Direct from the Dean

Dear COL Faculty and Staff,

Last night we hosted members of the former Board of Trustees of MSU College of Law to thank them for their years of service. Many of our guests served on the board during integration in 2020 and affiliation in 1995. They had the foresight and the vision to align Detroit College of Law with Michigan State University – and are largely responsible for where we are today.

MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Thomas Jeitschko joined us to express their appreciation to the former board members as well.

As President Guskiewicz said, this board understood then the value of offering law students and faculty the opportunity to collaborate on research and projects with their peers in MSU’s colleges and schools across campus.

One of our top priorities since January has been to re-engage our former board members. The Board was officially disbanded when we completed integration with MSU in 2020 and our engagement with them declined. Not only do we want them to know what we’re doing today, we want them to understand what we intend to do in the future. We need their involvement and support.

And last night was the beginning of what I believe will be ongoing meetings and conversations about our ambitious plans to raise our national profile and support the success of our students and graduates.

They were impressed with what they learned. We provided an overview of our current successes in a six-minute video, which elicited spontaneous applause from the group-- a very good sign!

You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/liwo20S4YPI?si=mvYLlsGpCA9hqa2E

The video would not have come together as well as it did without the leadership of Anne Marie Gattari and Marina Amaran in Communications, the stewardship of Frank Aiello, and the faculty and staff who generously gave their time to help tell our story.

David Blankfein-Tabachnick
Kevin Douglas
Mary Ann Ferguson
Alana Glass
Jacqueline Kontry
Jane Meland
Veronica McNally
Goldie Pritchard
Justin Simard
Wenona Singel
Glen Staszewski
Kimberly Wilkes

Last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank our Advancement team--Jacqueline Kontry, Kayla Nelson, Katie Pike, and Sally Rice--for taking the laboring oar in planning and executing the event and making the evening so meaningful. You would not have recognized the Castle Board Room! Indeed, the President did not realize it was the same room in which we met when he visited the College during his second week on the job. It was absolutely beautiful! Look for a story and photos of the event on our website soon.

I look forward to working with you to build on the terrific energy and engagement by our supporters in the room last night.

All my best,

Michael