There’s still time to get in at least one more beach read, and what better place to find it than your favorite alumni shelf? U-M authors are as prolific as ever, penning titles ranging from young adult fiction to international thrillers.

The Wolverine blood runs strong in this Michigan clan, whose newest alum, Amanda Balogh, BS, is the 14th member of the family to attend U-M. The pioneer was her great-grandmother Helen Cortade, who received a Michigan master’s degree in the 1920s.

Journalist, author, and baseball fanatic Daniel Okrent, BA ’69, created the precursor to ‘fantasy sports’ with his Rotisserie League some 40 years ago. But there’s a glaring gap in this native Detroiter’s encyclopedic baseball memory: the 1968 World Series.

The mural is 18 by 400 feet and includes several “flying” graduation caps set among white clouds, with a Block M and the words “Go Blue Class of 2021.” The project was led by Stamps alumnae Yen Azzaro and Liz Guilmet.

When an ambassador from the bone marrow and stem cell registry Gift of Life visited his U-M fraternity, Brendan Dunn, BS ’20, provided a tissue sample. The process was unremarkable. Then his phone rang.

Coping with loss during COVID is crushing. But filmmaker Amy Moore, BA ’83, and arts curator Amanda Krugliak, BFA ’84, found joy amid the sorrow. They conceived a whimsical installation in Moore’s home to celebrate its late designer, Lance Lawlor, MFA ’75.

When Matt Sherman, MBA ’05, found a wedding band on a New York City curbside in early December, he set in motion a maize-and-blue miracle that only a fellow Wolverine could believe.

I once considered myself a ‘starving student,’ but I had no idea. Food insecurity on college campuses is real.

The most resilient ecosystems are the most diverse, says botanist and documentarist Sharon Shattuck, BS ’05. Her film spotlights three women seeking to make ‘better science.’