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Summer 2025
A Message from OAMI's Interim Co-Directors
Dear community,
We hope that you all had a great summer and a chance to recharge. As summer offers a bit more space for broader planning, OAMI was busy in preparation for the year ahead. One highlight was coming together during our summer retreat to reflect on the year and share in our many successes. We assessed the achievements of engaging with students and partners across campus to meet our mission and goals. From participating in outreach events with student organizations and collaborating with key campus offices to strategically planning for the year ahead, our team has been focused on ensuring we are fully creating and embracing opportunities to serve students and provide resources and opportunities to support their success.
As we begin the fall semester, we are fortunate to have Dr. Angela Dillard, newly appointed Interim Vice Provost for Access and Opportunity, providing leadership and guidance in her role as Vice Provost to OAMI, Wolverine Pathways, and the Center for Educational Outreach. OAMI has already had the privilege of working with Dr. Dillard on the Student Success Initiative, which she leads in her role as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Her focus on several key strategies and initiatives to ensure long-term success in retention and graduation provides focus and momentum to collaborations that guide and strengthen the success and outcomes for our campus community of scholars. We are excited to work with her more closely to shape the vision for future success.
OAMI and the other Access and Opportunity units are continuing to work strategically to lead programs that promote college readiness, support a smooth transition into university life, and ensure students thrive academically and personally once enrolled. For more than thirty-five years, OAMI has embraced this work, and we remain committed to building on our strengths while adapting to the evolving needs of our students.
As always, we cannot do this work without you. We invite you to come to our office or attend one (or many!) of our events to see for yourself the energy and connection that we and our students bring to the campus community. And stay tuned for more information on the expansion of our flagship programs, including the First-Generation Gateway, SuccessConnects and the transfer efforts of the M-Connect program. There is much on the horizon to be excited about!
With gratitude,
Sharon Burch and Hector Galvan
Interim Co-Directors
Detroit Promise scholars develop public policy recommendations for strengthening the ‘D’
The week before Fall classes start is always busy, but a special group of incoming students used the time to make an ambitious leap into their college journey. These students are part of the Detroit Promise scholarship program that ensures all eligible Detroit residents have a tuition-free path to college. The University of Michigan is excited to welcome these Detroiters, and OAMI supports their academic success by offering the Scholars Succeeding in Education with Excellence for Detroit Success (SEEDS) program. The program readies these students for their entry into the rigor of college through a focus on the future of their home city.
A SEEDS scholar presents policy ideas for increasing equitable access to housing
SEEDS combines intensive, research-based group projects and college readiness orientation. This multi-faceted approach builds students’ confidence to tackle real-world problems through policy briefs while connecting them to resources for achieving a successful first year.
The students began the public policy section of the program by hearing from experts on the overarching dynamics that affect Detroit and learning how to research and build proposals for addressing such topics. Each student group focuses on one of three areas for urban renewal: transportation, education, and housing. Detroit practitioners and U-M faculty, through teaching and research on each core topic area, engaged the students with presentations, practical examples, and reference materials to support their exploration and assessments. An intensive timeline, teamwork, and utilization of U-M resources provided a glimpse into the benefits of rigor, critical thinking, and a focus on achieving a goal. SEEDS scholars are also connected to the campus via community activities, campus resource exploration, and engagement with programs and opportunities. These provided a head start on their knowledge of the campus and the experiences shaping the next four years ahead.
The week culminated with a community dinner, where the students presented their policy proposals to their families, relations, and guests. Bringing together the people who have invested so much in these students so they can share their vision for a stronger Detroit brings the program full circle. After all, these students are fortunate to be attending U-M as Detroit Promise Scholars, and we are fortunate to have them as the promise of Detroit.
Helping incoming students build bridges and bonds in partnership with Campus Connections
For over five years, OAMI has been an important partner in the LS&A Comprehensive Studies Program's flagship Summer Bridge Scholars Program’s Campus Connections. The initiative welcomes more than 300 incoming students each year and, in addition to taking courses, getting acclimated to the U-M campus, and strengthening academic skills, the participants have the opportunity to learn about campus programs and resources like OAMI that can support their success.
A group of CSP Summer Bridge students brainstorm how to thrive during Freshman year
For a bulk of the summer, OAMI welcomed a rotating group of scholars to help them gain insight into the office’s resources and build a foundation for academic and personal success. With the theme, “Building Bridges: Creating Bonds that Last on Campus,” OAMI staff facilitated group dialogues to unlock the secrets of forming essential bonds with peers, professors, and professionals, while developing practical strategies for networking and navigating the social landscape of college confidently.
In addition to staff presentations, the students participated in small group brainstorming sessions, empowering them to envision actions and attitudes that can deepen relationships and open doors for exciting opportunities. The students reflected on questions, such as: “Think about a time when you needed help or advice in the past. Who did you turn to, and how did you approach them?” and “How can you demonstrate respect and professionalism in your communications with professors in person or via email? What are some dos and don’ts?”
It seems fair to say that any high school graduate transitioning into their college career would benefit from taking the time to consider questions such as these. With students still affected by lost school and social time during the pandemic, and the ubiquity of new technologies such as AI, building interpersonal skills is that much more important for academic success. OAMI is excited to partner with CSP to support these students, connecting them to the people, resources, and practices that will help them thrive as they embrace all that Michigan has to offer.
Preparing peer coaches to mentor students and help answer big questions
If you think back to the point in your college journey when you had to answer the big questions – What major should I commit to? What should I do for my senior thesis? What do I want to spend the rest of my life doing? – Who did you go to for advice? Perhaps a family member was a surgeon or a lawyer, or your neighbor was a professor at a community college; these would be people you could lean on for guidance.
Graduate Success Partners (GSPs) work on case studies and other coaching topics to prepare for mentoring undergrads
Many first-generation and working-class students may not have access to networks of graduates and professionals who can share relevant experience and knowledge. Even when such support is available, it might not fully reflect the unique challenges today’s students face. This is why SuccessConnects' peer coaches are so valuable to the success of our students.
SuccessConnects pairs each student who has completed their freshman year with a peer coach. Sophomores are paired with an Academic Success Partner (ASP) who is a junior or senior student. Those students above the sophomore level work with Graduate Success Partners (GSPs) who have graduated from undergrad and are pursuing a master’s, Ph.D., law degree, medical degree, or the like. These coaches work one-on-one with each student, offering advice and perspective unique from an advisor or professor.
Training for Student Success
As part of the peer coaches’ preparation for working with students, OAMI hosts a weeklong training program that lays the foundation for ongoing training sessions and meetings throughout the year. During this time, ASPs and GSPs are given a comprehensive overview of OAMI’s programs, our evaluation tools, and the resources for student success. Most importantly, they are trained on research-driven approaches for student engagement. Using the concept of ‘performance training,’ peer coaches focus on working to improve and maximize students' academic performance by helping them identify their strengths, manage their barriers, and assist them in building general, transferable skills for use throughout their academic career and beyond.
While the curriculum is staff-led, the coaches work together, using their own experiences to envision what effective coaching looks like. One GSP, Caleb, is returning for his second year. The training, he says, has helped enhance his knowledge and strengthen his coaching skills, while giving him the opportunity to help the new coaches. He reflected on a problem-solving scenario that was particularly difficult. “I was like, ‘Are these taken from my notes?’ because they sounded like some of the more difficult situations I had worked on…the group was stumped, so I was able to say, ‘This is what I did and this is what helped.’”
SuccessConnects peer coaching demonstrates the power of experiential learning. The ASPs and GSPs help their students discover what matters most to them and how to achieve it, while they discover the leadership and mentorship skills that will enrich their communities and places of work. College is full of big questions; what a difference it makes to have a knowledgeable peer prepared to help you answer them.
Dr. Terra Molengraff joins the Rackham Graduate School's GradWell podcast to discuss "Decoding the Academy"
From the episode description: What is the best strategy to ensure success in our graduate programs? In this episode, Dr. Terra Molengraff, the program director of First-Generation Initiatives in the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, discusses her book Decoding the Academy. Listen in and learn about the questions we need to be asking, as well as Dr. Molengraff’s key tips for your first few weeks of graduate school (and beyond).