Individually, Christa and Zach Funk are pretty impressive. But together, this couple is a force, shaping lives and the city of Detroit each in different ways. Christa ’12, ’14 is the executive director of Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars (DRDFS), a program that prepares students who might have thought a …
Animals have played an important role in shaping the life and work of Shakesha Alexander ’19. The Detroit Mercy Social Work alumna remembers playing with cows and horses during childhood summers on her family’s Mississippi farms and growing up alongside household dogs. Those moments sparked a love for animals, which …
Paul Manuszak ’22 has long been connected to the Jesuits. His father, Joe, works for the Colombiere Retreat and Conference Center, which is run by the Jesuits, in Clarkston, Mich. It’s also part of the reason he chose to attend University of Detroit Mercy. And now it’s a big reason …
Kathy Dul Aznavorian never envisioned that she would enter the business world when she came to University of Detroit as a mathematics student. But a movie she saw the summer of her freshman year changed her course. Paul Newman played a tax attorney in The Young Philadelphians, and the role …
Between war and poverty, there was very little that Mark Haidar had power over while growing up in a refugee area in Lebanon. But the one thing he could control — an IBM computer, donated to his school by the United Nations — helped him feel empowered as a child …
Michael Ford ’06 grew up surrounded by music. His childhood home was located above a church-sponsored activity center on a block where everyone knew each other’s names. The church would host everything from wedding receptions to kiddie disco nights, constantly filling the lower floor of the building with music. Ford’s …
Alumna pays it forward with nursing kits for students Growing up, Shawna Stewart ’15 was drawn to the medical field in order to care for people. Now working as a nurse in Detroit, she’s trying to help make things more affordable for nursing students. In 2020, the University of Detroit …
When she was sworn in as a Michigan Supreme Court justice on Jan. 1, Kyra Harris Bolden ’14 made history. The University of Detroit Mercy Law alumna is the first Black woman to serve on the state’s highest court. In appointing her to the position, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, …
Of the nearly 336,000 U.S. Air Force airmen serving on active duty today, fewer than 1% have achieved the rank of colonel and less than a quarter of those are women. Only after dedicating a minimum of 22 years serving in the military and three years in the previous rank …
In 2003, Faye Alexander Nelson ’75, ’81 became the inaugural president and CEO of Detroit RiverFront Conservancy. Most people she talked to about the post told her it was a mistake, and that the project was a fool’s errand. No one wanted to visit downtown Detroit at the time and …
