Detroit Mercy invests millions in campuses

Detroit— In the midst of a flurry of development in northwest Detroit, University of Detroit Mercy has spent millions at its McNichols campus as part of more than $15 million in investment over all three of its city campuses this past year.

The private Catholic institution, which had 4,920 undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled last year, believes the push to update and repurpose many of its buildings — especially at the campus on McNichols — will keep the school relevant in the midst of changing academic standards and allow the university to take part in Detroit’s revitalization.

The school has focused much of its attention on renovating health, science and engineering buildings as well as improving the look of its McNichols entrance.

The university’s improvements come at the same time as University President Antoine Garibaldi has launched initiatives to maintain the school’s academic rankings. According to university officials, the institution has spent more than $100 million on renovations over their McNichols, Jefferson and Corktown campuses in the past 10 years.

“We really are part of Detroit’s fabric,” Vice President Arnold D’Ambrosio said. “It’s in our name, we’ve been in the city since 1877 and that’s never changed.”

The renovation of the McNichols entrance, finished earlier this year, has been an important project for Garibaldi since he arrived. The most significant change was the addition of a second lane to the enterance, which school officials said greatly reduces congestion when visitors come to campus for events such as basketball games.

“When I came in June 2011, we began to look at the past capital projects, and I said there were a couple I wanted to do in the next few years,” he said.

This summer, Detroit Mercy has done a number of renovations and improvements to buildings on the McNichols campus, including constructing the iNSPIRE Lab in an old lower-level storage room of the chemistry building, renovating the engineering school’s CASEE Lab and beginning construction on an addition to the College of Health Professions.

The iNSPIRE Lab is a well-lit space that includes workstations and a presentation area that can be used by biology, chemistry or health students. The lab also has a number of new instruments including an incubated shaker machine that students can use to simultaneously heat and shake a substance.

The iNSPIRE Lab was built with help from a $22 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the university’s lead role in ReBUILDetroit, which along with Wayne State University and Marygrove College is meant to get underrepresented undergraduate students involved in biomedical research training.

Although the lab will be dedicated Oct. 13, it will be used by students in this coming fall semester.

The Center for Automotive Systems Engineering Education Lab — or CASEE Lab — has a new clean look and newly renovated work and collaborative spaces. As part of the renovation of 4,000 square feet of workspace within the CASEE Lab, the university added an “automotive breadboard” donated by Ford Motor Co. The breadboard lays out all of the electrical components of a 2017 Lincoln MKZ on a metal sheet and allows students see how all of the parts interact with one another.

Nassif Rayess, associate professor of mechanical engineering, said the school’s college of engineering and science is reinventing the way they teach so students have a better chance at success in the automotive industry.

“Our job is to ensure early career success,” Rayess said. “Early career success depends a lot on what you study and where you study.”

According to Rayess, the engineer facility asked auto industry officials what they’re looking for and Ford, General Motors and Denso International America all played roles in the lab renovations.

“We recognize that the engineering building was built around 1926,” Garibaldi said. “We really need top flight labs with very, very current types of equipment.”

The lab will be available for use by engineering students in the fall semester, but will be officially opened during the university’s homecoming weekend Sept. 30.

The most visible example of new construction on campus is the 20,000-square-foot expansion of the College of Health Professions. Right now, the addition is little more than a cinder block shell, but, when completed, the additional space will be used for new collaboration spaces, practice exam rooms and labs, according to university documents.

Garibaldi said the university wants to allow the school’s medical programs to keep expanding, so within the past few of years he identified expanding the College of Health Professions’ building as a priority.

excarter@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @evancarter_94