Press Releases
Detroit News
April 20, 2005
The University of Michigan will become another link in the growing Woodward Corridor as it opens a center for its Detroit-based programs in August.
The U-M Detroit Center will be on the ground floor of Orchestra Place in space vacant since 2003 when Duet, an upscale restaurant, was shuttered.
Eighteen U-M units, ranging from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning to the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, will be based in the 10,500-square-foot facility.
U-M had been looking to have a more visible presence in downtown Detroit for about five years, but the process steamrolled the past year, U-M spokesman Joe Serwach said.
Detroit provides a unique working environment for many programs, U-M officials said.
“The U-M school of Social Work has much to learn from the people of Detroit and can offer them much in return,” Paula Allen-Meares, dean of the School of Social Work, said in a statement. “Together, we can truly have a positive impact on the city of Detroit.”
The Detroit Center will lease the space from the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
The fit between U-M and the center is a good one, said Donna Saul, Fisher Center vice president of facility operations.
“A university never closes, and we wanted something that would have that energy,” Saul said. “Constant activity will be going on ... and moving into this area of the corridor, it was going to be a success for them as well as us.”
Work crews are renovating the space to have it ready for the fall semester, Serwach said.
The Detroit Center will provide offices and space for classes, meetings and exhibitions for students and faculty.
Wayne State University student Tamika Gillis, who was dining at the nearby Atlas Global Bistro on Thursday, welcomes the center for U-M students and faculty.
“It will bring energy, and with energy comes good ideas,” Gillis said. “You always need good ideas.”
The center is also expected to help U-M with another goal: recruiting more minority students. Minority enrollments dropped after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned parts of the school's affirmative action program two years ago, and college officials have been investigating ways to reverse that trend.
The school also expressed a debt of gratitude to Detroit.
“If it weren't for Detroit and the human capital and economic wealth that accumulated there in the first half of the 20th century, U-M would not be what it is today,” said Doug Kelbaugh, dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
By David Josar / The Detroit News