Community Engagement
Embracing and amplifying the 150-year-old relationship between Wayne State University and the City of Detroit was central to the planning effort. This connection is forcefully articulated in the university's strategic plan both in terms of a shared history, and a shared future:
Since its founding, Wayne State has been inestricably linked to Detroit, a city that has been both a symbol of the American Dream and a kaleidoscope of cultures, ambition, inspiration, contradictions, and challenges...Throughout Detroit's changing fortunes, Wayne State has remained a steadfast partner, playing a leading role in the city's recent resurgence while maintaining the university's historical commitment to diversity, opportunity, and excellence.
This notion of a city-university partnership was embedded in the process through consistent, multifaceted, internal and external stakeholder engagement. This stakeholder engagement involved dozens of conversations and interactions with over 900 individuals including:
- Regular meetings with university leadership
- One-on-one discussions with all of Wayne State's academic deans
- Multiple public, town hall-style conversations around our analysis, planning and framework implementation
- Meetings with Detroit's Department of Planning and Development
- Meetings with Midtown Detroit Inc.
- Presentations to Academic Senate and the Facilities, Support Services, and Technology Committee
- Focus groups for students and alumni
- Thematically-organized community focus groups which included neighborhood organizations, historical preservation organizations, other educational institutions, cultural institutions, and local business owners
Haven't had a chance to engage with the campus plan yet?
Review the presentations from some of our community discussions below and then send us a note via our contact page or use planspacemgmt@wayne.edu to tell us what you think!