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March 2022 Director Update

Dear Center for Academic Innovation Community,

Today marks Giving Blueday, the University of Michigan’s annual day of giving. We greatly value the support we get from our entire community from our global learners, our faculty innovators, our amazing staff, and supporters like you. 

It’s that one time of year when supporters of U-M around the world join together to share their love for the maize and blue. 

We work hard at the Center for Academic Innovation to combine U-M’s breadth of excellence and commitment to public purpose to advance learning and transform access to higher education. 

Our Student Fellows are integral to the work that we do. We have hired more than 200 Student Fellows in a variety of positions from every college and department at U-M. These students think critically, creatively, and boldly, and work alongside our staff to create new learning opportunities for future U-M students and learners around the world.

They have helped us as we have seen enrollments in our online learning experiences surpass 16 million in 2022. They are part of the reason more than 300,000 hours have been spent learning by U-M students, faculty, staff, and alumni on Michigan Online. They have helped us work with all 19 schools and colleges at U-M to use technology built by the Center for Academic Innovation. 

Our Student Fellows have been integral to our work in designing educational technology utilized by more than 90% of the campus community, building virtual worlds and helping us transform education with extended reality technology, and helping build, test, and maintain online courses for learners all over the world. 

As we work to drive innovation in learning in Michigan and around the world, our students are right there beside us helping us shape the future of education for the next generation of students and lifelong learners. 

Your generous gift will help support the growth of our Student Fellowship program, and help the Center for Academic Innovation and the University of Michigan define what it means to be a 21st-century research university. 

Thank you for all of your continued support and participation in the CAI community!

Go Blue!

James

James DeVaney

Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation

Founding Executive Director of the Center for Academic Innovation