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  11. <title>Michigan Today</title>
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  23. <title>Sleuthing the story behind a photo</title>
  24. <link>https://bentley.umich.edu/news-events/magazine/sleuthing-the-story-behind-a-photo/</link>
  25. <comments>https://bentley.umich.edu/news-events/magazine/sleuthing-the-story-behind-a-photo/#respond</comments>
  27. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  28. <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2025 20:14:20 +0000</pubDate>
  29. <category><![CDATA[Campus Life]]></category>
  30. <category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
  31. <category><![CDATA[Heritage/Tradition]]></category>
  32. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48650</guid>
  33.  
  34. <description><![CDATA[When Edward Mears discovered a photo, dated 1933, of his grandmother and her friends at U-M's Alpha Lambda Chinese fraternity, his imagination lit up. One of his grandmother's friends, an Asian man, had inscribed the photo 'To Veronica, with love, Ben.' The inscription inspired a deep dive at the Bentley and took Mears across continents. The story is still unfolding. ]]></description>
  35. <content:encoded><![CDATA[When Edward Mears discovered a photo, dated 1933, of his grandmother and her friends at U-M's Alpha Lambda Chinese fraternity, his imagination lit up. One of his grandmother's friends, an Asian man, had inscribed the photo 'To Veronica, with love, Ben.' The inscription inspired a deep dive at the Bentley and took Mears across continents. The story is still unfolding. ]]></content:encoded>
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  38. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  41. </item>
  42. <item>
  43. <title>Change is … good?</title>
  44. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/change-is-good/</link>
  45. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/change-is-good/#comments</comments>
  47. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ricky Rood]]></dc:creator>
  48. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 20:43:51 +0000</pubDate>
  49. <category><![CDATA[Climate Blue]]></category>
  50. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  51. <category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
  52. <category><![CDATA[climate science]]></category>
  53. <category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>
  54. <category><![CDATA[weather]]></category>
  55. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48534</guid>
  56.  
  57. <description><![CDATA[As the nation’s climate scientists plan for an uncertain future, Ricky Rood sees an opportunity to improve the research enterprise.]]></description>
  58. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>So, what’s next?</h2>
  59. <p>As I write this in June 2025, the number of climate and weather scientists I know who have retired, accepted buyouts, or been fired is beyond my accounting. Many more have lost their funding and expect to be without a job in a matter of months. A leading <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91333946/this-iconic-nasa-office-changed-climate-science-forever-doge-plans-to-kill-it">NASA Institute was turned out to find a new home</a>. Data and information services are threatened; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/11/climate-website-shut-down-noaa">some are closed down or likely to close</a>. Across federal agencies, budgets of climate change activities have been reduced, sometimes eliminated, and further reductions are expected. A few have been shut down, <a href="https://ipmnewsroom.org/regional-climate-centers-resume-operations-after-funding-loss-led-to-closures/">then given a reprieve after some effective protests</a>.</p>
  60. <p>Even in cases when no one says out loud that an effort is ended or a center is closed, the people available to do the work have, often, been left in a position to assure failure. There are simply too few to do what needs to be done. Infrastructure is imperiled.</p>
  61. <p>It is a bleak time for climate science. <a href="https://www.aip.org/fyi/project-2025-outlines-possible-future-for-science-agencies">All of this was promised in Project 2025.</a></p>
  62. <p>Many who I know are too shell-shocked to talk about what has happened. They are more concerned about how to pay the mortgage. Those who are still at work are focused on doing their jobs. They are scientists and communicators committed to and driven by their work; they consider their work important.</p>
  63. <p>Beyond their personal situations, few are thinking about “what’s next?” It is a difficult proposition to think, collectively, about institutions.</p>
  64. <h2>One size does not fit all</h2>
  65. <div id="attachment_1782" style="width: 315px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2013/12/greatlakes-ind.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1782" class=" wp-image-1782" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2013/12/greatlakes-ind.jpg" alt="Michigan from space" width="305" height="194" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-1782" class="wp-caption-text">(Image credit: NOAA.)</p></div>
  66. <p>This past week, I gave a talk in a workshop on what I believe is required to provide model simulations to support adaptation to a warming climate in the Great Lakes region.</p>
  67. <p>I have believed for years that the U.S. needs a new, more strategic approach to climate modeling. The current political situation only elevates the need. It is foolhardy to imagine that a future election is going to rebuild what we once had.</p>
  68. <p>I described the need for a new approach in “<a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/04/to-adapt-to-climate-change-we-need-better-models/">To adapt to climate change, we need better models.</a>”</p>
  69. <p>In short, I and many others have felt that <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13430/a-national-strategy-for-advancing-climate-modeling">U.S. climate modeling activities were inefficient</a>, fragmented across too many agencies. I believe that too much effort is focused on “understanding” the climate system and not enough is focused on the real-world applications that we face: preparedness, adaptation, geoengineering, tipping points, etc. The predominant culture of massive computers and the quest for a one-size-fits-all comprehensive model is unsustainable. It does not address the need.</p>
  70. <p>Though I feel the way we do business needs to change, I have never advocated “tearing it all down.” Though inefficient, what we have (perhaps had) worked and was, often, world-class. I have no examples that demonstrate how tearing it all down leads to better outcomes.</p>
  71. <p>My talk at the workshop focused on the Great Lakes. But it also provided a version of what needs to happen nationally.</p>
  72. <p>I made the (perhaps unconvincing) argument that the current political environment offers an opportunity to do something differently.</p>
  73. <h2>Rising above the political fray</h2>
  74. <div id="attachment_48539" style="width: 331px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/climate-blue-protest-signs.jpg"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48539" class=" wp-image-48539" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/climate-blue-protest-signs.jpg" alt="Climate protesters rally with signs like &quot;There is no Planet B.&quot;" width="321" height="237" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/climate-blue-protest-signs.jpg 800w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/climate-blue-protest-signs-300x221.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/climate-blue-protest-signs-768x566.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48539" class="wp-caption-text">(Image: iStock.)</p></div>
  75. <p>I understand the researcher’s desire to focus on “the science” when attacking problems deemed imperative by society.</p>
  76. <p>Many scientists maintain the knowledge they generate is politically neutral, objectively valuable. However, when science-based research suggests or compels changes to personal behavior, businesses, economics, and power structures, it is immediately politicized. If the research is supported, primarily by government, there is no reason to expect our science enterprise to rise above the political fray.</p>
  77. <p>For the current administration, climate science resides on the liability ledger rather than the assets.</p>
  78. <p>Political activism and litigation provide well-founded pushback against the deconstruction of our climate science capacity, but I fear such efforts produce only limited success. Even if we experience some major political and legal victories, too much damage has already been done.</p>
  79. <p>We need new champions, new leaders.</p>
  80. <p>Too much of what I hear from our often-deposed leaders in climate science remains trapped in the echo chamber surrounding agency missions, agency turf, and the objective value of our work. It’s as if the scientific community believes that once our value to society will, in crisis, be revealed, our missions and budgets will be restored.</p>
  81. <p>But the people who are cutting budgets and hollowing out institutions are working with values that deviate from longstanding scientific norms. They have rewritten the agencies’ missions. <a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-in-the-american-mind-politics-policy-spring-2025/">Though the public is supportive of climate science</a>, climate and science rarely rise to the level of a <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2024/11/15/climate-science-no-time-for-a-stacked-deck/">first-priority voting issue</a>. Those in control of the resources are getting what they want.</p>
  82. <p>The future will rely on the community moving away from a defensive position. Science cannot maintain the narrative that all we have done has been right, and that all that is being proposed is wrong. Too many studies about the practice of science and the execution of science policy, often authored by scientists, demonstrate that things need to change.</p>
  83. <h2>Balancing change with preservation</h2>
  84. <aside class="callout left">We need to identify the next generation of science leaders who will extract and develop approaches and opportunities that meet the moment. If we don’t, that potential will be lost for years.</aside>
  85. <p>Leadership requires one to differentiate themselves from the canonical thinking of the group.</p>
  86. <p>I led several organizations in my career, and I was never asked to be a steward of present behavior and practice. I was always asked to disrupt an entrenched organizational culture and to address goals that aligned with agency or national priorities.</p>
  87. <p>This required asking what needs to change.</p>
  88. <p>And it required a strategic approach that balanced change with preservation. A coherent and focused approach is a convincing feature of good leadership. It is easier to conceive an effective approach to adaptation modeling in the Great Lakes than it is to reimagine the entire U.S. climate science enterprise. Even so, such a regional effort could be framed as a contribution to such a reimagining.</p>
  89. <p>As the rubble of our crumbling climate enterprise piles up, we need to identify the next generation of science leaders who will extract and develop approaches and opportunities that meet the moment. If we don’t, that potential will be lost for years. What we face today is too important to let that happen. We need to find, inspire, and support those willing to challenge the status quo of their own community, to avoid complicity with those intent on doing damage, and to build trust and develop the compromises necessary to do things differently.</p>
  90. ]]></content:encoded>
  92. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/change-is-good/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  93. <slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
  96. </item>
  97. <item>
  98. <title>Meet me at the Wacky Shack</title>
  99. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/meet-me-at-the-wacky-shack/</link>
  100. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/meet-me-at-the-wacky-shack/#respond</comments>
  102. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Holdship]]></dc:creator>
  103. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:38:45 +0000</pubDate>
  104. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  105. <category><![CDATA[Editor's Blog]]></category>
  106. <category><![CDATA[higher education]]></category>
  107. <category><![CDATA[Iggy Pop]]></category>
  108. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48513</guid>
  109.  
  110. <description><![CDATA[As the wild ride in higher education continues, we find refuge in the strangest places.]]></description>
  111. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Fun House</h2>
  112. <div id="attachment_48514" style="width: 317px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/StoogesFunHouse-album-cover-e1750437139687.jpg"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48514" class=" wp-image-48514" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/StoogesFunHouse-album-cover-e1750437139687.jpg" alt="Iggy Pop's album cover of the Stooges' 2nd album Fun House. Shirtless Iggy gyrates like a red flame." width="307" height="307" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/StoogesFunHouse-album-cover-e1750437139687.jpg 400w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/StoogesFunHouse-album-cover-e1750437139687-300x300.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/StoogesFunHouse-album-cover-e1750437139687-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 307px) 100vw, 307px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48514" class="wp-caption-text">Fun House was the Stooges&#8217; second album. &#8220;No Fun&#8221; can be found on the band&#8217;s self-titled debut.</p></div>
  113. <p>Few things tweak the tender heart of nostalgia like the sight of a Ferris Wheel rising from the blacktop of a high school parking lot. It&#8217;s even better when the Ferris Wheel beckons from the high school parking lot of Ann Arbor&#8217;s own James Osterberg.</p>
  114. <p>The wild dervish who sang <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXIw1BvfEQ8">&#8220;No Fun&#8221;</a> on the Stooges&#8217; debut album can sleep easy tonight. Fun surely will be had at Pioneer High School once the chain link gates fly open at Iggy Pop&#8217;s old stomping grounds. We&#8217;re talking corn dogs, hot dogs, and chicken tenders. The Scrambler still abides. And in case you hadn&#8217;t noticed, the Wacky Shack awaits. If only Iggy were there to greet you at its wacky threshold.</p>
  115. <h2>The Scrambler</h2>
  116. <p>Of course, it wouldn&#8217;t be opening-day for a parking-lot carnival in Michigan unless it happened under stormy summer skies. But we all know how it goes around here. Rain on Halloween. Lightning at the Tigers game. Any aficionado of the Ann Arbor Art Fair can predict to the nanosecond when the next extreme weather event will wreak havoc on our town.</p>
  117. <p>Higher education has been on its own carnival ride for quite some time, and we&#8217;re tired of eyeing those dark clouds with daily dread. Most of us are ready to flip the switch and stop this crazy thing before all the funding disappears, all the critical research is blocked, and all the smartest people we know lose their jobs. Iggy may have had a point after all. It&#8217;s &#8220;No Fun&#8221; when the carnival is under such dire threat from above.</p>
  118. <div id="attachment_48515" style="width: 278px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Scambler-Editors-Blog.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48515" class=" wp-image-48515" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Scambler-Editors-Blog.jpg" alt="A view through the chain link fence of a carnival that hast yet to open. Stormy skies and a Ferris Wheel." width="268" height="223" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Scambler-Editors-Blog.jpg 576w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Scambler-Editors-Blog-300x250.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48515" class="wp-caption-text">(Image: D. Holdship.)</p></div>
  119. <p>&nbsp;</p>
  120. <p>Listen, we come to the Fun House for thrills, not disasters. And we look to higher education to keep the (Ferris) wheels turning, not to get to stuck at the top of a janky ride that hasn&#8217;t seen service in several seasons.</p>
  121. <p>In his latest message to the U-M community, <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/19/the-life-changing-impact-of-research-and-education/">President Dominico Grasso reminds us of the joy</a> inherent in discovery. If that doesn&#8217;t sum up the purpose of a university, I don&#8217;t know what does. Teaching brings joy. Learning leads to joy. Pursuing knowledge is the very essence of joy.</p>
  122. <p>So, grab a corn dog and meet me at the Wacky Shack until the storm passes. You can even see the giant Block M at Michigan Stadium from here. And once the sky clears, we can reclaim our equilibrium, recalibrate our mojo, and refocus on the priorities that make higher education and our University of Michigan the most thrilling and joyful place to be.<br />
  123. &nbsp;<br />
  124. &nbsp;<br />
  125. <em>(Lead image: D. Holdship.)</em></p>
  126. ]]></content:encoded>
  128. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/meet-me-at-the-wacky-shack/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  129. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  132. </item>
  133. <item>
  134. <title>&#8216;Will the girl who took my shirt and left her poetry&#8230;&#8217;</title>
  135. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/will-the-girl-who-took-my-shirt-and-left-her-poetry/</link>
  136. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/will-the-girl-who-took-my-shirt-and-left-her-poetry/#comments</comments>
  138. <dc:creator><![CDATA[James Tobin]]></dc:creator>
  139. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 11:40:07 +0000</pubDate>
  140. <category><![CDATA[Heritage/Tradition]]></category>
  141. <category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
  142. <category><![CDATA[MIchigan Daily]]></category>
  143. <category><![CDATA[personal ads]]></category>
  144. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48510</guid>
  145.  
  146. <description><![CDATA[Before social media, before dating apps, there were personal ads, a department of newspapers' classified advertising sections that spiced up the paper's lifeless gray columns. A dive into The Michigan Daily's digital archive reveals an especially creative era on campus when Michigan students used the Daily's back pages to express their emotions and connect.]]></description>
  147. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Let&#8217;s get personal</h2>
  148. <p>Before social media, before dating apps, there were personal ads, a department of newspapers&#8217; classified advertising sections that spiced up endless gray columns selling rooms for rent, babysitting services, and &#8220;slide rules, new and used.&#8221;</p>
  149. <p>A vogue for &#8220;personals&#8221; rose in the <i><span style="font-weight: 400">Michigan Daily</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400"> in the late 1950s and receded in the early &#8217;70s. Ironic and offbeat, sophomoric and silly, romantic and racy, inappropriate and occasionally even intellectual, they offer tiny windows into those fast-changing times.</span></p>
  150. <p>If any trend persisted, it was insecure guys seeking unattainable girls, often in the wake of a chance encounter that lit a flame in a guy&#8217;s romantic imagination. Another perennial: Guys apologizing for dumb things they did the night before. And sometimes the girls replied.</p>
  151. <p>Enjoy this slideshow, which features 40 of the most captivating personals we could find. Most of the ads &#8220;speak&#8221; for themselves. Others feature captions that provide a little context. </p>
  152. <p>(Click on the arrows in the bottom right corner to view at full screen.)</p>
  153. <p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Personal Ads Presentation" src="https://www.canva.com/design/DAGqttlZZFU/UB6L0leDDV2brnzxPU9ukA/view?embed&amp;meta" height="281" width="500" style="border: none; border-radius: 8px; width: 500px; height: 281px;" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" allow="fullscreen"></iframe></p>
  154. <h2>My back pages</h2>
  155. <p>We&#8217;d love to hear from anyone who placed or, better yet, answered any of these personal ads! Did anyone find love? Do tell.</p>
  156. ]]></content:encoded>
  158. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/20/will-the-girl-who-took-my-shirt-and-left-her-poetry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  159. <slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
  162. </item>
  163. <item>
  164. <title>The life-changing impact of research and education</title>
  165. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/19/the-life-changing-impact-of-research-and-education/</link>
  166. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/19/the-life-changing-impact-of-research-and-education/#comments</comments>
  168. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Domenico Grasso]]></dc:creator>
  169. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
  170. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  171. <category><![CDATA[President's Message]]></category>
  172. <category><![CDATA[Board of Regents]]></category>
  173. <category><![CDATA[President's Medal of Excellence]]></category>
  174. <category><![CDATA[U-M President]]></category>
  175. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48499</guid>
  176.  
  177. <description><![CDATA[It's imperative that we stand up for the pursuit of knowledge and the joy of discovery.]]></description>
  178. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>June 2025</h2>
  179. <p>Dear colleagues, students, and alumni:</p>
  180. <p>It has been a busy five weeks, and every day I am energized by the work of so many to demonstrate we are the premier public university in the country.</p>
  181. <aside class="callout left"><strong>Video:</strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyK5eGWwpC8"> Getting to Know University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso</a></aside>I’ve had very rewarding conversations with faculty leaders, deans and directors, student leaders, staff, coaches, and donors. There is a deep desire to broaden our impact and move us forward, which are my top priorities. I look forward to meeting with more members of the community, including more students, as the fall semester begins.</p>
  182. <p>Recently, we celebrated a transition in leadership of the Board of Regents.</p>
  183. <p>I would like to thank Regent Kathy White for her service as Board Chair during one of the most unique years in U-M history.  We’re grateful for your steady hand.</p>
  184. <p>Regent Mark Bernstein will now pick up the baton. I&#8217;ve enjoyed my recent conversations with Regent Bernstein and look forward to working even more closely with him in his new role. Recruiting and selecting the next University of Michigan president is a tremendous responsibility, and his experience will provide critical leadership.</p>
  185. <h2>Excellence and honors</h2>
  186. <p>Leadership was a strong theme at our President’s Medal of Excellence luncheon earlier this week.</p>
  187. <p>We honored five extraordinary people:</p>
  188. <ul>
  189. <li>Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, from Michigan’s 6th Congressional District.</li>
  190. <li>Jalen Rose, a philanthropist and sportscaster who was a member of the Fab Five basketball team.</li>
  191. <li>Alumni Fred and Judy Wilpon, longtime donors and founders of the Kessler Scholars Program that supports first-generation college students.</li>
  192. <li>And Dr. Francis Collins, who was director of the National Institutes of Health for 12 years. More importantly, he was a distinguished member of our faculty in the 1980s and ’90s</li>
  193. </ul>
  194. <div id="attachment_48506" style="width: 321px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48506" class=" wp-image-48506" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-1024x884.jpg" alt="Michigan Daily front page re: Francis Collins and the Human Genome Project." width="311" height="269" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-1024x884.jpg 1024w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-300x259.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-768x663.jpg 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-1536x1326.jpg 1536w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/250203_IHAM_CysticFibrosisGene3-2-2048x1769.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 311px) 100vw, 311px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48506" class="wp-caption-text">In July 2000, the Michigan Daily detailed Francis Collins’ progress as head of the Human Genome Project. (Image: The Michigan Daily Digital Archives, Bentley Historical Library.)</p></div>
  195. <p>Dr. Collins had some powerful words about the critical value of, and need for, scientific research in this country. Medical and scientific discoveries throughout the decades are what have established American universities as the best in the world. He also spoke of the Michigan culture of being rigorous and bold, as well as taking calculated risks.</p>
  196. <p>Dr. Collins called on all of us to stand up for the pursuit of knowledge, the joy of discovery, and the life-changing impact of research and education.</p>
  197. <p>It was a perfect summation of who we are as a public university.</p>
  198. <p>All of this activity is the essence of the University of Michigan and our mission to serve the world.</p>
  199. <p>As we navigate our changing world, Michigan is investing more deeply in our students, who will leave here to contribute to our communities in ways that we can only imagine. We are increasing support for faculty and staff to ensure they have the resources they need to succeed in a work environment that is engaging, supportive, and safe. And we are broadening our commitment to Michigan families that a U-M education is affordable and attainable.</p>
  200. <p>Forever Go Blue!</p>
  201. <p>Domenico Grasso, PhD &#8217;87<br />
  202. President<br />
  203. &nbsp;<br />
  204. &nbsp;<br />
  205. <em>(Lead image: The first space mission led by the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is scheduled to launch in 2029 with the support of a NASA grant worth $10 million. Researchers John Monnier, left, Shivani Sunil, center, and James Cutler, right, examine a <a href="https://news.umich.edu/u-m-astronomy-will-lead-its-first-satellite-mission-with-nasa-grant/">CubeSat in the Michigan Exploration Laboratory</a>. Image credit: Michigan Photography.)</em></p>
  206. ]]></content:encoded>
  208. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/19/the-life-changing-impact-of-research-and-education/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  209. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  212. </item>
  213. <item>
  214. <title>Root causes of health disparities</title>
  215. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/13/root-causes-of-health-disparities/</link>
  216. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/13/root-causes-of-health-disparities/#comments</comments>
  218. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Victor Katch]]></dc:creator>
  219. <pubDate>Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:23:14 +0000</pubDate>
  220. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  221. <category><![CDATA[Health Yourself]]></category>
  222. <category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
  223. <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
  224. <category><![CDATA[poverty]]></category>
  225. <category><![CDATA[wealth]]></category>
  226. <category><![CDATA[wellness]]></category>
  227. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48465</guid>
  228.  
  229. <description><![CDATA[Why are some people healthy and others are not? Economic disparities play a role, says Victor Katch.]]></description>
  230. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>High five</h2>
  231. <p>The leading causes of death and disability in the United States can be traced to five major chronic diseases. Collectively, they are responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths, killing more than 1.7 million Americans each year:</p>
  232. <ul>
  233. <li>Heart disease</li>
  234. <li>Cancer</li>
  235. <li>Stroke</li>
  236. <li>Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease</li>
  237. <li>Diabetes</li>
  238. </ul>
  239. <p>Chronic diseases are broadly defined as conditions that last one year or longer, require ongoing medical attention, or limit activities of daily living. They are the leading drivers of the country&#8217;s annual health-care costs of $4.5 trillion.</p>
  240. <div id="attachment_48470" style="width: 702px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48470" class=" wp-image-48470" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-1024x425.png" alt="A bar graph from the National Vital Statistics System, 2023, reflects the leading underlying causes of death. Hearth disease tops the list." width="692" height="287" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-1024x425.png 1024w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-300x125.png 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-768x319.png 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-1536x638.png 1536w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Leading-Underlying-Causes-2048x851.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 692px) 100vw, 692px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48470" class="wp-caption-text">(National Vital Statistics System, 2023. Click on the image to enlarge.)</p></div>
  241. <h2>Comorbidity</h2>
  242. <p>Chronic conditions rarely exist in isolation, which complicates the treatment plan. One in four U.S. adults have two or more chronic conditions simultaneously, termed comorbidity. More than half of older adults have three or more chronic diseases. In the U.S., 10,000 or more Americans will turn age 65 each day from now through the end of 2029. It is reasonable to expect that the overall number of individuals with comorbidities will increase. So will the number of deaths caused by chronic diseases.</p>
  243. <h2>Causes of chronic disease</h2>
  244. <p>Myriad individual and public factors influence a person&#8217;s risk of developing a chronic disease. Overall, individual risk factors depend on personal lifestyle choices, including diet and exercise. In contrast, public risk factors tend to be out of one&#8217;s own control. The Flint Water Crisis comes to mind. To complicate matters, individual and public chronic disease factors often interact.</p>
  245. <h2>Individual risk factors</h2>
  246. <div id="attachment_48467" style="width: 362px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Graphic-WoodenSpoon.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48467" class=" wp-image-48467" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Graphic-WoodenSpoon.png" alt="Graphic shows spoon surrounded by a tags with chronic conditions on them." width="352" height="266" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Graphic-WoodenSpoon.png 608w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Graphic-WoodenSpoon-300x227.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 352px) 100vw, 352px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48467" class="wp-caption-text">(Image courtesy of Vic Katch.)</p></div>
  247. <p>The major individual risk factors for chronic disease are fairly easy to identify:</p>
  248. <ul>
  249. <li>Tobacco use</li>
  250. <li>Dietary factors</li>
  251. <li>Physical inactivity</li>
  252. <li>Excessive alcohol consumption</li>
  253. <li>Elevated blood pressure</li>
  254. <li>Elevated blood cholesterol</li>
  255. <li>Elevated blood glucose (sugar)</li>
  256. <li>Overweight or obesity</li>
  257. <li>Age</li>
  258. <li>Gender</li>
  259. <li>Genetics (family history)</li>
  260. </ul>
  261. <p>Common wisdom, supported by sufficient scientific evidence, stresses the many benefits of adopting lifestyle changes to reduce the risks of chronic disease. Engaging in regular physical activity and adding more plant-based foods to one&#8217;s diet are two of the most common and effective interventions. But such interventions often don’t occur till late adulthood, long after the ravages of poor health practices have allowed the incubation of a chronic disease to reach a critical horizon.</p>
  262. <p>When overt chronic disease symptoms become observable it may be possible to alter disease progression using targeted interventions within any one individual (Health Yourself: <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2022/12/16/nature-vs-nurture-its-both/">Nature v nurture: It’s both</a>). However, these interventions have had little or no effect on a population basis. Chronic disease rates are rapidly rising worldwide, particularly in the more affluent economies. It seems there is little we can do about it: In the U.S., we have failed at every attempt to quell rising cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart and respiratory diseases, arthritis, obesity, inflammatory diseases, and oral disease rates.</p>
  263. <h2>History of individual risk factors</h2>
  264. <p>Efforts to identify individuals at risk for chronic disease are based on early research from the 1950s and 1970s that examined the autopsy reports of soldiers in their 20s, who were killed during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Many exhibited significant atherosclerosis, a narrowing of the coronary artery that associates with later heart attacks. Researchers at the time concluded the soldiers were eating too much fat, smoking cigarettes, and not getting enough exercise. Even though the young soldiers didn&#8217;t exhibit overt signs of heart trouble while living, the disease was incubating and likely would have made an appearance years down the road.</p>
  265. <p>This explanation aligns with findings from the noted and ongoing <a href="http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org">Framingham, Massachusetts Heart Study,</a> which established the importance of individual risk factor development during the early stages of life. The study originally enrolled two-thirds of Framingham&#8217;s citizens &#8212; 5,209 men and women aged 29-62 &#8212; who had not yet developed overt symptoms of cardiovascular disease or suffered a heart attack or stroke. Researchers followed them throughout their lives to see who developed coronary artery disease. The study has now enrolled a third generation of participants. Findings reveal that individuals with high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and smoking habits were at greatest risk for heart disease and diabetes development.</p>
  266. <p>Encouraging people to stop behaviors associated with disease progression has long been the predominant perspective for population-based health promotion. And it has worked, mostly. In the 1980s, the U.S. Surgeon General and policymakers turned their focus on the tobacco industry, introducing restrictions around production, packaging, advertising, and smoking in public places. Cigarette use declined, along with deaths from heart disease.</p>
  267. <h2>Public chronic disease risk factors</h2>
  268. <div id="attachment_48468" style="width: 386px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Trash.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48468" class=" wp-image-48468" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Trash.png" alt="A big ugly pile of trash" width="376" height="194" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Trash.png 908w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Trash-300x155.png 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Health-Yourself-Disparities-Trash-768x396.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48468" class="wp-caption-text">(Image courtesy of Vic Katch.)</p></div>
  269. <p>Some individuals and groups are more susceptible to developing a chronic disease, due to factors that supersede one&#8217;s ability to make healthy choices. This points to “public” influences for chronic disease development. Indeed, research suggests that public disease risk factors represent “root causes” for disease development, independent of individual risk factors.</p>
  270. <p>Health epidemiologists study how diseases and other health conditions spread and affect populations, and how to prevent and control them. It&#8217;s a key part of public health evidence-based medicine, and is used to shape policy decisions and identify targets for health care. By studying the frequency and pattern of health events in populations, including the number of cases in a given population, epidemiologists can identify environmental, social, genetic, and behavioral factors contributing to chronic disease development.</p>
  271. <p>One of the most cited examples of epidemiology in action was <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11416802/">Dr. John Snow&#8217;s</a> mapping of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London. The &#8220;miasma theory&#8221; dominated medical thinking at the time: experts believed bad air caused disease. Snow, however, proposed cholera was waterborne. His groundbreaking approach relied on meticulous data collection and analyses. He began by mapping the locations of cholera cases throughout London, a novel method at the time, which allowed him to visualize the spread of the disease. His analyses revealed a pattern of disease spread centered around the Broad Street water pump. Snow conducted interviews with local residents, gathering detailed information on their water sources and daily routines. His methodical approach provided strong empirical evidence that linked the outbreak to the contaminated water supply from the pump.</p>
  272. <h2>Economic disparities lead to health disparities</h2>
  273. <aside class="callout right">
  274. <h3>Public factors responsible for chronic disease development</h3>
  275. <ul>
  276. <li>Limited access to health care</li>
  277. <li>Environmental factors that include higher levels of pollution, less access to healthy food, and hazardous living conditions</li>
  278. <li>Chronic stress caused by economic disparities</li>
  279. <li>Limited educational opportunities </aside></li>
  280. </ul>
  281. <p>In recent decades, epidemiologists have identified the unequal distribution of wealth, income, and resources in a society as a root cause for health disparities in that society, independent of individual risk factors.</p>
  282. <p>At the most basic level, socioeconomic differences affect access to health care and health outcomes. Epidemiologic analyses of chronic disease development in populations characterized by economic disparity show individuals of lower socioeconomic status suffer higher rates of chronic disease and experience lower life expectancy when compared to those of higher socioeconomic status, in lock-step fashion.</p>
  283. <p>It&#8217;s not surprising. Economic disparities create a complex web that ultimately affects individuals&#8217; healthy lifespan. When resources are limited, access to necessary health care, nutritious food, and safe living conditions diminish.</p>
  284. <p>Consequently, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds experience a higher burden of chronic diseases, which can truncate lifespan.</p>
  285. <h2>Conclusions</h2>
  286. <aside class="callout left"> Economic inequality, together with the lack of support for early life, represents a major root cause of poor health and disease development worldwide.</aside>Addressing economic inequality through local, state, and federal policies that increase access to education, living wages, housing, and other resources can help reduce health disparities. Improving the social determinants of health is crucial for reducing chronic disease and promoting more equitable health outcomes.<br />
  287. &nbsp;<br />
  288. &nbsp;<br />
  289. <em><strong>References</strong></em></p>
  290. <ul>
  291. <li><em>Adogu, Prosper Obunikem Uchechukwu, et al. &#8220;Epidemiologic transition of diseases and health-related events in developing countries: A review. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences 2015;5(4):150.</em></li>
  292. <li><em>Ahmadm, F.B., et al. &#8220;Mortality in the United States –Provisional data, 2023. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2024;73:677.</em></li>
  293. <li><em>Aman, Y. &#8220;Addressing gender disparities in global health.&#8221; Nature Aging 2024 Jun;4(6):750.</em></li>
  294. <li><em>Amin, S.A., et al. &#8220;Disparities and the American health care system.&#8221; Clinical Spine Surgery 2019 Mar;32(2):67-70.</em></li>
  295. <li><em><a href="https://search.cdc.gov/search/?query=health%20disparities&amp;dpage=1">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Disparities</a>.</em></li>
  296. <li><em>Ezell, J.M. &#8220;The health disparities research industrial complex.&#8221; Social Science and Medicine 2024;351:116251.</em></li>
  297. <li><em>Hacker, K. &#8220;The burden of chronic disease.&#8221; Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality &amp; Outcomes 2024;8(1):112–119.</em></li>
  298. <li><em>Pendyal, A. &#8220;Disparities in cardiovascular health: Looking beyond traditional categories.&#8221; Canadian Journal of Cardiology 2024;40(6):1176.</em></li>
  299. <li><em>Raghupathi, W., Raghupathi, V. &#8220;An empirical study of chronic diseases in the United States: A visual analytics approach.&#8221; International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018 Mar;15(3):431.</em></li>
  300. <li><em>Wamboldt, M.Z. &#8220;Introduction to a special section: Racial disparities in health care.&#8221; Family Process 2024;63(2):471-474.</em></li>
  301. <li><em>Waters, H., Graf, M., editors. &#8220;<a href="https://milkeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/reports-pdf/ChronicDiseases-HighRes-FINAL_2.pdf">The costs of chronic disease in the U.S. 1<sup>st</sup> Ed. Milken Institute</a>&#8220;; 2018.</em></li>
  302. </ul>
  303. <p><em>(Lead image: A 3D-rendered, enhanced scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of cancer cells. Source: iStock.)</em></p>
  304. ]]></content:encoded>
  306. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/13/root-causes-of-health-disparities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  307. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  310. </item>
  311. <item>
  312. <title>On the verge: Breakthrough treatment for osteoporosis</title>
  313. <link>https://research.umich.edu/research-stories/breakthrough-treatment-for-osteoporosis/</link>
  314. <comments>https://research.umich.edu/research-stories/breakthrough-treatment-for-osteoporosis/#respond</comments>
  316. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  317. <pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
  318. <category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
  319. <category><![CDATA[Research News]]></category>
  320. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  321. <category><![CDATA[bone health]]></category>
  322. <category><![CDATA[Faculty]]></category>
  323. <category><![CDATA[federal funding]]></category>
  324. <category><![CDATA[Michigan Medicine]]></category>
  325. <category><![CDATA[NIH]]></category>
  326. <category><![CDATA[osteoporosis]]></category>
  327. <category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
  328. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48456</guid>
  329.  
  330. <description><![CDATA[Because of partnerships with federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, Karl Jepsen has worked for decades to build up the field of bone research. “We are just now seeing the outcomes of funded projects from 20, 30, 40 years ago,” he says.]]></description>
  331. <content:encoded><![CDATA[Because of partnerships with federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, Karl Jepsen has worked for decades to build up the field of bone research. “We are just now seeing the outcomes of funded projects from 20, 30, 40 years ago,” he says.]]></content:encoded>
  333. <wfw:commentRss>https://research.umich.edu/research-stories/breakthrough-treatment-for-osteoporosis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  334. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  337. </item>
  338. <item>
  339. <title>Swept away by Beckett and dining with Miller</title>
  340. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/12/swept-away-by-beckett-and-lunching-with-arthur-miller/</link>
  341. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/12/swept-away-by-beckett-and-lunching-with-arthur-miller/#comments</comments>
  343. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Heather Newman]]></dc:creator>
  344. <pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:11:17 +0000</pubDate>
  345. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  346. <category><![CDATA[Campus Life]]></category>
  347. <category><![CDATA[Arthur Miller]]></category>
  348. <category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
  349. <category><![CDATA[Faculty]]></category>
  350. <category><![CDATA[Samuel Beckett]]></category>
  351. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48434</guid>
  352.  
  353. <description><![CDATA[For 50 years, Enoch Brater shared his passion for literature and the theatre with thousands of like-minded students at U-M. The University's Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature retired in spring 2025. As a renowned expert on Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller, he viewed plays as 'literature meant to be performed.']]></description>
  354. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>&#8216;Stop: You have to listen to this&#8217;</h2>
  355. <p>Enoch Brater was destined for a quiet life, a thoughtful life, swimming in the deep still seas of British and American literature. He was working on his dissertation at Harvard in the late 1960s, exploring the impact of World War I on the British novel, a topic that charmed him with its languid intersection of his interests in literature and history.</p>
  356. <aside class="callout right">In October 2000, <a href="https://record.umich.edu/articles/arthur-miller-cant-make-people-see-unless-they-feel/">Enoch Brater interviewed Arthur Miller</a> via video during the symposium &#8220;Arthur Miller&#8217;s America: Theater and Culture in a Century of Change&#8221; (above). Miller appeared remotely due to an injury. Brater is U-M&#8217;s Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature, professor emeritus of English language and literature, and professor emeritus of theatre. (Image: M. Vloet.)</aside> Then one of his mentors, a leader at the Loeb Drama Center where he worked in his off hours as a managing director, asked him to lecture on the difficult Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for a course the professor was teaching.</p>
  357. <p>It was the beginning of a seismic shift that would upend Brater’s life, a love affair that would lead to a 50-year career at the University of Michigan, to long discussions about current events with famed playwright Arthur Miller in his Burns Park living room, to teaching in every country in Europe and a smattering of others besides.</p>
  358. <p>&#8220;I know you very well. This is going to work for you,&#8221; the drama professor told him then.</p>
  359. <p>&#8220;Oh. OK,&#8221; Brater remembers replying.</p>
  360. <h2>&#8216;I just went totally  nuts&#8217;</h2>
  361. <div id="attachment_48448" style="width: 244px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Why-Beckett-Book-Cover.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48448" class="size-medium wp-image-48448" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Why-Beckett-Book-Cover-234x300.jpg" alt="Cover of Enoch Brater book called Why Beckett. Black and white image of Beckett in profile bent over a piece of writing with pen in hand." width="234" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Why-Beckett-Book-Cover-234x300.jpg 234w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Why-Beckett-Book-Cover.jpg 474w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48448" class="wp-caption-text">(Thames and Hudson, 1989.)</p></div>
  362. <p>It was a challenge, meant to be a learning experience, leading a modern drama class of 200 students through some of the more challenging material in theatre. Beckett was a well-known Irish novelist, playwright, and poet, and his work was not always the most accessible.</p>
  363. <p>Brater tackled it diligently at first, then enthusiastically, and finally rhapsodically, plunging into and expounding upon the material to anyone that would listen, and far past the point where some stopped — listening, that is. He read everything: the fiction, the novels, the criticism.</p>
  364. <p>&#8220;I just went totally nuts,&#8221; Brater says. &#8220;I became a total convert. My friends started avoiding me because, walking across Harvard Square, I&#8217;d say, &#8216;Stop. You have to listen to this.&#8217; And I would read them a passage and they&#8217;d say &#8216;Ohhh-kay,&#8217; and they&#8217;d cross the street and be very polite.&#8221;</p>
  365. <p>He went to his dissertation directors and told them that he was dropping his former project to work on Beckett. (They responded, &#8220;Oh my god, Enoch, we had so many hopes for you!&#8221; he jokes.) But once he made that decision, he never looked back. He had always loved drama and the theater as an avocation, a hobby, staffing summer productions of Shakespeare in New York&#8217;s Central Park. He had never thought about combining his love of performance with his literary side… until suddenly he could think of nothing else.</p>
  366. <h2>Setting the stage</h2>
  367. <div id="attachment_48447" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48447" class="size-medium wp-image-48447" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light-300x215.jpg" alt="A pair of scholars, one male, one female, stand side by side in hallway." width="300" height="215" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light-300x215.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light-1024x735.jpg 1024w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light-768x551.jpg 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light-1536x1102.jpg 1536w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Brater-Hallway-No-light.jpg 1709w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48447" class="wp-caption-text">Braater with Deborah R. Geis, English professor at DePauw University, and one of his former graduate students. (Image courtesy of Brater.)</p></div>
  368. <p>Brater was enthralled by the concept of plays as literature meant to be performed. He resonated with Beckett&#8217;s savvy understanding of just how little you could put on stage to set a complete scene in the minds of the audience. In &#8220;Waiting for Godot,&#8221; for example, the enormous concept of waiting for something that never comes — &#8220;liberation, enlightenment, self, you name it, what are you waiting for?&#8221; Brater asks — rests neatly upon nothing more than a tree, a rock, and a country road on stage.</p>
  369. <p>That started his &#8220;adventure of being the responder to Beckett&#8217;s later works,&#8221; he says, which he wrote about at a time when very few people did. Sometimes inscrutable, sometimes nonsensical, always challenging, Beckett was a force in modern literature, and Brater was his translator, bringing the angular Irish angel to earth in courses, papers, and books. He sought to help mere mortals understand the enormity of Beckett’s impact.</p>
  370. <p>&#8220;To this day, he is the foremost scholar of Samuel Beckett,&#8221; Professor Deborah R. Geis of DePauw University, one of his former graduate students, says simply. Her words are backed up by Brater&#8217;s colleagues around the country and around the world.</p>
  371. <p>&#8220;Enoch&#8217;s reputation is large in New York, in London, in Paris,&#8221; wrote Nicolas Delbanco, Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at U-M, in remarks he gave at a recent celebration of Brater&#8217;s career. &#8220;All over the world, it seems, his work is influential, and I hope you know how much he matters.&#8221;</p>
  372. <p>But Brater isn&#8217;t just a scholar, says Geis. She describes him as kind and loyal, wickedly funny and deeply irreverent, and a great mimic. Delbanco says Brater invited him to the celebration by saying, &#8220;You&#8217;re the only one who knows me from way back when. All the others are dead.&#8221;</p>
  373. <h2>The perfect place</h2>
  374. <div id="attachment_48446" style="width: 221px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Arthur-Miller-Book-Cover.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48446" class="size-medium wp-image-48446" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Arthur-Miller-Book-Cover-211x300.jpg" alt="Book cover for &quot;Arthur Miller's America&quot; by Enoch Brater." width="211" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Arthur-Miller-Book-Cover-211x300.jpg 211w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Brater-Arthur-Miller-Book-Cover.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48446" class="wp-caption-text">(University of Michigan Press, 2005.)</p></div>
  375. <p>Way back when, Brater joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He accepted an invitation three years later to come teach at U-M after nominating a student for graduate study here. He had always wanted to teach, even as a child, and was delighted to discover that he adored it — and that he was good at it. Michigan was the perfect place for that, he says.</p>
  376. <p>(Taking that job had a huge impact on local politics: His wife Liz Brater, who moved with him, would go on to become Ann Arbor&#8217;s first female mayor in 1991, later serving in the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate.)</p>
  377. <p>As a spokesman for modern drama in the English department, Brater was part of the designated entourage whenever playwright Arthur Miller came to campus. Much like that first encounter with Beckett, what started as an academic duty swiftly led to a deeper relationship and study.</p>
  378. <p>Miller, a Michigan alum, couldn&#8217;t have been more different than Beckett. His works, including &#8220;Death of a Salesman,&#8221; were written &#8220;from the sidewalk,&#8221; where everyone could understand them, Brater says. Miller&#8217;s demeanor was unpretentious, his approach clear and transparent and based on current events. But the enormous impact on literature and drama were the same as Beckett, even if the language was different.</p>
  379. <h2>Miller time</h2>
  380. <aside class="callout left">Brater spent 50 years at Michigan explaining playwrights to almost 10,000 undergraduates, graduate students, and adults in his classes here and abroad.</aside>Over the years, Brater and Miller spent long hours in Brater&#8217;s Burns Park living room, settled into comfy chairs by an upright piano, chatting over drinks or snacks or dinner, surrounded by haphazard stacks of books and copies of the <em>New Yorker.</em></p>
  381. <p>&#8220;Miller is a very uncomplicated person, and he used to escape from all that brouhaha,&#8221; Brater says. &#8220;He&#8217;d come over to my house and we&#8217;d just talk. Of course, we talked about theatre and his work. He was very devoted to Michigan.</p>
  382. <p>&#8220;He said, &#8216;I never wrote a play that somebody sitting on a train next to me wouldn&#8217;t be able to understand,&#8217; and that was so remarkable, that sort of immediacy of theatre. Unlike Beckett, Miller doesn&#8217;t need an Enoch Brater to explain the play to an audience. Everyone gets it.&#8221;</p>
  383. <p>Brater spent 50 years at Michigan explaining playwrights to almost 10,000 undergraduates, graduate students, and adults in his classes here and abroad, from his popular Shakespeare courses (&#8220;Sometimes I would teach a course just on Hamlet for the whole semester — that sounds crazy, but it always fills up&#8221;) to leading the University&#8217;s programs abroad in Florence and London for four and eight years, respectively.</p>
  384. <p>He started a book series on theatre at the University of Michigan Press from a variety of sought-after authors, which won the first-ever Excellence in Editing Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Former executive editor LeAnn Fields says that even after he stepped down as editor, the series continued to run strong, attracting the field&#8217;s top scholars and winning prizes.</p>
  385. <p>&#8220;He was an ideal series editor,&#8221; Fields says. &#8220;He was not only a well-respected scholar with an international following and editor of the top journal in his field, but was also savvy about academic publishing trends here and abroad.&#8221;</p>
  386. <h2>&#8216;Everyone wanted to be here&#8217;</h2>
  387. <div id="attachment_48453" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Symposium-2025.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-48453" class="size-medium wp-image-48453" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Symposium-2025-300x297.jpg" alt="Caucasian scholar with glasses stands at podium." width="300" height="297" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Symposium-2025-300x297.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/06/Brater-Symposium-2025-150x150.jpg 150w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/06/Brater-Symposium-2025.jpg 648w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-48453" class="wp-caption-text">Brater reflected on his 50-year career at U-M during the 2025 conference in his honor titled &#8220;The After Beckett.&#8221; (Image courtesy of Brater.)</p></div>
  388. <p>No matter where he went to teach and for how long, Brater always came home.</p>
  389. <p>&#8220;I liked Michigan immediately, from the day I came to this campus,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Everyone wanted to be here. You know what I mean? The faculty, the students, everybody thought this was a great place. It was a very positive attitude. It was, I thought, compared to the schools I had gone to on the East Coast, very unpretentious.</p>
  390. <p>&#8220;I remember being shown the library here. I said, &#8216;This is the best library I&#8217;ve seen since I was at Harvard.&#8217; The librarian said, &#8216;Young man&#8217; — because I was quite young then — &#8216;we think it&#8217;s better than Harvard.'&#8221;</p>
  391. <p>He laughs. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s true about Michigan. It really is a place where people don&#8217;t spend a lot of time worrying about, &#8216;Why aren&#8217;t I elsewhere?&#8217; You could be elsewhere, but why would you?&#8221;</p>
  392. <p>That&#8217;s why, now that he&#8217;s retiring at age 80, he has no plans to change what he does.</p>
  393. <p>&#8220;As Beckett says, we go on,&#8221; Brater says. &#8220;One of the nice things about being a college professor in the humanities is that your life doesn&#8217;t change all that much when you retire. You just continue reading and writing and enjoying the things that you&#8217;ve always enjoyed.&#8221;</p>
  394. <p>He pauses and smiles, a wicked glint in his eye. &#8220;And you don&#8217;t have to go to any committee meetings.&#8221;</p>
  395. <p>&nbsp;</p>
  396. <p><em>(Lead image: Enoch Brater interviews Arthur Miller via video in 2000. Brater is the Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature, professor emeritus of English language and literature, and professor emeritus of theatre. Image credit: Martin Vloet, courtesy of U-M&#8217;s Bentley Historical Library.)</em></p>
  397. ]]></content:encoded>
  399. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/12/swept-away-by-beckett-and-lunching-with-arthur-miller/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  400. <slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
  403. </item>
  404. <item>
  405. <title>Game changer: Revenue sharing and college sports</title>
  406. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/10/game-changer-revenue-sharing-and-college-sports/</link>
  407. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/10/game-changer-revenue-sharing-and-college-sports/#comments</comments>
  409. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Warde Manuel]]></dc:creator>
  410. <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:52:11 +0000</pubDate>
  411. <category><![CDATA[Athletics]]></category>
  412. <category><![CDATA[Campus Life]]></category>
  413. <category><![CDATA[Michigan athletics]]></category>
  414. <category><![CDATA[NCAA]]></category>
  415. <category><![CDATA[student-athletes]]></category>
  416. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48410</guid>
  417.  
  418. <description><![CDATA[On June 6, Judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval of the House vs. NCAA case, which will drastically change the landscape of college athletics. The settlement results have a significant impact on the financial model at Michigan Athletics, not to mention the way all college athletics are structured. ]]></description>
  419. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Dear Michigan fans, alumni, and supporters,</h2>
  420. <p>On June 6, 2025, Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California gave final approval of the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABEQ_aswcOAYKebtFSy6_5Z93kYvVD62/view">House vs. NCAA antitrust case,</a> which will drastically change the landscape of college athletics.</p>
  421. <p>The settlement results have a significant impact on the finances of Michigan Athletics and the way college athletics are structured.</p>
  422. <p>Three key changes are coming to college sports as a result:</p>
  423. <ul>
  424. <li>First: The introduction of a revenue-sharing model that allows schools to fund and share up to $20.5 million with student-athletes.</li>
  425. <li>Second: New roster limits will be phased in over time for all sports.</li>
  426. <li>Third: Unlimited scholarships up to a sport&#8217;s newly established roster limit.</li>
  427. </ul>
  428. <aside class="callout right"><strong>ESPN:</strong> <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/45467505/judge-grants-final-approval-house-v-ncaa-settlement">Judge OK&#8217;s $2.8B settlement, paving way for colleges to pay athletes</a></aside>
  429. <p>The prospect of these added costs left Michigan Athletics facing a projected deficit of nearly $27 million for the 2025-26 academic year ($20.5 million to fully participate in revenue sharing and $6.2 million in new scholarships).</p>
  430. <p>With only six home football games this fall, our projected year-over-year decline in revenue of roughly $19.1 million steepens these costs. The department has implemented several measures to counteract these new expenses. Through adjustments to University financing, budget cuts, travel policies, not filling select positions when vacated, and the utilization of new revenue streams, we have reduced our estimated need from $27 million to $15 million for the coming year.</p>
  431. <p>I would like to explain how we improved our financial position and why we still need your continued support.</p>
  432. <h2>Added costs and their impacts</h2>
  433. <aside class="callout left"><strong>We are sure you have questions:</strong> <a href="https://mgoblue.com/feature/revenue-sharing?utm_source=housevsncaaupdate&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=athrelease&amp;utm_content=faqs&amp;elq_cid=622586&amp;ehash=0c3f8047da523aef7f6bac2ea06fbb472bc83723a216502ecc154a456d55b90c&amp;aid=16097&amp;pid=michigan_email_eloqua&amp;rid=5002">FAQ regarding revenue sharing and Michigan Athletics</a></aside>A fixed factor in this equation is the revenue-sharing money as defined by the House settlement. A maximum of roughly $20.5 million per school can be shared with student-athletes for this coming year. Schools can distribute that money any way they see fit.</p>
  434. <p>The figure is calculated using a formula that incorporates revenues from media rights, ticket sales, sponsorships, and licensing, calculated at an average across Power 4 institutions. Those inputs are tracked annually, meaning the $20.5 million total will rise in future years. That money, combined with the value of tuition, room and board, and the many other benefits already provided, leaves NCAA student-athletes in a position to receive a similar percentage of revenue shared with professional sports athletes.</p>
  435. <p>We will support our student-athletes with the full amount allowed each year to remain competitive for Big Ten Conference and national championships.</p>
  436. <p>Another fixed factor to consider is scholarship costs, which are rising. The results of the House settlement will allow departments to offer full scholarships for every roster spot on every team, directly connecting a team’s ability to compete to its level of scholarship support. With 82.1 new scholarships added across 19 sports for fall 2025, at a cost of an additional $6.2 million, Michigan Athletics will be supporting athletic scholarships at an annual total cost of nearly $40 million.</p>
  437. <h2>Internal budget adjustments</h2>
  438. <aside class="callout right"><strong>Podcast:</strong> <a class="s-podcast-card__title s-text-title text-theme-safe" href="https://mgoblue.com/podcasts/in-the-trenches-515-juan-castillo/1397" data-v-66de24e5="" data-s-nav-link="" aria-label="In the Trenches 515 Juan Castillo" data-test-id="s-podcast-card__title-link">In the Trenches 515, featuring Juan Castillo:</a> Host Jon Jansen reacts to the House v. NCAA settlement and discusses the latest debates around the format of the college football playoffs. Then, Senior Assistant Offensive Line Coach Juan Castillo reflects on his fascinating football journey and details his potential impact on the coaching staff and program. </aside>
  439. <p>To combat the added cost, the department staff will gradually decline in number through two methods: attrition, with a long-term goal of a 10% reduction in total staff, and through a stricter approval process for new hires. The department has committed to more than $10 million in budget cuts for the coming fiscal year, and has worked with the main campus to reduce its allocation from TV revenue to the University from $8 million to $2 million. We also revamped our travel policy, which resulted in over $900,000 in savings during 2024-25.</p>
  440. <p>Michigan Athletics is also producing more revenue from events in our facilities, such as our partnerships with Upper Deck Golf and AEG/Zach Bryan. Events such as international soccer matches and the 2014 NHL Winter Classic generated between $750,000 and $3 million each for the department in the past. The 2024 calendar year saw the implementation of alcohol sales at Crisler Center, Yost Ice Arena, and Michigan Stadium, which generated over $2.25 million for the department. We will continue to evaluate other opportunities to generate additional revenue.</p>
  441. <p>These changes have been a tremendous undertaking for Michigan Athletics, but we know they are just the beginning. We ask for your continued support and understanding, and welcome your questions, comments, and concerns.</p>
  442. <p>Go Blue!<br />
  443. Warde Manuel<br />
  444. Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics</p>
  445. <p><em>(This piece is published courtesy of <a href="https://mgoblue.com/">mgoblue.com</a>. Lead image: Six planes fly over Michigan Stadium before the first game of the 2024 Michigan Football season. Image courtesy of Michigan Commons.)</em></p>
  446. ]]></content:encoded>
  448. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/06/10/game-changer-revenue-sharing-and-college-sports/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  449. <slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
  452. </item>
  453. <item>
  454. <title>Mosquitos and ticks: 6 tips to swat away two summer spoilers for kids</title>
  455. <link>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/mosquitos-and-ticks-6-tips-swat-away-two-summer-spoilers-kids</link>
  456. <comments>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/mosquitos-and-ticks-6-tips-swat-away-two-summer-spoilers-kids#respond</comments>
  458. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Holdship]]></dc:creator>
  459. <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 2025 21:13:12 +0000</pubDate>
  460. <category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
  461. <category><![CDATA[Research News]]></category>
  462. <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
  463. <category><![CDATA[Michigan Medicine]]></category>
  464. <category><![CDATA[pediatrics]]></category>
  465. <category><![CDATA[ticks]]></category>
  466. <category><![CDATA[well-being]]></category>
  467. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=48405</guid>
  468.  
  469. <description><![CDATA[While usually just irritating, bites from these two insects may also transmit disease. But choosing the right repellent or protection for children can be confusing for some families, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Don't worry. Hear from a Michigan Medicine pediatrician who simplifies the information and offers parents valuable tips to combat these pesky bloodsuckers.]]></description>
  470. <content:encoded><![CDATA[While usually just irritating, bites from these two insects may also transmit disease. But choosing the right repellent or protection for children can be confusing for some families, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Don't worry. Hear from a Michigan Medicine pediatrician who simplifies the information and offers parents valuable tips to combat these pesky bloodsuckers.]]></content:encoded>
  472. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/mosquitos-and-ticks-6-tips-swat-away-two-summer-spoilers-kids/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  473. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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