Current Students

Hear from two inspiring alumni who have used their education, resilience and vision to lead their industries and drive success at UDM’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) Leadership Slam.

The Leadership Slam is set for Tuesday, April 21. The first session is scheduled for 2-3:45 p.m., and the second slam 5:15-7 p.m., both taking place in Room 208 of the Commerce & Finance Building. Both alumni will be speaking in Slam 1 and Slam 2.

The slams offer a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable insights. This event counts as [+1 Leadership Development].

Angelo Vitale ’80, retired general counsel of Rocket Companies, and Michael Birney ’15, CMO of 1 Natural Way, will offer their experiences on their leadership journeys.

Vitale provided strategic business and legal guidance throughout his career, serving as the first CEO of Rocket Central and EVP/general counsel of Rocket Mortgage, where he specialized in leasing, litigation and regulatory compliance.

Birney drives business growth with advanced marketing tech, leveraging his experience as a former Google growth strategy manager and MLL champion to apply teamwork and strategy for success.

For more information, please contact Kathleen Zimmerman-Oster at zimmerka@udmercy.edu.

Start your morning with a sweet treat and a conversation!

Join the Dean of Students Monica Williams for a casual drop-in opportunity to share ideas, ask questions or just stop by to say hello Monday, April 6, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the Zalke Lounge, lower level of the Student Union. All students are welcome.

Free donuts while they last are available for all.

All Titans are invited to Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, March 25, for Detroit Mercy Night, where the Detroit Pistons will host the Atlanta Hawks. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Tickets start at just $35. All-you-can-eat seats in the North End Club are also available.

When purchased through the link below, tickets also include a co-branded Pistons and UDM sweater.

The Detroit Mercy Pre-Law Society and Business Law Society will host its second annual Moot Court Competition on Thursday, April 2 at 2 p.m., where students of all majors can refine their legal reasoning, public speaking and advocacy skills in a simulated appellate court environment. Participants will present a hypothetical case before a distinguished panel of judges, including UDM faculty.

The competition will follow a traditional moot court format, where multiple teams will present arguments on both sides of a legal issue. This is an oral competition, and no writing is involved.

It only takes two to make a team for this competition, so find a friend and sign up now. Deadline to sign up is March 23.

For any questions, please contact saputocm@udmercy.edu or tomaeb@udmercy.edu.

Do you know a student who went above and beyond this year? Nominations are now open for the 2025-26 Student Leadership and Service Awards and will be accepted until Thursday, March 26!

An unbiased committee will review all nominations, so please be detailed in your submissions!

The Student Leadership and Service Awards reception will be held on Thursday, April 16, at 5 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. More details will be provided to nominees/winners. In conjunction with the awards ceremony, our National Society of Leadership & Success inductees will be honored.

Awards categories for Student Leadership and Service Awards include:

• Rising Star Student Leader (First-Year Student or Sophomore): This award is given to a first-year student or sophomore-level student who demonstrates leadership qualities in multiple areas of campus. They consider their community in their everyday decisions and are working for positive change around them. This person may not have a title, but their actions and commitment to the process of leadership are noticeable to their peers and constituents.
• Student Leader of the Year (Junior or Senior): This award is given to a junior or senior-level student who demonstrates leadership qualities in multiple areas of campus. They consider their community in their everyday decisions and are working for positive change around them. This person may not have a title, but their actions and commitment to the process of leadership are noticeable to their peers and constituents.
• Titan Spirit Award: This award is given to a student who demonstrates Titan Spirit every day. They love their school, and they are not afraid to show it. Their pride for their school is demonstrated in their involvement, decisions, actions and even the color scheme of their clothes. This person never waivers when choosing to root for the home team!
• Student Employee of the Year: This award is given to a diligent student who is employed somewhere on campus. This student adds value to the office or department they work in and is dedicated to their role. Without dedicated student employees this campus would not be able to run efficiently. This student is a true model of what it looks like to help keep a workplace moving in a positive direction.
• Student Organization of the Year: This award is given to the registered student organization that has contributed positively to campus all year. They achieve their organization mission while contributing to the University’s overall mission. They are committed to their members and provide opportunities, initiatives and/or events for campus to see their efforts clearly. This group is driven, excited and displays their positive values.
• Program/Event of the Year: This award is given to a student or group of students who has hosted a phenomenal program on campus. This program has given students at Detroit Mercy an opportunity to enjoy each other, learn something new or come together for a common purpose. This event adds value to campus and is a positive addition to the campus culture.

Awards categories for Fraternity and Sorority Leadership and Service Awards include:

• Fraternity Member of the Year: This award is for a member of a fraternity who has demonstrated continued contribution to his chapter, the Greek community and the Detroit Mercy campus. This person understands and models their values daily and is a positive force. This person stands out from the community for how they demonstrate leadership, loyalty and commitment to making the world around them better for all.
• Sorority Member of the Year: This award is for a member of a sorority who has demonstrated continued contribution to her chapter, the Greek community and the Detroit Mercy campus. This person understands and models their values daily and is a positive force. This person stands out from the community for how they demonstrate leadership, loyalty and commitment to making the world around them better for all.
• Chapter President of the Year: This award is given to a person who upheld the values of their own organization and the University. They communicate throughout the community, promote a positive Greek Life experience and uplift their members. This person supports their executive board (if applicable) and completes all duties in a timely and accurate manner. They exemplify what it means to lead by example!
• Outstanding Philanthropic Event or Community Service Project: This award is given to the Greek chapter that conducted an outstanding philanthropic event and/or an outstanding community service project that served to benefit the local/national community. The program should have been in the 2025-2026 academic year.
• Chapter of Excellence Award: This award is given to the Greek Letter organization that has demonstrated excellence in multiple categories, including but not limited to academics, campus programming and highlighting their values. This chapter contributes positively to the Greek Life community, campus community and each other. Even if this group is not wearing their letters, they are consistently demonstrating their values.

The 19th Annual Celebration of Scholarly Achievement & Community Engagement (CSACE) is set for Thursday, April 9, from 12-4:30 p.m., in the Whitty Student Fitness Center on the McNichols Campus.

UDM friends and family are invited to join the celebration.

CSACE is a university-wide event showcasing more than 200 research posters and presentations, including artistic displays, robotics, 3D models, lightning talks and more. CSACE highlights exemplary work from across all UDM campuses and serves as an opportunity to celebrate the academic, scholarly and creative accomplishments of our University community throughout the academic year.

Highlights of the event include:

• Research posters & presentations: 12-2 p.m. — Exhibits, models, robotics,  scholarly publications
• Lightning-talk presentations: 2:15-4:30 p.m. — Award-winning research & poetry

A complimentary box lunch from Subway will be provided.

Guest registration and parking pass are required.

This event is sponsored by Delta Dental, Alliance Catholic Credit Union and RIIS

Looking to further your education? Make your graduate applications stand out by attending an upcoming Graduate Admission Workshop, hosted by the Center for Career & Professional Development and the Office of Admissions.

Sessions will focus on resume/interview skills, personal statements and letters of recommendation/etiquette. Join us in-person in the Admissions Office in Room 181 of the Student Union or virtually via Teams. Registration is encouraged but not required.

Session dates and topics are as follows:

• Thursday, March 19, at 1 p.m. — Resume/interview skills
• Tuesday, March 31, at 1 p.m. — Personal statements
• Tuesday, April 14, at 1 p.m. — Letters of recommendation/etiquette

For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Associate Director for Graduate Admissions Jennifer Goethals at 313-993-3309 or goethajm@udmercy.edu.

Detroit Mercy’s English Department welcomes poets Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris, who will read their work for the 2026 Triptych series on Thursday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Triptych is a virtual reading series featuring award-winning authors in conversation with Detroit Mercy’s Poet-in-Residence Stacy Gnall. Triptych events are free and open to the community.

Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1977, and arrived to the United States in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the American government. He is the author of the poetry collections Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa, and is co-editor and co-translator of many other books.

His work, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, has been a finalist for a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the winner of many awards. Kaminsky, who currently teaches at Princeton, was selected by the BBC as “one of the 12 artists that changed the world” in 2019.

Katie Farris is the author of the memoir-in-poems, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, which was listed as a Publisher’s Weekly’s Top 10 Poetry Books for 2023, as well as shortlisted for the 2023 T.S. Eliot Prize. She is also the author of the hybrid-form text boysgirls, and the chapbooks A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving, winner of the 2021 Chad Walsh Poetry Award, Thirteen Intimacies and Mother Superior in Hell. Most recently she is winner of the Pushcart Prize.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation and Poetry, and has been commissioned by MoMA. She is the co-translator of several books of poetry from the Ukrainian, French, Chinese and Russian. She also teaches at Princeton.

Triptych events are held via Zoom on third Thursdays in January, February and March, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Broadside Lotus Press and the University of Detroit Mercy Press will host a virtual reading and conversation with Joanne Godley, author of How the Black Panthers Fell from the Sky and winner of the 2025 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award.

The reading will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. Please register below to obtain Zoom link.

Godley grew up in Detroit during the city’s industrial heyday and amidst the activism of the labor unions. Her memoir reflects on her teenage years, when, impatient with someday freedom songs and despairing at the horrors of the Vietnam war, she is swept up by the daring promise of those militant “cats” in black leather jackets. The poems remind readers of the hopefulness and exhilaration of Panther Party times as well as provide Godley’s mature reflections on the Party’s dismantlement.

How the Black Panthers Fell from the Sky is the fourth co-publication of Broadside Lotus Press and UDM Press. It can be purchased at the Detroit Mercy bookstore and online through Hatteras printing.

Learn more about Detroit Mercy’s Post-Graduate Certificate in Addiction Studies program by attending an upcoming virtual information session. During the session, you will meet the program director, watch a presentation and have the opportunity to ask questions.

The next session will be offered on Wednesday, March 25 at noon.