My City August 2021

Debasish Dutta Chancellor, University of Michigan - Flint

What do you enjoy most about your career? My career has been in higher education – I live it, breathe it and enjoy all its dimensions.What I enjoy most is creating something new that positively impacts students, faculty and society at large.This never ends, because society needs change and therefore, the need to create something new is perpetual. Who is your hero? I have many heroes! Chuck Vest, former president of MIT, was a UMmechanical engineering professor, later dean and was provost when I started my career in Ann Arbor. Jim Duderstadt was then UM president. I admire both of them tremendously – they were leading thinkers of their time. Their contributions to equity and opportunity for women in academia are profound. :KDW ZDV \RXU YHU\ ş UVW MRE" I was an engineer in a construction company in a shipyard in India. I worked a lot with Russian engineers in that job. What’s the next place on your travel Bucket List and why? I have been fortunate to have traveled tomany places in the world. I like visiting newplaces, but do not have a bucket list.Each newplace has something interesting to offer, and I like that. What’s one work-related thing you want to accomplish in the next year? I hope to grow student enrollment at UM-Flint.

How would your friends describe you?

I believe they would say that I am intensely focused on making UM-Flint a best-in-class regional public university that brings about economic growth and social well being. :KDW GR \RX GR WR NHHS ş W" I walk as much as I can and when that is not possible, I go up and down the stairs till my dogs go crazy!

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