Research-driven collaboration with community leaders is nothing new, but the Michigan-Mellon Project on the Egalitarian Metropolis tweaked the model in a subtle but profound way. Faculty leaders prioritized history, literature, and the visual arts on the mission toward Detroit’s inclusive recovery. With a decade’s worth of results on the books, they’ve built a convincing case for the humanities.

As Adolf Hitler’s power and influence expanded in the lead-up to World War II, college students across the U.S. aligned with their European counterparts in a strike against war and fascism. When they walked out of classes to take an American version of the Oxford Pledge, they sought to preserve the fragile peace in Europe. As with most student protests, the movement disturbed the peace at Michigan.

U-M researchers and engineering students traveled to the far reaches of the Amazon rainforest to help light up rural schools and develop innovative incinerators. Their efforts will support local autonomy, preserve residents’ unique habitats, and generate ecotourism.

Veteran filmmaker Ilana Trachtman spent a decade researching and documenting the 1960 protest at Glen Echo Amusement Park, one of the nation’s earliest organized demonstrations to end segregation. The artist’s labor of love peaked when she discovered essential footage of a dramatic confrontation that matched an audio recording she’d been holding for years.

Data suggest the switch to electric vehicles may not mean the loss of assembly jobs industry that observers once predicted. Some plants in the ramp-up stages to full-scale EV production saw assembly jobs increase as much as 10 times. The jury is still out in terms of parts manufacturing, though. Those jobs will largely depend on where battery cell manufacturing takes place.

Long-time U-M administrator Greg Harden, mental health coach for thousands of student-athletes, recently passed away after complications from surgery. During his time at Michigan, Harden was best-known for his skill in motivating Wolverine athletes — from Desmond Howard to J.J. McCarthy — to achieve peak performance.