University of Michigan and Ann Arbor community members are mourning the news that local breakfast staple Angelo’s will close its doors at the end of this year. The restaurant, owned by husband-wife duo Steve and Jennifer Vangelatos, first opened in 1956 under the management of Steve Vangelatos’s father, Angelo. Since then, the business has not only expanded to include an in-house bakery and Angelo’s on the Side, an adjacent location exclusively for takeout and coffee, but has also grown into a beloved classic for students, alumni and Ann Arbor residents alike. 

Rising LSA junior Rachel Cohn, a frequent Angelo’s customer, said she was saddened to hear the news of its closing because it is her and her friends’ go-to breakfast spot.

“Me and my friends, that was our one brunch spot that we always went to,” Cohn said. “(Angelo’s) just meant a lot to us, so it’s a little bittersweet.”

For homesick college students, a family-run diner like Angelo’s can be just what they need. Cohn said she believes Angelo’s is a favorite among U-M students in part because it feels like a homemade breakfast.

“The vibes of (Angelo’s) are very wholesome and I think some of the other brunch spots in Ann Arbor just have very different vibes and feel,” Cohn said. “Angelo’s feels more like I’m getting a homemade breakfast at my house with my friends.”

Rising LSA junior Madison Brown said she believes it is this comforting energy that makes Angelo’s stand out among Ann Arbor’s many restaurants.

“(Angelo’s) is your quintessential college diner, and I don’t think there is really something similar on campus,” Brown said. “It has this charm about it that doesn’t really have to do with flashy decor or a more modern or millennial style. It is its own little thing.”

Angelo’s is set to close in December following a $4.5 million purchase by the University of Michigan of 1100 Catherine Street, which includes the restaurant, as well as two residential apartments. The University plans to use this land to expand the Michigan Medicine campus. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Steve Vangelatos said he made the decision to sell the property to the University because of a promise he made to his wife when they got married. 

“I’ve been working seven days a week for 43 years,” Vangelatos said. “I promised my wife when we got married that if she allowed me to work as much as I needed to work to make this place successful that someday I would stop working. And there was nobody that wanted to take the restaurant over and so that resulted in selling the property.”

Helping Vangelatos run this brunch spot is a team of dedicated staff. Amy Marzka, long time Angelo’s employee, told The Daily the staff is sad to see the restaurant close but recognizes how much Vangelatos dedicated to its operation.

“Everyone is sad to see the place go,” Marzka said. “But we’re happy for the owner because he has worked so hard.”

At the University’s Board of Regents meeting on May 18, Geoffrey Chatas, U-M executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the purchase made sense as the University already owns the surrounding land and could give the Vangelatos family time to close the business.

“The University has been presented with an opportunity to purchase property from the Vangelatos family who, for decades, have been running Angelo’s, a beloved icon in Ann Arbor,” Chatas said. “When the family approached the University about the possibility of selling (the property), they explained that they want to close the business on their own terms … The property makes sense for the University to acquire since it will further the University’s options for development in the Catherine Street area.” 

The sale is set to close no later than March 31, 2024 to give Vangelatos time to close Angelo’s and vacate the property. Vangelatos said the restaurant will likely close on December 23 — like they do every year — but this time, come January, they will not reopen their doors.

“I feel like it’s going to be like we usually do every other year,” Vangelatos said. “We’ve closed on December 23 (for) the holidays and we usually would reopen either January 1 or January 2. It’ll be just like that this year, except we’re not going to reopen in January.”

Vangelatos said he would consider the possibility of reopening Angelo’s in a new location if he was able to find someone else to run it.

“I would definitely consider doing that if it was somebody that I knew would be willing to put the work in and I thought could maybe be successful,” Vangelatos said. “It’s possible, (but) it won’t be somewhere that I will be running or that I want to be really involved in.”

At the regents meeting, University President Santa Ono recognized how much the U-M community would miss Angelo’s.

“I must say that thousands of Wolverines will miss that wonderful place for brunch and for other meals,” Ono said.

Although Angelo’s has fans throughout Ann Arbor, it holds a special place in the hearts of many U-M students. Vangelatos said he is grateful for all that the University and its students have done for him, but it is time for him to end this chapter of his career.

“I really appreciate the University of Michigan and the students and, I mean, they’re a big part of our success here and then the whole town of Ann Arbor really,” Vangelatos said. “I was very fortunate to be in this position … (but now I want to focus on) spending time with my wife and my family.”

Summer News Editor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu. Summer Managing News Editor Mary Corey can be reached at mcorey@umich.edu.

The post Ann Arbor breakfast spot Angelo’s officially set to close its doors appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

As artificial intelligence software like ChatGPT continues to grow in popularity, environmental advocates have raised concerns over the high levels of energy consumed by AI. In a step toward addressing this issue, U-M alum Jie You, Rackham student Jae-Won Chung and Mosharaf Chowdhury, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, developed Zeus, an open-source framework that analyzes the energy efficiency of training AI. According to the study, implementation of this software could reduce AI energy consumption by up to 75%.

Zeus works by taking into account any time constraints for the AI training process and then figuring out the most energy-efficient way to complete the training within that time frame. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Chowdhury said increasing data consumption during training, which is necessary for AI to function, contributes to high levels of energy consumption. According to Chowdhury, reducing energy usage by even a small amount during the training process has a positive environmental effect, while maintaining minimal impact on its timeframe. 

“What we found is that for different models, even if you slightly reduce the power they are drawing — instead of drawing 300 watts, they are drawing 250 watts — the speed of computation (doesn’t) get affected significantly, meaning (the training) will still finish roughly at the same time,” Chowdhury said. 

Chung said the research team initially struggled to find a balance between energy use reduction and training speed.

“We found out that if you reduce energy too much, the training gets too long,” Chung said. “So we developed our problem formulation where we find a sweet spot between reducing energy and not inflating computation time too much.”

Rising LSA senior Jackson Leb is the founder of OpenMI, a student organization focused on AI and machine learning. Leb said it is difficult to decrease energy consumption by AI because of the sheer amount of data AI uses. 

“These machine learning and artificial intelligence models that we see today, like ChatGPT and a lot of the more common ones, are built and function off these huge amounts of data that are pulled from data centers,” Leb said. “(It) requires a lot of computational power to get all that data, and a lot of computational power means that there’s a lot of energy consumption which is going to have a detrimental effect on the environment. There’s no … way to escape (the negative impacts) if you’re using that much energy.”

Chowdhury said Zeus allows the users to decide what trade-off they want to make — they can decide between saving more energy or having their AI trained quicker, depending on their specific needs. 

“You can decide that I want to save some energy, and I’m fine with taking a little bit more time, or vice versa,” Chowdhury said. “Depending on what you want to optimize, Zeus allows someone to decide that maybe (they are) fine with (the training) taking one more day, but this will save maybe 20% more energy.” 

Along with Chung, Rackham student Zhenning Yang and U-M alum Luoxi Meng developed a complementary software called Chase that aims to further reduce the carbon footprint of AI by looking not at just the amount of energy consumed, but also where the energy is coming from. This software increases the training speed when low-carbon energy is available and decreases it when there is higher-carbon energy available.

Chung said Chase works the same way Zeus does, speeding up when there is more clean energy available and slowing down when there is less.

“Carbon intensity changes throughout the day,” Chung said. “For example, when the sun is up, solar power is up, so electricity tends to get greener compared to night. (Chase uses) the same mechanism that Zeus developed, which is slowing down the GPU so that it consumes less energy but slightly slower. We do that while the job is training. When it’s daytime and we have greater energy, we speed up the GPU … but during night we don’t, so we slow down the GPU automatically.”

Chowdhury said the research team hopes the creation of Zeus will spark further conversation and action around the environmental effects of AI .

“Historically, what we found is that even though software consumes a lot of energy, there hasn’t been that much work (on how to make it more sustainable),” Chowdhury said. “It’s our small part that we are trying to play, but I feel like still (our contribution is) quite sizable (as) close to one percentage point of total energy consumption of the world can be saved.”

Summer News Editor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu. 

The post Researchers at UMich find a way to reduce the energy consumed by AI appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

Amy Cohn, Industrial and Operations Engineering professor, won one of three Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Awards from the Michigan Association of State Universities. According to MASU, this award recognizes professors at public universities in the state of Michigan who show phenomenal dedication to undergraduate education and student success. Recipients are picked from a list of nominees submitted by all 15 of Michigan’s public universities. The selection committee considers how nominees support student education and growth, both personally and professionally. Cohn is joined by two other winners, Anna Spagnuolo from Oakland University and Arthur L. Martin from Saginaw Valley State University. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Cohn said she works to create a safe space within her classroom where students feel comfortable making mistakes and learning from them.

“I try to be very open with students,” Cohn said. “I talk about my kids, I talk about my own stresses (and) I’m up front when I’m having a rough day. I want them to know that I’m human and fallible so that they feel like it’s okay to make mistakes around me, that they feel like it’s okay to say, ‘I’m having a problem and it’s going to affect my work.’” 

In addition to being a professor in the IOE department, Cohn also serves as the associate director of the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety. Engineering senior Alexios Avrassoglou works under Cohn at CHEPS and took IOE 310 with her while classes were still remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Avrassoglou said even on Zoom, Cohn created an environment that made him excited to learn. 

“I (can) remember her positive spirit and energy on Zoom actually making me excited to go to the Zoom class,” Avrassoglou said. “(With online classes,) there was just another lost sense of belonging in the (IOE) major because we didn’t have the chance to be with everyone in our grade in the big classroom. But even still, because of her positive spirit, she made me want to come to class. She made me excited about learning.”

Adam VanDeusen, former student and doctoral advisee of Cohn’s, said Cohn works to create a meaningful relationship with students that lasts beyond her time as their professor or supervisor. 

“(Cohn) continues to make time for her students, both while she’s working with them either during the semester or during (their) research project, but also after (they) complete it too,” VanDeusen said. “(She) is always there to meet with us and check in with how we’re doing and respond to emails …so I’m just really in awe of her ability to (manage) both the quality of her mentorship as well as the quantity.”

Avrassoglou said he feels Cohn is unique as a professor because of the way she prioritizes her students and creates a productive learning environment. 

“There (are) not that many educators who actually get excited to teach,” Avrassoglou said. “(Cohn) has always felt like a teacher first to me and I know countless others.”

Cohn said she tries her best to meet the needs of all her students both in and out of the classroom. She said she hopes to foster a community that emphasizes students’ well-being and helps meet their unique needs.

“If your basic human needs aren’t met, you can’t learn,” Cohn said. “Sometimes you need a place (where) you can go shut the door, and we have a box of tissues. Sometimes you need a place to say, ‘Oh my god, the most amazing thing happened.’ … and there are people who will celebrate that with you. I think that (in this) community, it’s not just about how much am I producing or how much am I scoring on an exam. It’s that kind of holistic, ‘How am I moving forward as a person?” 

Cohn said she is thankful to students who allow her to be herself while also helping them to learn and grow.

“I have really great students,” Cohn said. “They indulge me talking about my kids and my bad jokes, and I think we laugh a lot — and sometimes they’re laughing at me but that’s all right. But I really just appreciate being in an environment with really smart, fun, interesting people who (are) willing to kind of share that with me.”

Summer News Editor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu. 

The post IOE Professor Amy Cohn wins Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

All incoming first-year students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn are eligible to receive reimbursement for 2023 football season student tickets if they are registered for at least 12 credit hours at U-M Dearborn. Though no reimbursements have been given out so far, students can anticipate them in the fall. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Kristin Palm, Assistant Director of Communication for U-M Dearborn, said the administration decided to provide reimbursement for football tickets to improve U-M Dearborn students’s engagement with the U-M community. 

“One of our top priorities in our current strategic plan is to enhance the first-year student experience at U of M Dearborn,” Palm said. “And we have a lot of wonderful traditions on our own campus for new students to take part in, but now they’ll have greater access to what we all know is a very cherished tradition down the road in Ann Arbor.”

Palm said the administration hopes this change will help first-year students build a better community within the University as a whole. 

“The real goal here is to help our students feel really connected to our campus and to the University of Michigan community from the minute they step foot on campus,” Palm said. 

Nimah Azam, U-M Dearborn sophomore, told The Daily she is upset the reimbursement is only for incoming freshmen because she believes all students would love to have the ability to receive reimbursement for tickets. 

“Honestly that’s a little disappointing because that’s passed me being a freshman but I think it’s pretty cool,” Azam said. “I think it’s a nice way to get freshmen involved with their school.”

Eejoy Lim, U-M Dearborn sophomore and Student Activities Board president, told The Daily she did not have the opportunity to watch the football games in Ann Arbor when she was a freshman because of high ticket prices. Lim said she believes the reimbursement will encourage students to engage with a major University tradition. 

“It’s a really good way to get students engaged on campus,” Lim said. “Football at U of M is pretty big and (students) want to feel the spirit of (the) school.”

By helping students feel more connected to the campus community, Palm said the administration is also improving student retention, which directly benefits the school. 

“The goal is just feeling more invested and more a part of the Wolverine community, which you know, has all kinds of benefits in the long run,” Palm said. “We know that being a part of a strong and connected campus community is vital to student retention and success.”

Azam said she believes ticket reimbursement gives U-M Dearborn students the opportunity to have what she considered a “typical” college experience while on a commuter campus.

“As U-M Dearborn students, we don’t really get much of a typical college life like MSU or like U-M Ann Arbor because we are a commuter campus,” Azam said.

Palm said she believes reimbursement for tickets will help remove financial barriers and get more students involved at the University outside of the classroom.

“I’m just personally excited that we can make (going to football games) more accessible to all of our students,” Palm said. “Fourty-four percent of our students are Pell-eligible, (so) anything that we can be doing to help our students feel more connected and make opportunities, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom, accessible to them is a move toward students’ success and diversity, equity and inclusion.” 

Azam said though she believes reimbursing students is great, there are still steps the University could consider to increase equity.

“Reimbursing students is a huge thing already but getting students to Ann Arbor would be cool also,” Azam said. “There (are) a lot of international students that live on campus, and I’m not sure they have transportation.”

In the press release obtained by The Daily from U-M Dearborn, Chancellor Domenico Grasso also said the reimbursement for tickets will help students participate in a major element of U-M student life.

“We are committed to providing a robust Michigan experience to our students, who already receive a first-rate education and will leave our Dearborn campus with one of the most valuable assets a graduate can possess: a Michigan degree,” Grasso said. “This new initiative makes it even easier for our students to participate in one of the most cherished of University of Michigan traditions: fall in the Big House.”

Eligible students who purchase tickets will be automatically reimbursed in mid-September, according to U-M Dearborn’s website.

Daily Staff Reporter Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.

The post <strong>UMich Dearborn incoming first-year students eligible to receive free football season tickets</strong> appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

“One-two-three-four we won’t take it anymore; five-six-seven-eight sit down and negotiate,” the University of Michigan Graduate Employees’ Organization chanted outside of the Michigan Union Tuesday afternoon.

Inside the Union, U-M President Santa Ono, along with Tabbye M. Chavous, the University’s vice provost for equity & inclusion and chief diversity officer, hosted an information session about the University’s initial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion five-year Strategic Plan, DEI 1.0.

At the rally, GEO handed out flyers detailing their goals and demands. According to the flyers, the organization is calling for an increase in wage for graduate employees from $24,500 to $38,500 and the implementation of a $20-per-hour minimum wage for School of Social Work students in their required field placements.

Amir Fleischmann, Rackham student and chair of the Contracts Committee for GEO, told attendees the demonstration was held outside the DEI event because the organization feels DEI is an important topic in their current contract negotiations with the University.

“We’re out here demonstrating in front of Santa Ono’s DEI talk, because right now the University is refusing to negotiate with (graduate) students over issues that are really all about DEI,” Fleischmann said.

Rackham student Garima Singh is on the GEO bargaining team and serves as the co-chair of the feminist caucus. Singh said the demonstration aimed to draw attention to GEO’s current negotiations with the University.  

“We are trying to create as much noise around this cause so that (the University) agrees to come to the table and bargain with us,” Singh said. 

In an email to The Michigan Daily, University Spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said the University has been actively working to negotiate with GEO. 

“University negotiators have been actively engaged with GEO throughout the bargaining process, as documented in updates from Academic Human Resources,” Broekhuizen wrote. “In fact, it was the University that requested a state-appointed mediator to work with both negotiating teams on current areas of disagreement. Claims that the University is refusing to negotiate are simply false.”

Kathleen Brown, Rackham student and solidarity and political action chair for GEO, also said the informational rally aimed to draw attention to some of the proposals GEO is making in their negotiations.

“(This event is) to draw awareness and bring information to people about what’s happening at the bargaining table,” Brown said. “We graduates are negotiating our union contract, and we have some really important and exciting proposals that we’d like to talk about with the University.”

According to Fleischmann, GEO wants to make being a U-M graduate student more equitable and accessible.

“We’re fighting for a living wage for all (graduate) students,” Fleischmann said. “We’re fighting for a transitional funding program for graduate students who’ve been harassed. We’re fighting for better access to trans health care. We’re fighting for rights for parents, and for international students, and on and on. So if the University is serious about its DEI commitment, it needs to come to the table and negotiate a fair contract for grad students.”

Singh said it is important for GEO to negotiate benefits not just for union members, but for the whole campus community.

“When we get a fair contract, the University sort of implements that same contract for people who are not (graduate student instructors),” Singh said. “So the health care that we get implemented helps other people, other sections on the campus get similar healthcare. So one union’s victory helps other unions to get similar victories.”

In addition to increased pay, Brown said GEO advocates for many other services and changes aiming to support graduate students at the University. 

“We want to see improved transgender health care, not just for our members, but for anyone who accesses gender-affirming services at Michigan Medicine,” Brown said. “We want to reduce childcare costs for parents to help people with children afford (graduate) school. And then finally, probably the most important one is funding a non-police emergency response (team) that can go in when people are in crisis to reduce the risk of police violence.”

Brown said GEO wants to ensure that people who want to go to graduate school can do so and still afford to live. 

“We only get paid around $24,000 a year, and that just isn’t enough to survive on,” Brown said. “It means that people have to either go into debt to pursue graduate school or they rely on family money, family contributions, which skews the population of (the University). Basically, people can’t afford to pursue graduate school, and we want to change that.” 

In her email to The Daily, Broekhuizen wrote that some of the allegations made at the rally about compensation paid to graduate student employees were misleading.

“While it is true that our graduate union employees earn $24,050 annually under their current contract, this amount is for roughly eight months of part-time work,” Broekhuizen wrote. “Most GSIs work 16-20 hours per week for the two, four-month semesters. This is equivalent to a wage of roughly $35 per hour.”

Broekhuizen also noted that, in addition to their compensation, graduate student employees receive health insurance and tuition waivers up to $12,947 per semester for in-state students and $26,062 for out-of-state students.

Broekhuizen wrote that the University looks forward to continuing their bargaining process with GEO.

“The University looks forward to working with GEO leaders through efficient and constructive bargaining sessions in the weeks and months to come,” Broekhuizen wrote.

Update 1/11: This article has been updated to include a statement from University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen about the ongoing negotiations between the University and GEO.

Daily News Reporter Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.

The post GEO rallies outside DEI 1.0 information session demanding increased wages appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

In preparation for the midterm elections, The Michigan Daily sat down with candidates in the Ann Arbor District Library Board of Trustees race to talk about their background, previous experiences and goals for the upcoming term. Six candidates are vying for three open seats this November. The non-partisan position runs on four-year terms and will be on the ballot for all Ann Arbor residents, regardless of their ward or district of residence.

Candidates Jim Leija and John Schaeffer did not respond in time for publication.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Aidan Sova

The Michigan Daily: What is your title and pronouns, what are you running for and where are you from?

Aidan Sova: Aidan Sova, Product Solutions Consultant at Google, he/him, running for District Library Board Member, from Jackson, Mich.

TMD: Why are you interested in running for this position? 

AS: I was raised in a low-income, single-parent household, and the summers were particularly difficult for both me and my family. With the school closing, I no longer had such sustained resources from the school system, meaning I did not have access to the internet or any other associated services. Additionally, I lost out on a great deal of programming, access to books, resources and other opportunities to combat food insecurity. After my mother’s intense, very long shifts at her job, we would walk down to the Jackson District Library, and we found this was very restorative. We enjoyed things beyond books — even just the air conditioning and other services that our libraries very thankfully provide.

I grew up with a very distinct dependency on the library system. That perspective is hugely important as we have the opportunity to make strategic decisions for the Ann Arbor District Library System … I think that there are folks who are affected by the benefits from our library system in the ways that I did, and I hope very much to champion the underserved individuals, if I were to be elected.

TMD: How have your previous experiences prepared you for this position?

AS: I’m very thrilled to say that that experience alone was hugely impactful in my life. I firmly believe that the library system molded me as an individual and person and professional, but even beyond that, I do have a host of very wide reaching professional experiences. While at the University of Michigan, I led the 500,000-plus students at academic conferences as the Executive Director of the Association of Big Ten Students. 

I currently work at Google full-time as a consultant, and I also work as a Human Rights Commissioner for the city of Ann Arbor, as well as a board member at Grow Jackson, a nonprofit from the Jackson area.

TMD: Tell me about your platform. What are the most important points?

AS: Something I’m hoping to bolster with my insights is to identify where the invisible difficulties exist that come with being a low-income resident. I’m very confident that we’ll be able to adequately represent that. Meaning, when we are making these legislative, strategic decisions, that is an insight that I think is currently missing from the board that I would be able to provide. 

But furthermore, if elected, I would be the youngest ever Black person successfully elected to office here in Ann Arbor. My experiences are, of course, multifaceted, but as a low-income Black youth, that is something that I’m looking to provide and is very hugely important to our platform. 

But additionally, it is no secret that there are many who are working diligently to remove certain books, resources and academic sources completely from the library system. Many of these efforts to nearly rid sections of education about underrepresented groups or references in history, or just insights into the general plight of marginalized people, is a very big focal point right now. I believe that it’s hugely important that all in leadership of our library system are really empowered to protect that public resource and maintain its existence. 

TMD: Is there anything you want to say to college students?

AS: I think that it is very easy for college students to get very swept up in our individual lives. When I was a college student, I was so focused on uplifting both me and my family out of poverty that my civic engagement did not necessarily spread its wings until much later in college when I was more financially secure. Although I believe that that is okay, and we are very much witness to our circumstance, in many instances, I just strongly encourage the college students of our area to recognize that their force is only becoming increasingly powerful as we continue to grow and develop as professionals and really start to make our mark on the world. 

All I want to do is help people who perhaps went through a similar circumstance to me, and I think that the key to doing that is through our college students, because we’ve shown demonstrated and wide empathy. We’ve shown that we are ready for leadership opportunities, and we’ve shown that we’re very hungry to change the world for the better.

TMD: Why should students vote for you?

AS: I think that I know very uniquely much of the college student experience. But additionally, in my own personal life, I very much felt like I was beyond the stereotypical “broke college student” but I was just destitute. Despite such poverty, I made time to connect with people and I made time to again represent and lead as many folks as I can. The point being is that I feel very strongly that I empathize with many of our college students who are struggling with their own financial means. I see the range and the opportunity and the reach of all that we’re doing. Not only are we the leaders and the best but I think that college students are the leaders of today. And so, as I’m attempting to do the same, and run alongside you and champion the very same needs as you, I’m just very hopeful that I could be elected to do so.”

Daily Contributor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.

Catherine Hadley

The Michigan Daily: What is your name, title and pronouns? What are you running for? Where are you from?

Catherine Hadley: Catherine Hadley, she/her, (I’m) a state campaign manager at Patriotic Millionaires, running for the Ann Arbor Library Board of Trustees from Ann Arbor, Mich.

TMD: Why are you interested in running for this position? 

CH: I see the Ann Arbor library branches as one of the last spaces where people can just exist in our community, and that’s really sacred to me. I’ve been loving what the people that are currently elected have been doing. They’re making this really reactive and progressive service. And I want to make sure that that continues to happen in Ann Arbor.

TMD: How have your previous experiences prepared you for this position?

CH: I’m a Truman Scholar and a non-traditional student. I just graduated from U of M last spring and my background and passion has always been in public service. My background has ranged from advocating for food stamp expansion, to securing childcare for high-need student parents on the U of M campus and opening up family friendly spaces at the University library system. But a lot of my work is just focused on generating the greater good. My current work focuses on building coalitions across party lines within multiple states. So I go in, and I talk to people that maybe don’t get talked to a lot and are left out of conversations about how we can build movements to make better spaces for them. I think my background and having a track record of really amplifying the voices of folks that are not often heard, and successfully advocating for their needs, will really help with the Ann Arbor library board.

TMD: Tell me about your platform. What are the most important points?

CH: I’m running on a slate with Aiden Sova and Jim Leija, and so for us, it’s really about continuing the service that’s already been great. I think that we saw in the pandemic some really amazing work by the staff to meet the needs of the city as things happened, and I also think we’re seeing this great reimagining of what libraries can serve and what they can do in communities. So my role is to make sure that the staff can do those things that help us have a better community and thrive. My hope is to just continue to really be able to meet the needs, in ways that people expect but also in ways that people don’t maybe necessarily expect but then are so helpful. I can say as a parent, the summer game, having that was so important. I have a three and a four-year-old and it’s just, you know, it’s an important space for them to exist in, and so more of that is my platform.

TMD: Is there anything you want to say to college students?

CH: College students are a part of this community, too. I think college students are often left out of the conversation. And I think that, especially as somebody that was just in that spot and hopes to go back soon, AADL is a resource for you. And don’t be afraid to use it. I think one of the best parts about running for Library Board has been getting to tell people all the amazing things that our local library system does, and so I encourage students to take advantage of it. Don’t be afraid to tap into the resource that’s there. And then also if you see something that’s not there, advocate for it. We only know what we know. So, as somebody that’s running, I would love to hear more from college students about how the library can better suit them.

TMD: Why should students vote for you?

CH: I’m a younger progressive person. I was just in students’ shoes. I think that beyond just being like ‘Oh, I just graduated.’ One thing I’m really excited to do is to make sure that we’re providing that progressive service, and I think a lot of that involves working with the community that exists there. And that includes bringing people like college students into these spaces, to have more leadership and to have more say because it is a huge chunk of the population that often is overlooked. So I would say if you want somebody that’s going to be responsive, that’s going to focus on community building and really being a voice to the people, then please vote for me.

Daily Contributor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.

Sara Duvall

The Michigan Daily:  What is your name, title and pronouns? What are you running for? Where are you from?

Sara Duvall: Sara Duvall, she/her, running for District Library Board, from Ann Arbor. 

TMD:  Why are you interested in running for this position? 

SD: My interest in the libraries has to do with the future of libraries. I’m recently back from a Fulbright Fellowship in India where I was studying the future of libraries in India and before I went there, I was very active with the American Library Association Center for the future of libraries. I’ve done a lot of workshops all over the world, helping librarians think about the future, what are the trends we need to address. So I’ve been involved with the future of libraries for a very long time. And I thought it might be time to start working with my own district library, to be frank, once I saw that the trustees hired Eli to be the new director. I’ve known Eli for a long time and I know I have a lot of respect for his vision and his ability to lead the library to the future. 

TMD: How have your previous experiences prepared you for this position?

I had a 20-year career as a school librarian and helped AAPS envision a new plan for technology. I helped them envision a new plan for their school libraries. I have lots of experience with the process of getting to a consensus over a vision. So there is that, plus, before I was a school librarian, I was in business — CEO of a company in Los Angeles — and so I have a really solid understanding of all the financial matters that go along with a big enterprise. So I think my interest in libraries … and my financial expertise, I think all could contribute very nicely to serving on the library board.

TMD: Tell me about your platform. What are the most important points?

SD: We need to look at what the needs of the community are. Particularly with the downtown library — given that the population is just increasing exponentially downtown — the community needs around that downtown library are changing rapidly. The library under Chelsea Parker was very, very good at recognizing the needs of the community as it sprawled. So we have a lot of fabulous branch libraries to meet that need. And I think one of the challenges now will be to adapt that downtown library to meet the new pressures of a large population living downtown.

TMD: Is there anything you want to say to college students?

SD: When I was with AAPS, I was the curator of a program on TEDx. I have to say, before I came in to work with public schools, I was a little bit discouraged about where America was heading. Then I started working with young people, and they completely turned me around. I thought, ‘When these people are in power, I have nothing to worry about when I get old.’ And so what I want to say to college students is vote, no matter what you think of my platform or anyone else’s platform. Become as informed as you can. And don’t blow off voting. Voting is the elemental building block of democracy. And given how imperiled that democracy is these days, every single person needs to do their civic duty and vote.

TMD: Why should students vote for you?

SD: They should vote for me because I’m a consensus builder. I don’t just go out from the top down making decisions without talking to a lot of people. And certainly in Ann Arbor, where the University is such an integral part of the community, we have to consider serious collaboration with the University and with the student organizations so that we make sure that the kinds of programs and the way we spend our money are in line with the needs. So vote for me because first, I respect who they are and where they’re going, and two, because I have a lot of experience with these kinds of things and I’m not out for any one agenda or any one problem. I’m out for the good of the citizens.

Daily Contributor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.

Sherrie Kossoudji

The Michigan Daily: Why are you interested in running for the Library Board?

Sherrie Kossoudji: I was interested in running because libraries have been very important resources in my own life. I’m retired. Before then I was a single mom working full time. I didn’t have a lot of time to give back to the community. But now I do. When I saw that this position was opening, and it fit my interests and skills, I decided that the library, and I would be a good fit.

TMD: How has your previous experience as a professor, and a mom before that, prepared you for this position?

SK: It has in a number of ways. First, as an economist, I’m used to thinking about the use of competing resources. And of course, one of the things the Library Board of Trustees does is work on the budget and approve the budget. In these times, the use of the budget is critical to stepping into the future. In terms of my specific skills, I feel like I’m well qualified to be a member of the board. Almost more important than that, I’m a lifelong user of libraries. When I think about the Ann Arbor District Library, I am a regular user of its resources. I see the library from a user’s perspective. As someone who gets it from that perspective, I hope to then translate that to residents in Ann Arbor, and the fact that I’m a mother who’s taking their kids to the library, and now someone who reads books to very young grandchildren.

TMD: What are the main points of your platform for the Library Board? If elected, what do you hope to accomplish?

SK: It’s a little difficult in some ways to talk about what I hope to accomplish because it is not an individual position. But I do have a set of features that I hope the library will consider for the future. The first one is that it pursues acquisitions, so that patrons’ experiences are equally valuable, whether they use physical resources of the library, the electronic resources of the library or both. This is both an accessibility and a sustainability issue. We don’t want the library to discount the digital needs of young potential patrons in Ann Arbor. Folks in their teens and 20s have grown up in a digital world. In order for them to interact with the library, the library has to become an attractive digital resource. At the same time, we need to attend to what we observe as newly emerging digital disparities and mitigate those problems. We need to consider the ways that electronic resources create access, create biases and learning differences. In a way, the pandemic thrust us into understanding how digital interactions are going to change our whole notion of community. That’s going to be one of the ways that the library is going to have to work on its growth in the future. Libraries are not bifurcated because physical resources and electronic resources are part of the whole. The Ann Arbor Public Library has been very good about expanding into electronic resources, but I’m hoping to see them go further in that direction.

TMD: Is there anything you want to tell college students about why they should vote for you?

SK: I think there are a number of reasons. First, I am running for the Library Board with the intention only of being on the Library Board. I’m not using the Library Board as a springboard to another political position. Secondly, and more importantly, I want to maximize the library’s usefulness to young people because your needs are very different from the needs of someone like me, who grew up with very traditional libraries. Thinking about how the library can be a useful resource for college students, for example, is an important idea for our library to keep building in the future.

Daily News Editor Roni Kane can be reached at ronikane@umich.edu.

The post The Michigan Daily sits down with the District Library Board of Trustees Candidates ahead of elections appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The U-M Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Faculty Alliance (UMFA) hosted their annual faculty reception at Rackham Graduate School on Oct. 12. Staff and attendees transformed the school’s East Conference Room into a warm environment filled with lively conversation. The reception was meant to welcome both new and existing faculty members and to create a sense of community at the University of Michigan.

The UMFA is a group of U-M faculty and deans founded in 1992 that works to address academic needs, university policies and curriculum development. The UMFA is one of many resources available to faculty and students through the Spectrum Center — a space where members of the University and local community come together to create a supportive environment for LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff.

The reception is one of many events hosted to celebrate LGBTQ+ history month, which serves to celebrate the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and raise awareness about the history and struggles of people in the community.

Cortney Turner, associate research scientist in the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and an event planner for the UMFA, organized the event. Turner took over for R. Van Harrison, professor emeritus of Learning Health Sciences in the Medical School and a founding member of UMFA.

“It’s very important that especially the new faculty feel like they have a home and feel comfortable (at the University),” Turner said.

Max Li, assistant aerospace engineering professor, said the event was an empowering experience.

“So far I’ve already met a couple of wonderful other staff and faculty, so I think it’s been a really empowering evening,” Li said. “I’m very glad I came in … (I think) just getting to introduce myself and network a little bit and see the broad cadre of roles that LGBTQ+ faculty are playing in this University has been really, really eye-opening and has been really affirming to me.”

Andrew Brouwer, assistant research scientist in the School of Public Health, said he was grateful for the opportunity the event gave him to socialize with other faculty who identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

“It’s really nice to be able to go out and see that there’s other people in my community,” Brouwer said. “The University of Michigan’s a big place, and (LGBTQ+ staff) have connections across units.” 

Members of the group then formed a circle, and representatives from Rackham and the Spectrum Center spoke about the initiatives they are taking to make spaces at the University more LGBTQ+ friendly. Their presentations sparked a round table where members of the group were able to ask questions and raise specific concerns. 

Rackham student Des Velazquez, an intern at the Spectrum Center, said these kinds of events are essential to making sure students and faculty feel safe on campus. 

“(Events like these are) a really special place for (faculty) to get to know each other and also build that sense of community,” Velazquez said. “(Faculty members) think it’s really special for (students) to know there’s faculty who have shared identities and experiences.”

Daily News Contributor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu

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