The University of Michigan–Flint (UM-Flint) is a public university in Flint, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1956 as the Flint Senior College, it was initially established as a remote branch of the University of Michigan, offering upper-division undergraduate courses. The institution developed into a fully-fledged university and received accreditation in 1970. Subsequently, the name was changed to the University of Michigan–Flint. It continues to adhere to the policies of the University of Michigan Board of Regents without having a separate governing board.
UM-Flint is one of the five doctoral/professional universities in the state of Michigan. Together with Oakland University, the University of Michigan–Dearborn, and Wayne State University, UM-Flint is one of the four Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) members in the State of Michigan.
The university's student-athletes compete in intramural and club sports as the Michigan-Flint Wolverines. Notable alumni include former United States Senator Donald Riegle, Oscar-winning film director Michael Moore, who was an editor for the student newspaper The Michigan Times, and former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley.
History
Flint Senior College (1956–1964)
Former Flint mayor C.S. Mott first suggested bringing a full university to Flint in a meeting with then-President Alexander Ruthven in 1946. Mott pledged to give $1 million to the project if the voters would pass a $7 million bond issue. The University of Michigan initially opposed Mott's idea but, ultimately, agreed to create the Flint Senior College of the University of Michigan as an extension of the existing Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College), while the colleges remained separate institutions.
For a number of years, the college shared the Court Street campus with Flint Junior College. This campus was part of the Flint Cultural Center with major donations from many Flint business leaders. Original donors included the Sponsors Fund of Flint and William Ballenger. The first building constructed in 1954 was The Ballenger Field House.
In February 1956, David M. French was named the first dean of the Flint Senior College. The college began classes in 1956 with 118 full-time and 49 part-time students. Degrees were offered in liberal arts and sciences and in the professional fields of education and business administration. The college's first class graduated in 1958.
Independent proposal and the four-year Flint College (1964–1971)
From 1963 to 1964, studies were commissioned to explore the possibility of transforming Flint Senior College into a four-year institution. Subsequently, the Michigan State Board of Education recommended that the college transition into an autonomous four-year institution, phasing out the University of Michigan's involvement in Flint. This proposal was part of a broader statewide trend to grant independence to branch campuses, similar to the transition of Oakland University from Michigan State University during the same period. Proponents of the proposal argued that full independence would enable the college to better serve its academic community with its own governing board. However, the proposal faced opposition from C.S. Mott, who threatened to withdraw his pledged support. As a result, the independent proposal was abandoned, and the institution was restructured as a four-year college under the University of Michigan's board in 1964, subsequently renamed Flint College of the University of Michigan.
University of Michigan–Flint (1971–present)
In 1970, Flint College received its own accreditation independent from the main campus in Ann Arbor, from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1971, the Regents officially changed the name of the institution to the University of Michigan-Flint. The Regents later named William E. Moran as the first chancellor of the university. Two schools were formed at Flint in 1975, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Management.
The community and city assisted UM–Flint in acquiring 42 acres along the Flint River. $5 million over five years was pledged towards a new campus in 1972 by the C.S. Mott Foundation. During September 1972, sixteen temporary buildings were erected to ease campus overcrowding, pressuring the Regents to move UM-Flint to its current location along the Flint River.
On September 1, 1973, the Regents passed the plans for the first building by Sedgewick-Sellers & Associates, originally planned for a site at Lapeer Road and Court Street. Instead, the first building was moved to a site on the Flint River, the current campus location. The university acquired the Ross House and the Hubbard Building. Its ground breaking ceremony was held on May 9, 1974, at the Willson Park bandstand. In 1977, construction ended on the Class Room Office Building (CROB), later named David M. French Hall, and the Central Energy Plant. CROB included a library and theatre. In 1979, the original Harrison Street Halo Burger location was vacated to make way for UM-Flint parking. While, the Harding Mott University Center (UCen) was finished that same year and the Recreation Center in 1982.
William S. Murchie Science Building was completed in 1988.
In 2001, UM-Flint expanded north for the first time with the opening of the William S. White Building which houses health classrooms and labs. Today, the modern and inviting campus spans over 70 acres along the Flint River.
Ground was broken In 2024 on phase one of a new Innovation and Technology Complex. Featuring 14,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art instructional laboratories designed to encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary research, the complex will support existing STEM pathways and forthcoming academic degrees in artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, human-centered design, and electrical & computer engineering, among others.
As a community partner, the university has, over time, acquired existing buildings throughout the downtown area and turned them into viable parts of the campus. These spaces include the University Pavilion, the Northbank Center, and The Riverfront Conference Center.
Today, five major academic units, consisting of the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Management, the College of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing, and the College of Innovation & Technology are housed within the university.
Campus
The University Pavilion (UPAV) at University of Michigan-Flint is a central campus housing key student services, including Admissions, Financial Aid, and Academic Advising.
The building was formerly known as the Water Street Pavilion, a festival marketplace in Flint, Michigan, that failed and closed after only five years in operation. It was developed by the Enterprise Development Company (EDC), a for-profit subsidiary of the non-profit Enterprise Foundation, founded by James W. Rouse in 1982after he retired from the Rouse Company as CEO in 1979. The EDC was founded specifically to bring Rouse's festival marketplace concept to smaller cities, including Flint. The Water Street Pavilion was intended to revitalize Flint, and it was licensed and consulted by the Columbia, Maryland-based Rouse Company.
The mall cost $15.75million to develop, and featured of retail and dining space, adjacent to the Flint River. Despite the name Water Street Pavilion, it is not on Water Street, but rather is named after it. Its name is also a reference to the Harborplace pavilions in Baltimore with similar names, specifically the Pratt and Light Street Pavilions. It once housed over 60 local tenants, but the majority of them closed in the late 1980s, alongside the failing Six Flags AutoWorld. It was famously featured in Michael Moore's Roger & Me in 1989as a symbol of failed development, as it was an attempt to bring a specialized retail genre that required massive tourism to survive long-term, which Flint did not have at the time of the Water Street Pavilion's development. As a result of the mall's failure, James Rouse and the EDC pulled out of the project in January 1990and began closing down the center. The pavilion permanently closed its doors as a festival marketplace in September 1990. The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a plan to take over operations.
In 1991, UM-Flint took possession of the Water Street Pavilion, keeping restaurants there while moving in administrative offices. The Flint Downtown Development Authority officially sold the property to UM-Flint for $60,000. The university subsequently invested $3million to fully renovate and adapt the building into University Pavilion. The library moved to its own building in 1994, with the completion of the Frances Willson Thompson Library. The site across the river on the north side was acquired in 1997. Northbank Center was acquired in 1998.
Starting on June 2, 2015, UM–Flint initiated a "Going Blue" renovation on University Pavilion by new chancellor Susan E. Borrego, who made a cake replica of the building. The campaign involved painting the entire steel structure, the adjacent outdoor ice rink, the rink annex, and the connected parking garage in the university's signature colors, Maize and Blue, stripping away the original teal-and-white color scheme Rouse used. Massive, official "University of Michigan-Flint" signs were mounted on the exterior facing Kearsley Street to make the building instantly recognizable to visitors, and the iconic downtown corner clock tower at Kearsley and Saginaw Streets was completely refurbished and updated to match the new campus aesthetic by local firms Niles Construction and Bennings Painting. The renovation was done to celebrate the building's 30th anniversary, with UM–Flint pointing out that they "took a lemon off the hands of the city, and made lemonade for downtown."
While University Pavilion is no longer a festival marketplace, some of its businesses include Barnes & Noble University Bookstore, Subway, Jilly's Pizza, Sportlite Grill, Shawarma Bite, and O'Blendz. The University Pavilion was renovated in September 2018, which involved removing the escalators due to costly maintenance, and it creates more open space for the dining area. The roof of the pavilion has also been refurbished to add new walking paths for workers and others in the area. Signs were also added to navigate people to the stairwells.
Organization
Administration
UM–Flint, historically a branch of the University of Michigan, has operated under the policies of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan since its accreditation in 1970. The Board of Regents, as the governing body, is responsible for the appointment of the university president, who presides over the Board's meetings but does not have voting rights. Instead of directly managing the university's operations, the university president recommends the appointment of a chancellor, who is subject to approval by the Board of Regents and is tasked with overseeing the day-to-day administrative duties of the university as its chief executive officer.
List of chancellors David French, 1956-71 William E. Moran, 1971-79 William Vasse, 1979-80 (interim) Conny E. Nelson, 1980-83 Joe Roberson, 1983-84 (interim) Clinton B. Jones, 1984-93 Lawrence Krugler, 1993-94 (interim) Charlie Nelms, 1994-97 Beverly Schmoll, 1998-99 (interim) Juan E. Mestas, 1999-2007 Jack Kay, 2007-08 (interim) Ruth Person, 2008-14 Susan E. Borrego, 2014-19 Debasish Dutta, 2019-23 Donna Fry, 2023-24 (interim) Laurence B. Alexander, 2024-present
Faculty governance