Jessie Torrey elected to Police Department Oversight Committee

Jessie Torrey, registered nurse and case manager at Michigan Medicine, was elected to represent bargained-for staff on the U-M Police Department Oversight Committee for a two-year term beginning July 28, 2025. The oversight committee receives and makes recommendations regarding grievances against any police officer deputized by the university. The committee includes two students, two faculty members (one Senate and one non-Senate faculty), and two staff members (one union and one non-union) who are elected by their peers. Information on the committee is available at hr.umich.edu/pdoc.

UM-Dearborn, UM-Flint named ‘Opportunity Universities’ by Carnegie

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education recently named UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint top-tier “Opportunity Universities” through their new Student Access and Earnings Classification. They are two of four public Michigan universities on this list, along with Central Michigan University and Ferris State University. The Student Access and Earnings Classification is based on data from universities across the U.S. indicating the degree of access for students from lower socioeconomic and historically underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds, as well as the wages of Pell-eligible students eight years after enrolling. The methodology can be found online. At UM-Dearborn, 50% of students are Pell-eligible. The university has the second lowest tuition among the state’s 15 public universities and ranks No. 4 for student earnings after graduation.

Older adults and AI: U-M poll suggests a wary welcome

The AI revolution hasn’t passed older adults by, a new poll suggests, but people over 50 have both curiosity and skepticism about artificial intelligence, depending on how much they’ve used it. No matter what their level of experience with AI, most people over 50 (92%) say they want to know when the information they read, see or hear is AI-generated, according to the new findings from the U-M National Poll on Healthy Aging. In all, just over half (55%) of people 50 and older have used an AI technology that they spoke or typed messages to for a variety of purposes on a variety of devices. Of those who used voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google Nest in the past year, 80% said these devices are beneficial for helping them live independently and safely in their home, including 28% who said they’re very beneficial for this purpose. In addition, 35% have used AI-enhanced home security devices; nearly all who had done so said they found them beneficial for helping them live independently and safely in their home. The poll is based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and supported by Michigan Medicine. For more, go online to healthyagingpoll.org. 

U-M study: Ultra-processed food addiction is a public health crisis

New research by a University of Michigan psychologist and colleagues makes the strongest case yet that ultra-processed foods — including chips, cookies, soda and other heavily engineered products — aren’t just tempting; they can actually be addictive. These ultra-processed foods can trigger addictive behaviors that meet the same clinical criteria used to diagnose substance-use disorders. The authors from the fields of addiction science and nutrition argue that failure to recognize this in diagnostic systems is a dangerous oversight with grave consequences for global public health. The call to action comes at a pivotal moment. U.S. Congressional hearings have recently spotlighted the role of addictive ultra-processed foods in rising childhood chronic disease rates, and a major lawsuit filed in Philadelphia in late 2024 accuses 11 food companies of deliberately designing and marketing addictive products to children.

Nonmedical use of prescription ADHD drugs among teens has dropped

Despite concerns about increased stimulant prescribing, nonmedical use of ADHD drugs among adolescents has declined in the last 20 years, a University of Michigan study shows. While medical use of prescription stimulants for ADHD among adolescents increased slightly between 2005 and 2023, nonmedical use declined more. Study co-author Philip Veliz and colleagues analyzed data from 2005-23 from 19 cohorts of eighth, 10th and 12th grade students in the Monitoring the Future Study, an annual survey at U-M that tracks student substance use and other related trends. The current study, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that lifetime use of nonmedical stimulants in 2005 was at 10% and dropped to 6% in 2023. Lifetime medical use was roughly 8% in both 2005 and 2023. Veliz is research associate professor, Institute for Research on Women and Gender; research associate professor of nursing, School of Nursing; and faculty associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research. Read more on the study.

— Compiled by Jeff Bleiler, The University Record