May 2025 Executive Director Letter

Dear Center for Academic Innovation Community,

As we navigate a time of disruption and transformation in both education and the world of work, I’m reminded once again of the unique and urgent responsibility we hold at the University of Michigan. We prepare our students not just for their first jobs, but for the opportunity to thrive in a dynamic, global, and fast-evolving workforce.

That mission takes on new energy as we launch a partnership with Google that provides more than 66,000 students across our Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses with free access to Google Career Certificates and Google’s AI Essentials courses. These flexible, career-aligned learning opportunities, made available on Michigan Online, expand our capacity to help students gain real-world, job-ready skills in fields such as data analytics, cybersecurity, UX design, and project management. They also build on our longstanding commitment to life-changing, lifelong learning.

At its best, a University of Michigan education blends timeless values with timely competencies. This initiative reaffirms and strengthens the value of a liberal arts education by reinforcing it with new opportunities for technical fluency that students need as they embark on their careers. This partnership is a model of how we can support students in developing the critical thinking and ethical grounding nurtured in our classrooms while also gaining fluency in the tools and systems that define modern work.

And we’re doing it inclusively. These resources are open to every U-M student, regardless of discipline, background, or campus. They reflect our deep commitment to equity of opportunity, removing financial and logistical barriers that too often prevent students from building the skills that lead to economic mobility and meaningful careers.

Our goal is both access and success. It supports students in making it to graduation and beyond, allowing them to thrive in their careers. 

The role of higher education is also evolving.  We are rewriting the social contract with learners in our community, serving them not only when we welcome them early in their academic lives and careers but throughout their lives. That is why we will continue to expand Michigan Online as a platform for scalable, impactful, and globally accessible education. That is why we have built Michigan Online as a home to more than 280 courses built by Michigan faculty innovators and available free to all U-M students. That is why we have partnered with Coursera to provide U-M students free access to thousands of additional courses and series from universities around the world. 

To our colleagues across the university and our partners beyond it: thank you for supporting a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives.  Thank you for your willingness to rethink old assumptions and help shape new models that create opportunities for all learners.

To our students, you inspire us every day. We are here to support you as you earn your degrees and grow into leaders, innovators, and global citizens.

Let us continue building this future together.

Go blue,