As a University of Detroit Mercy architecture student, Graig Donnelly thought his future held a lifetime of designing houses and buildings.
Today, as TechTown Detroit’s chief strategy officer, Wayne State University’s assistant vice president for Economic Development and one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ 40 Under 40, Donnelly said he had no idea the potential his degree held.
“I thought I’d be designing houses for my friends, parents and their friends,” said Donnelly. “I thought I would be rooted in the community but what I thought could be done with an architecture degree was limited more than I see it now.”
Happy accidents
Donnelly said many positive turns in his life have been “happy accidents,” — which include his decision to attend Detroit Mercy.
Donnelly said he knew he wanted to be an architect while a high school student at Detroit’s Holy Redeemer. He said people in the small, close-knit Catholic school believed in each other, pushed each other to succeed and held each other accountable. His high school English teacher knew Steve Vogel, then dean of the School of Architecture.
“I was looking at schools like the University of Michigan, Notre Dame — those with a higher profile program,” Donnelly said. “I was introduced to the dean and I thought it would be a good fit. My mom and I met with him for a couple of hours one day and I was shocked at the amount of time someone in that position would spend with a potential student.” When his mom asked him what he thought of the school, Donnelly said he answered, “I don’t need to look anywhere else.”
Rooted in Detroit
Donnelly grew up in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood, so attending Detroit Mercy kept him involved in the area that was so important to him.
“I was trained as a small child that there are unique opportunities in Detroit to connect with others,” said Donnelly.
After graduation, he moved to New York but still stayed connected to the area he called home.
“I always had a strong sense that, physically in Detroit or not, I was going to do work here,” he said. “I knew I wanted to have an impact on the city’s revitalization, physical environment and the people. How that would look though, I didn’t have any strong assumptions.”
Donnelly stayed involved with the Woodbridge Neighborhood Association and The Alley Project, a Detroit Collaborative Design Center-led project that transformed a southwest Detroit neighborhood alley and vacant space into an art gallery for graffiti. His connections led him to a position overseeing the Detroit Revitalization Fellows and a return to Detroit.
New Opportunities
“While I don’t design buildings anymore, I design with collaboration and core values,” he said. “It might be an environment, a program or a set of opportunities for people. Through my Master of Architecture degree, I have learned the value of design and process-thinking, and what it means to have authentic participatory process as a way of collaborating and as a way of making decisions.”
After leading the Detroit Revitalization Fellows, Donnelly moved to his current position with Wayne State University and TechTown.
“At TechTown we are building a network and investing in a group of more than 70 leaders who are going to help drive progress in Detroit for the next several generations,” Donnelly said. The position is one that gives Donnelly the chance to do something he is passionate about — making people feel valued and giving them support to do something impactful they might not be able to do on their own.
Donnelly said TechTown is currently expanding its footprint to serve more small businesses and neighborhoods in Detroit. The TechTown team is in the processes of working with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation on a three-year, $5-million project to establish more support for Detroit-based nonprofits.
Donnelly said the work of revitalizing Detroit is never done.
“You always keep moving forward. You always keep setting the next goal. The work will never be done. There is not a utopian place we are trying to get to. If I get to a place where I think my work is done or there is nothing more I can do, then it’s probably time to do something else.”
