

I mean, I can say whatever I want about the
University of Michigan, if a student a current

student, or a recent alum says it is so 
much more powerful and believable.

And so we've been thinking a lot about that.

I mean, one example.

I'll give two examples.

One is Intend to Attend.

So this is a program that we have launched
within the last year, which is designed

it's outreach to eighth graders through 
12th graders, to help students get 

ready for college, if that's what they want to do.

And we very explicitly say for college, if
they come to U of M great, but if they

go anywhere, community colleges, anywhere in the
state, anywhere across the country, we don't care.

It's part of our public mission.

Let's prepare more students 
to be ready for college.

And so we're using online resources and student
ambassadors from the areas of Michigan where

we're doing outreach so that they can tell
us how to do good outreach.

Because what we think is good outreach and
what is good outreach to students are often

we being like me, are often not the same thing.

I think this is also where the work we're
doing with transfer students around 

community colleges is also really powerful.

So our team and Undergrad Ed is now working
to expand our Mellon bridges, transfer the 

humanities project all community colleges in the state
so that we have relationships at every community

college where the message is so clearly, 
we want your students here.

We have looked at our policies to make it
feasible and easier for students to be here.

And that we have the infrastructure here to
support students and that they succeed here.

So those are just a couple of examples of
ways we're trying to think about our role

as a public university in the state of 
Michigan as well as in the country.

So we have, and I have watched, what I get to see 
from this perch is that food has been brought in.

So we hope that you will stay we have got
food and drink and it is really I still don't

take for granted that we're all 
together in person.

So I hope you will enjoy each other's company
and I'm delighted to talk more with all of

you one on one or in small groups.

So enjoy the rest of your Wednesday afternoon.

[Applause]