MAY 2021

We’re wrapping an unorthodox academic year in Ann Arbor and it's been one for the record books; literally.

Against all expectations, this past year produced record-high student enrollment (2,401 students); 72% being undergrads and nearly half studying in the College of Engineering. We also experienced a nearly 40% YOY increase in the amount of female students enrolled in our Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (now 58% of enrollees).

We’ve also made no secret about our excitement about launching the U-M Entrepreneurs Mentor Network to enhance our ability to educate students outside-the-classroom. We’re incredibly grateful for the time you’ve shared to make it a success. Since launching last September, nearly 600 students, and their questions, have been connected to 500+ alumni through the platform. Your feedback on these exchanges has helped us ensure they produce value for both alum and students; the average score measuring the value of these exchanges is 8.1 for alumni and 8.6 for students (on a scale of 1-10). In the coming months, our goal is to expand the use of the Network for alum-to-alum questions and mentorship needs (more on that below).

There’s certainly more work to be done to ensure you feel ‘plugged-in’ to the U-M entrepreneurial community, and to that end, here are a few resources we’re making available (with more to come this summer):

Recordings from our flagship speaker series can now be watched anytime
These recordings include talks with:

Josh Tetrick (CEO/Founder of Eat Just)
Jules Pieri (Former CEO/Co-Founder of The Grommet)
Inder Singh (CEO/Founder of Kinsa)

We partnered with colleagues across the University to build this simple resource guide to help you

Navigate U-M’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
Discover opportunities to find talent, volunteer, guest lecture, etc.

Our analytics on these bi-monthly newsletters seem to indicate they’re providing value but please know we always love hearing from alum on how they can be improved (don’t hesitate to reach out).

Thanks for sharing your time, stay healthy, and Go Blue!

- Center for Entrepreneurship

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