In July of 2017, I began serving at Wayne State University in the role of Senior Counselor to the Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The brief for this position was to help the Provost and the VP of Economic Development develop and begin to execute the University’s vision for an updated and invigorated approach to innovation and entrepreneurship. In July of 2018, after a year of very hard work and some notable accomplishments, I decided to leave Wayne State to attend to my growing backlog of projects and adventures.
I consider it a privilege to have worked at a senior administrative level in this unique university. Though my academic roots and current teaching work are at University of Michigan, I find Wayne State to be a fascinating institution with a wonderful heritage and tremendous potential. The diversity of Wayne State’s student body is unmatched in the state, and the institution’s actual and potential impact on the Detroit community is compelling. I learned a lot during my time there, and will treasure the relationships I was able to establish with students, faculty, and staff.
While I will miss some aspects of my work at Wayne State, and many of the people, I am excited about chopping away at the many projects that I had to defer while working there. This past summer, I spent considerable time in Jamaica and Europe and New York City. I spent two weeks on a cross-country road trip to Vancouver, BC. I updated the design of my University of Michigan course, “Urban Entrepreneurship.” In two weeks, I will head to China to see my daughter Stacy and to connect with faculty, alums, and students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. My backlog of wanna-do’s and honey-do’s is still overflowing, but that’s okay, because when the list is empty I’ll be permanently horizontal.
Best wishes to my friends and colleagues at Wayne State University.
David