When a community is struggling after decades of civil strife, what happens to our animal companions? “Nearly every animal that we bring in is called in to us by local residents who see them struggling. We are only able to take in the orphaned, injured, or sick. We can’t collect all street animals. But there is more effort towards welfare overall. At the times when it does seem hopeless, we just work harder and make our own,” says Charlotte Maxwell-Jones (M.A. ’11 and ’12, Ph.D. ’15), an alum who studied classical art, classical studies, and archaeology. Maxwell-Jones is president and founder of the nonprofit Kabul Small Animal Rescue, which rescued 294 cats and dogs from Afghanistan in an airlift to Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2024, and has saved thousands of animals since its founding.
When a community is struggling after decades of civil strife, what happens to our animal companions? “Nearly every animal that we bring in is called in to us by local residents who see them struggling. We are only able to take in the orphaned, injured, or sick. We can’t collect all street animals. But there is more effort towards welfare overall. At the times when it does seem hopeless, we just work harder and make our own,” says Charlotte Maxwell-Jones (M.A. ’11 and ’12, Ph.D. ’15), an alum who studied classical art, classical studies, and archaeology. Maxwell-Jones is president and founder of the nonprofit Kabul Small Animal Rescue, which rescued 294 cats and dogs from Afghanistan in an airlift to Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2024, and has saved thousands of animals since its founding.
The problem: Pakistan is facing a water crisis, with millions of people lacking access to clean drinking water. One solution: the nonprofit Paani (Urdu for “water”), founded by economics alum Arhum Arshad (A.B. ’19) and Sikander “Sonny” Khan (B.B.A. ’20). The organization helps provide clean drinking water, famine relief, education, and health care to rural communities in Pakistan. They started as students, raising funds initially by selling donuts on campus. Arshad, now a product manager at the Alumni Association at U-M, says, “When I can see the impact we have made in Pakistani lives with my own eyes, when I visit those communities, that’s what is truly fulfilling to us.”
… then look for the Kirtland’s warbler! The yellow-breasted species, also known as the jack pine warbler, once bred exclusively in Michigan and experienced a significant decline, with numbers plummeting to roughly 300 birds in the 1970s. It now has a population of more than 5,000. Ecology and evolutionary biology Ph.D. student Max Witynski credits the warbler’s recovery to the passage of the Endangered Species Act and subsequent careful management.
… then look for the Kirtland’s warbler! The yellow-breasted species, also known as the jack pine warbler, once bred exclusively in Michigan and experienced a significant decline, with numbers plummeting to roughly 300 birds in the 1970s. It now has a population of more than 5,000. Ecology and evolutionary biology Ph.D. student Max Witynski credits the warbler’s recovery to the passage of the Endangered Species Act and subsequent careful management.
There are no easy answers when it comes to the epidemic of drug overdoses, which is why one student group is taking a multi-pronged approach to the problem. The Lookout Project, a nonprofit student organization, was an awardee in the 2024 optiMize Social Innovation Challenge for its efforts to increase public awareness about substance use disorder and develop more comprehensive, empathetic, and efficient harm-reduction methods—including overdose prevention centers—in Washtenaw County. The organization is led by two LSA students, Katherine Hankes (neuroscience) and Rasha Hamoudi (biochemistry); and School of Public Health student Shravya Ghantasala.
When there is limited electricity in low-resource communities, how will new parents care for their infants? Political science alum Jooyoung Chung (A.B. ’24) helped co-found NeoNest Global, a health care nonprofit dedicated to providing non-electric bassinet incubators to communities that face high levels of infant mortality. By collaborating with hospitals and partnering with community organizations in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, Chung and his colleagues aim to finish their prototype and begin clinical trials. A future physician, Chung now feels prepared to “overcome political barriers to address health inequities.”
In the Year of Sustainability at U-M, LSA has taken a number of big steps: offering classes that address climate anxiety, switching to compostable plates and forks at events, reducing swag, and establishing its first LSA Sustainability Team to help the college achieve carbon neutrality in its facilities—just to name a few. The college reinvested energy savings from last academic year into community-led projects, including a pollinator garden near the Power Center and equipment to save water used in chemistry research and teaching. And there are small steps that everyone can take while still having fun: the VIPs (Very Important Primates) Club, a student group, meets regularly to crochet, knit, bead, sew, and embroider eco-friendly clothes that combat the trend of fast fashion while raising money for wildlife conservation.
Film, television, and media students Mena Nasiri and Solomon Trice received support from LSA’s optiMize to expand their film group, 48 Frames, which helps BIPOC student filmmakers with financial infrastructure, marketing, distribution, and personnel, and places creative control back in the hands of the artists. As they champion BIPOC stories on-screen, Nasiri and Trice are also building a community of like-minded student artists on campus. In the works is a film about the experiences of an autistic woman with the Socratic method in a high school classroom.
Already a Goldwater Scholar, junior Devarshi Mukherji has now been named an Astronaut Scholar as well. This merit-based scholarship is given by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and was established in 1984 by Mercury 7 astronauts to support the country’s leadership in science and technology. The neuroscience major is leading a research project that aims to identify molecular mechanisms causing resistance to radiation therapy in pediatric brain tumors.
Last year, 27 U-M students and alums received Fulbright Scholarships; the majority were LSA undergraduate alums. They traveled to Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Italy, Romania, and other countries. Their interests include the role of genomes in the development of prostate cancer among Indian men and analyzing how popular participatory theater is used for social change in South Africa. Three faculty members from the Ann Arbor campus also were named Fulbright U.S. Scholars for 2023–24, including Se-Mi Oh, associate professor of Asian languages and cultures in LSA.
Shaquetta Morris, the student services coordinator for both the Department of Linguistics and the Weinberg Institute of Cognitive Science, received the prestigious Rising Star Award from LSA in 2023. Among her achievements is raising the female representation within the computational track at the institute—a field typically dominated by men—boosting it to a two-thirds majority of women. What’s behind Morris’s positive outlook? The impact her work has on students’ lives.
Shaquetta Morris, the student services coordinator for both the Department of Linguistics and the Weinberg Institute of Cognitive Science, received the prestigious Rising Star Award from LSA in 2023. Among her achievements is raising the female representation within the computational track at the institute—a field typically dominated by men—boosting it to a two-thirds majority of women. What’s behind Morris’s positive outlook? The impact her work has on students’ lives.
This fall, the university launched the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. The institute will study hatred directed against religious and ethnic communities, foster cross-cultural understanding, and elevate civil discourse. Through teaching, research, and public engagement, the institute will develop strategies to combat antisemitism, divisiveness, and discrimination.
The institute is named after Swedish humanitarian and U-M alum Raoul Wallenberg, whose efforts on behalf of the U.S. War Refugee Board to rescue European Jews during the Holocaust saved thousands of lives. He is one of only eight people in history to be named an honorary U.S. citizen, and his legacy is also recognized at U-M through the Wallenberg Medal and Lecture and the Wallenberg Fellowship—and in the campus statue pictured here.
This fall, the university launched the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. The institute will study hatred directed against religious and ethnic communities, foster cross-cultural understanding, and elevate civil discourse. Through teaching, research, and public engagement, the institute will develop strategies to combat antisemitism, divisiveness, and discrimination.
The institute is named after Swedish humanitarian and U-M alum Raoul Wallenberg, whose efforts on behalf of the U.S. War Refugee Board to rescue European Jews during the Holocaust saved thousands of lives. He is one of only eight people in history to be named an honorary U.S. citizen, and his legacy is also recognized at U-M through the Wallenberg Medal and Lecture and the Wallenberg Fellowship—and in the campus statue pictured here.
This year, the English Department’s New England Literature Program (NELP) celebrated its 50th year of rustic, place-based learning as 40 students and 13 U-M instructors lived, studied, and worked together in the woods of New England. They read New England authors like Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and Morgan Talty; they produced book-length journals; and they explored the landscape that inspired so many literary works. Classes met on mountaintops and docks, in village commons, around campfires and cookpots, in lean-tos, and under the stars. NELP-ers gave up personal technology for the duration of the program, handwriting all their work and making all their own music—continuing a 50-year experiment in deliberate living that Thoreau himself could appreciate.
Focus: HOPE, a longtime nonprofit in Detroit, has launched a program with DTE Energy to train tree trimmers. It’s a win for people seeking specialized job training and for residents who lose power during storms. Focus: HOPE is led by CEO Portia Roberson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English at LSA in 1990.
Focus: HOPE, a longtime nonprofit in Detroit, has launched a program with DTE Energy to train tree trimmers. It’s a win for people seeking specialized job training and for residents who lose power during storms. Focus: HOPE is led by CEO Portia Roberson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English at LSA in 1990.
Economists at LSA have forecasted a brighter future for the city of Detroit: payroll jobs are expected to increase, the unemployment rate is expected to fall, and industries are expected to increase their employment of blue-collar workers. The report, called the “Detroit Economic Outlook 2023–28,” anticipates economic growth in Detroit with cautious optimism.
Building cultural bridges can start with a book. Alum Chloe Collon (A.B. ’24), who majored in economics and Spanish, spearheaded a global reading exchange between fourth graders from Naranjito, Puerto Rico, and Michigan. The students, who all speak Spanish at home, were able to improve reading levels in both English and Spanish, reading comprehension, and vocabulary over the course of nine weeks of cross-cultural exchange.
Building cultural bridges can start with a book. Alum Chloe Collon (A.B. ’24), who majored in economics and Spanish, spearheaded a global reading exchange between fourth graders from Naranjito, Puerto Rico, and Michigan. The students, who all speak Spanish at home, were able to improve reading levels in both English and Spanish, reading comprehension, and vocabulary over the course of nine weeks of cross-cultural exchange.
Two 2024 LSA graduates—Kelly Phil (political science) and Bennett Dombcik (philosophy)—led U-M’s debate team to victory at the 2024 National Debate Tournament. Founded in 1903 and consistently ranked one of the best collegiate debate programs in the United States, the team sponsors scholarships for students who compete. When the news was announced, Phil described the moment as “the culmination of all my years in debate.” Dombcik experienced “not only an immense feeling of relief, knowing that the work we have done all year has paid off, but also of gratitude towards everyone who made winning the championship possible.” Both Phil and Dombcik see law school in their bright futures.
Two 2024 LSA graduates—Kelly Phil (political science) and Bennett Dombcik (philosophy)—led U-M’s debate team to victory at the 2024 National Debate Tournament. Founded in 1903 and consistently ranked one of the best collegiate debate programs in the United States, the team sponsors scholarships for students who compete. When the news was announced, Phil described the moment as “the culmination of all my years in debate.” Dombcik experienced “not only an immense feeling of relief, knowing that the work we have done all year has paid off, but also of gratitude towards everyone who made winning the championship possible.” Both Phil and Dombcik see law school in their bright futures.
Years of depressing headlines can make us feel hopeless, but Chris Fariss, professor of political science, has a different outlook. Recently honored as the best undergraduate instructor in his department, Fariss combines computational methods with the study of global human rights. His point of view, based on his research, is that global standards of human rights enforcement are increasing and that human rights are actually getting better over time.
Years of depressing headlines can make us feel hopeless, but Chris Fariss, professor of political science, has a different outlook. Recently honored as the best undergraduate instructor in his department, Fariss combines computational methods with the study of global human rights. His point of view, based on his research, is that global standards of human rights enforcement are increasing and that human rights are actually getting better over time.
The first cohort of U.P. Scholars graduated earlier this year. The program—a partnership of LSA, the Ross School of Business, and the Office of Financial Aid—is funded by private donors and has helped students from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula attend and adjust to U-M. In all, the program has awarded more than $1.3 million to 71 students since it was launched in fall 2020.
Alicia Ventresca-Miller—assistant curator of archaeological sciences at LSA’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology and an assistant professor of anthropology—runs an archaeological and chemical laboratory that studies ancient cuisines in Central and Inner Asia. Using isotopic analysis from sites in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, she focuses on identifying the consumption of dairy, fermented foods, and human movement across steppe landscapes. The research conducted by her team illuminates the ways that livestock were managed by past societies, and may allow us to build sustainable practices in the present day. Her team’s most recent find? An ancient vessel filled with yak butter.
Linda Garcia, executive assistant to the chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, began quilting 10 years ago. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she spotted a pattern on a quilt blog that spoke to her. She ordered it and stitched together a brightly colored quilt featuring optimistic words and related symbols: moxie, respect, love, hope, and more. Countless passersby in the Biological Sciences Building, where it is displayed, have commented on it. “I let it speak to people. I try not to add any commentary to it,” Garcia says. “The middle says ‘open heart, open mind,’ and I believe this is what we all need.”
Two LSA-led research teams have set out to protect frogs, bats, and bees in innovative ways—to preserve their species, the planet, and even our own lives.
With her words and images, LSA alum Supriya Kelkar brings a fresh voice to children’s literature and inspires readers “to decolonize, to hold their heads high, and to never forget their shine.”
Rosario (Rosie) Ceballo began a five-year term as dean of LSA in August, drawn back to U-M by “the incredible caliber of the people who are part of the LSA community.”
A bright future shouldn’t be limited by financial barriers. LSA is committed to making it possible for every admitted student to afford an education here. Donor support helps create access while supporting tomorrow’s leaders, thinkers, and doers in their hopes to make a difference in our world.
| Release Date: | 11/12/2024 |
|---|---|
| Category: | Faculty; Alumni; Students; Staff |
| Tags: | LSA; Natural Sciences; LSA Magazine; Humanities; Social Sciences; Gina Balibrera; Katie Vloet; Stephanie Wong |
