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Dear Wayne State University community, As part of our ongoing commitment to social mobility, innovation and competitiveness in line with our Prosperity Agenda, today we preview an upcoming initiative that will better position Wayne State as a first-choice partner in Detroit and beyond. Wayne State distinguishes itself by being in the heart of our great city, working for our city, and doing so with the full range of our city “assets” — including both for-profit businesses, from large corporations to small startups, and nonprofit community-focused organizations. Many faculty and staff have established important working relationships with these partners, largely on their own initiative and without systematic support, which has limited the reliability and scaling of these collaborations. As importantly, many partners express difficulty navigating our internal university organization to develop these collaborations that support our talented students, engage our faculty scholarly expertise or advance regional economic development. To better connect Wayne State’s capabilities with our partner needs for mutual benefit, a new effort tentatively named WSU OPEN — Opportunity Partnerships, Engagement and Navigation — will be launched in the fall. WSU OPEN represents a new, best practice approach to how we engage with external partners. This “concierge” service will facilitate broader and deeper connections between the for-profit business and nonprofit community and our university resources, serving as a catalyst for both revenue-generating and non-revenue partnerships that benefit students and support faculty. It will allow us to work more closely with our partners and respond more efficiently, creating vital internship opportunities, bolstering research and scholarship, spawning creative collaborations, and generating additional resources. Look for more information in the next academic year as this initiative takes shape. To move forward on a first step now, the current Corporate and Foundation Relations unit will be parsed into its constituent functions. The Corporate Relations responsibilities will transition to the Division of Economic Development, under the leadership of Ned Staebler, and will be renamed Corporate Engagement to reflect the bi-directional partnering opportunities with our community entities. This strategic move will leverage our longstanding synergies within Detroit’s for-profit and nonprofit corporate community, from Fortune 100 companies to local microbusinesses and nonprofits, and further connect with the innovative work at TechTown. Corporate Engagement will directly align our university’s assets — such as our talent pipeline, faculty scholarly research and economic development — with community needs by extending the current model that supports the College of Engineering and Mike Ilitch School of Business. Each existing Corporate Engagement Officer team member will be specifically assigned to support school(s)/college(s)/division(s), as well as work a coordinated portfolio of potential partners as a part of WSU’s Corporate Engagement team. Foundation Relations will continue under the leadership of David Ripple within the Division of Development and Alumni Affairs. This team will continue to support school/college/division activities, as well as advance large-scale, cross-cutting opportunities that bring together and connect multiple units for large-scale impact, ensuring that our mission and the needs of our university community remain at the forefront of fundraising efforts. As we head into summer, I thank you for your continued commitment to Wayne State and hope you take time to relax and recharge. I appreciate your dedication to our mission as we work every day to make a meaningful difference in our community. Sincerely,
Dr. Kimberly Andrews Espy |
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