DPSS encourages U-M community to be vigilant to avoid being scammed

Scams are frequent nationwide, and college campuses are no exception. At the University of Michigan, students, faculty and staff continue to be targeted by increasingly sophisticated schemes designed to steal money, personal information, or access to accounts. While scams can and do take many forms, one thing remains constant: Awareness and staying informed are the strongest tools we have for prevention. The Division of Public Safety & Security is committed to helping the community recognize, avoid and report fraudulent activity. Scammers frequently tailor their tactics to students and university communities, often impersonating trusted organizations or exploiting common life situations — looking for housing, buying tickets, applying for jobs, seeking scholarships, or connecting with others online. DPSS encourages those who believe they might have been scammed to report it, which offers protection, supports needed follow-up action and prevents scammers from targeting others. For more information, visit the DPSS website.

UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn set schedules for commencements

Fall commencement ceremonies for UM-Flint will take place Dec. 14, while UM-Dearborn’s celebrations are planned for Dec. 20. UM-Flint’s ceremony for summer and fall graduates returns to the Dort Financial Center for the first time since 2019, and unlike previous years at the Riverfront Conference Center will feature one ceremony starting at 2:30 p.m. rather than multiple. There is no guest limit, but seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The venue, which is just across town from campus at 3501 Lapeer Road, seats about 4,000 people. More than 1,000 students are eligible to participate. For more information, visit UM-Flint’s website. UM-Dearborn will recognize 751 degree candidates — ranging in age from 18 to 61 — during two 90-minute ceremonies at the Fieldhouse. The schedule is: College of Arts, Sciences and Letters and the College of Business, 10 a.m.; the College of Education, Health and Human Services and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, 2 p.m. U-M Dearborn alum Sadaf Lodhi, a board-certified OB-GYN, will deliver the keynote speech. For more information, visit UM-Dearborn’s website. 

Removing nursing from list of professional degrees harms health care system

The Department of Education’s decision to remove nursing from the list of professional degrees will throttle access to student loans and exacerbate existing nursing shortages — especially in rural areas where advanced practice nurses provide primary care, said Sue Anne Bell, associate professor of nursing in the School of Nursing. The DOE’s decision may cut by more than half the amount of money graduate students can borrow annually and over the life of their college careers. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, Michigan will face a 19% shortfall in registered nurses by 2037, making it among the 10 states facing the largest deficit. The changes are part of the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and resulted in some graduate degrees that require professional training being cut from the list. In nursing, this means advanced practiced nurses, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, midwives and others. “Until we expand the pipeline of advanced practice nurses who can teach, mentor and lead, we will continue to face a nursing shortage not because of lack of interest, but because of lack of capacity,” she said.

Discovery gives insight into how 2 ancient human ancestors coexisted

Scientists, including a University of Michigan geochemist, have determined that bones from the foot of an ancient human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia belong to a hominin species that lived at the same time as the famous hominin species Lucy. The foot bones were discovered in 2009 by paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie of Arizona State University, who now leads a research team that has determined that the 3.4-million-year-old fossils belong to the species Australopithecus deyiremeda. The finding also confirms that Australopithecus deyiremeda existed in the same time and place as Australopithecus afarensis, Lucy’s species. The results, funded by the National Science Foundation and the W.M. Keck Foundation, are published in the journal Nature. Naomi Levin, professor of earth and environmental sciences in LSA, was part of the team. Her work shows that these two species had different diets, reflecting different adaptations to their environment. She says that the way these hominins adapted — or didn’t — to their climate can teach us lessons for how we can adapt to our own. These hominins were living at a time when Earth didn’t have permanent ice in the Arctic but when carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were just a little less than today.

Record print edition on hiatus until winter semester

The Dec. 8 edition of The University Record will be the final print edition of the fall semester. The Record’s print version will resume for the winter semester Jan. 12, 2026. Daily email delivery will continue its fall schedule through Dec. 15. The Record email will then take a break for the holidays and resume for the winter semester Jan. 7, 2026. Major faculty or staff news that occurs over the holidays may be posted to the Record’s website, record.umich.edu.

— Compiled by Jeff Bleiler, The University Record