Though not a complete return to old-school commencement in Michigan Stadium, the Spring 2021 ceremony moved the most significant action off the screen and into the stands. As you can see, COVID-19 was no match for these graduates’ pride and joy. The images here are accompanied by quotes from past U-M commencement speakers. (Text was sourced by Rob Havey, communications specialist at U-M's Bentley Historical Library. All images are by Michigan Photography. Watch the 2021 commencement ceremony.)  

With head coaches Juwan Howard and Kim Barnes Arico as their leaders, talented Michigan athletes gave it their all this season to bring joy back to the fans of college basketball. All images can be found in galleries at mgoblue.com.

‘Framing identity: Representations of empowerment and resilience in the Black experience’ draws inspiration from Frederick Douglass’ views on the potential of photography as a tool for social change. Douglass connected photography to the evolution of community. Samantha Hill, 2019-21 Joyce Bonk Fellow and graduate student at the School of Information, developed the curatorial project at the Clements Library. Click any image to enlarge. View the full online exhibition.  

Though COVID-19 dominated headlines in 2020, countless other medical stories unfolded at Michigan Medicine last year. Enjoy these inspiring scenes from our health system. View the entire slideshow.

As the gray of winter descends, let's embrace the breathtaking beauty of autumn in Ann Arbor. It sure beats reflecting on the heinous events of 2020! And really, there's no place prettier than the U-M campus in the fall. Enjoy these literary interpretations of the season, along with some gorgeous photos by Michigan Photography's Scott Soderberg.

Ann Arbor welcomes a monumental icon to State Street, thanks to long-time U-M supporters J. Ira and Nicki Harris. Spanish artist Jaume Plensa created this 25-foot-tall sculpture of an elongated human head with hands covering both eyes, now permanently installed at the museum’s entrance. Share your impressions. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

In September, professors at the Stamps School of Art & Design and the Ford School worked with local partners to transform the Stenn Gallery at the U-M Museum of Art (525 S. State St.) into the state’s first satellite city clerk’s office on a university campus. Nearly 4,000 students had registered by Oct. 23 and more than 4,000 ballots had been returned. (All photos by Michigan Photography's Eric Bronson unless otherwise noted.)

The formal contours of ‘mail art’ developed in the 1960s through the work of pop collagist Ray Johnson and the New York Correspondence School. Autumn Wetli, undergraduate collections librarian at U-M's Shapiro Library, and Mariah Cherem, production librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library, have added a contemporary spin. They are asking ‘mail artists’ to create and send postcards to their future selves, expressing the emotions and experiences of these challenging times. The art (sampled here) will be compiled into a book as part of the Artists’ Books Collection in the Book Arts Studio at the U-M Library. (Click on each image to enlarge.) Submit your mail art by Sept. 30.  

Enjoy Ann Arbor from the rare vantage point of an autonomous drone as the team in Michigan Photography fires up its little flier to capture these unusual shots. (Captions sourced by Claudia Larochelle.)