University of Michigan-Flint

umflint.edu

The University of Michigan's longest-serving president, James Burrill Angell, believed access to a great education was the institution's foremost mission. He famously said U-M should provide "an uncommon education for the common man." In 1956, Ann Arbor sent their best faculty and administrative talent to Flint to ensure the mission, reputation, and standards of a Michigan education took root here, adapted to this environment, and thrived. UM-Flint is proud of our role in the ongoing efforts to effect positive change in Flint, Michigan. Like so many other residents, organizations, and coalitions, this is not a new development for us. Since our founding, we have viewed civic engagement as the duty of every member of this—or any—community. From an academic perspective, Flint is the ideal environment for applied learning, the ultimate idea-into-action testing ground. This philosophy of engaged learning brings knowledge out of the classroom and into the world, where people live, where problems need solutions, and where students discover what it really takes to make a real difference. Engaged learning is not simply about doing something for places like Flint. Nor is it about places like Flint doing something for you in some school-of-hard-knocks, "make it here, make it anywhere" kind of way. Engaged learning at UM-Flint is about the value of specific experiences that force students to perform at their best, to cope with realities in real-time, and to employ all of their knowledge, passion, creativity, and collaborative talent to get things done. Graduates who get results in any situation. That's what the world needs. That's what you can expect from your University of Michigan-Flint experience.