On Thursday afternoon, the
Ross School of Business hosted the
first session of the ninth annual
Michigan India Conference in
the Robertson Auditorium. The
theme of this year’s conference,
which was first held in 2011, was
“Moving Beyond Emerging,” and
was focused at analyzing and
comparing emerging markets —
countries that have some elements
of a fully developed market,
but are not quite at that status.
The first day’s keynote speakers
included D. Shivakumar, president
of Aditya Birla Group, and Harry
Broadman, former White House
trade advisor. Both discussed
growing markets around the
globe, especially in India and
China.
The conference started with
M.S. Krishnan, associate dean for
executive programs at the Business
School, who welcomed all the
attendees and explained the
idea of educating responsible
leaders behind the conference.
“At Michigan, our mission
is to educate leaders, who
believe in business that can
change the world,” Krishnan
said. “We ask for responsible
leaders who can create a
positive
impact
wherever
they go, whether it is profit,
non-profit
or
whichever
organization they choose, and
whichever part of the world.”
The
audience
then
welcomed Shivakumar, who
focused his keynote address
on
the
development
and
growth of markets around
the globe, with an emphasis
on consumer habits in those
markets.
“All my life I worked with
consumers,”
Shivakumar
said. “All my life I worked
with emerging markets. And
all that you see in the next
30 slides are pure, personal
experience.”
Shivakumar
condensed
his experiences into some
general trends reflecting the
development
of
emerging
economies
with
respect
to
population,
wage,
urbanization and technology.
He
first
pointed
out
the
trend of having a relatively
young population in emerging
countries.
“Emerging markets have
very
young
populations,”
Shivakumar said. “The U.S.
has
the
youngest
among
developed
economies
with
a
37-years
average.
The
right side is the developing
economies,
Pakistan,
21;
Nigeria 18; South Africa, 25.”
As part of Ripple’s University
Blockchain Research Initiative, the
University of Michigan received
a $1 million grant for education
and research in blockchain and
cryptocurrency — types of financial
technology, commonly referred to
as FinTech. Ripple is a technology
company working in the blockchain
payments working in the field.
Ken Weber, head of social
impact at Ripple, said UBRI aims
to support students and faculty
actively engaged in the blockchain
space. The initiative hopes to
streamline ongoing partnerships
with universities across the world
and Ripple will help tailor initiatives
to fit each school’s curriculum and
goals.
“The
University
Blockchain
Research Initiative is a program
for partnerships with universities
to
advance
understanding
and
innovation
in
blockchain,
cryptocurrency and FinTech and
related topics,” Weber said. “It
is given in the form of a gift and
universities are able to utilize that
funding in ways that are aligned
with students and faculty interests.”
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 15, 2019
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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
ANN ARBOR
The Ronald
McDonald
House gets
36k grant
Students, faculty respond to
impact of ‘U’ DEI initiatives
Michigan Masons B.E.S.T award to
charitable organization in Ann Arbor
Different complaints regard Title IX adherence, lack of community input
At the University of Michigan
and
around
the
country,
universities are engaged in ongoing
discussions
about
diversity
programs and Title IX adherence.
The University has repeatedly
stressed its commitment to its
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
initiatives. But some people take
issue with this type of initiative,
claiming certain diversity efforts
exclude men.
LSA
sophomore
Saveri
Nandigama
said
themes
of
diversity, equity and inclusion
have a historical place at the
University. Nandigama, a member
of South Asian Awareness Network
and
former
Central
Student
Government chief of staff, said it’s
important for the University to
include student voices — which has
been a problem for the University
historically.
Nandigama specifically noted
the three Black Action Movements
and the Trotter Multicultural
Center as times students had to
make campus-wide calls for change
from the University. She said the
University has a good DEI presence
on campus, but should take student
concerns into consideration before
students feel they must demand
action through large-scale actions.
“The quantity of D, E and I
initiatives is great, but the quality
can definitely be greatly improved
if there was more student input in
the programming that’s done, and
looking at the history of diversity,
equity
and
inclusion
on
our
campus, I think that’s very easily
forgotten, but it’s important to go
back to our history,” Nandigama
said. “It’s important to get student
voice into these D, E and I offices to
sort of be proactive about ensuring
that students feel like they have a
space on campus before they feel
like they need to speak out
and they need to take larger
efforts in order to feel seen
and heard.”
In 2016, the five-year
DEI plan, which promised
$85 million over five years
and
included
campus
climate-related training, the
creation of the new Trotter
Multicultural Center and
new recruitment strategies,
was unveiled.
According
to
2016
Daily reporting, the plan
was in part a response to
recent
student
activism,
specifically
the
#BBUM
movement on Twitter and
2013 protests started by the
Black Student Union.
The
DEI
plan
made
connections
to
social
movements
on
campus,
including
Black
Action
Movement and debates over
affirmative action in the last
decade. Students protested
the plan because they felt
the student voice was not
properly accounted for during
the keynote speech at the plan’s
launch.
The costs of DEI
Perry has seen what he’s called
increased “administrative bloat”
over his 25 years in the University
system. He pointed to position
changes related to diversity as
part of this issue. Ultimately, he
said this changing administrative
landscape and the costs associated
with it fall on students, families
and taxpayers.
“This is very, very costly, and
it’s one of the reasons that college
gets more expensive,” Perry said.
ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter
For
Business
freshman
Aamisha
Kini,
coordinating
class schedules and keeping up
with assignment deadlines are
difficult tasks. It’s stressful,
she
said,
because
many
times the primary option for
keeping up-to-date in classes is
navigating pages and pages of
online syllabi.
“No one really told me what
Canvas was,” Kini said, “I
wouldn’t have known that I had
assignments due.”
This issue inspired the free
mobile
application
Skoller,
founded
by
Carson
Ward,
Logan Matthews and Jonathan
Rankin. The app allows the
user to download a syllabus,
generate a grade calculator, a
course schedule and a to-do list
with
notifications.
Matthews
said Skoller is unique from other
grade calculators and course
planners because it’s “student-
powered,” and doesn’t rely on
professors or teachers to update
information on official university
platforms like Canvas.
App offers
academic
support for
students
ACADEMICS
Free mobile application
‘Skoller’ allows users
to access updated class
information and tools
MARIA SOBRINO
For The Daily
Ross holds annual Michigan India
Conference, ‘Moving Beyond Emerging’
Business leaders discuss impact of developing markets in India and China
Ripple to
donate $1
million for
research
CAMPUS LIFE
University will create
FinTech Collaboratory
to build multidisciplinary
curricula for innovataion
SONIA LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
See RIPPLE, Page 3
See DIVERSITY, Page 3
See GRANT, Page 3
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
On Thursday morning,
members of the Michigan
Masonic
Charitable
Foundation
awarded
the
Ronald McDonald House
Charities
of
Ann
Arbor
a $36,000 grant for their
notable work.
The Ronald McDonald
House
provides
lodging
for the families of children
being
treated
at
C.S.
Mott
Children’s
Hospital
across the street. Mott is a
component of the University
of
Michigan’s
medical
infrastructure.
Julaine LeDuc, director of
development for the Ronald
McDonald
House,
said
the house aims to provide
comfort and convenience
to families facing a difficult
situation.
“The mission of Ronald
McDonald
House
is
to
provide a home away from
home for families whose
children are seriously ill or
injured and are hospitalized
at the C.S. Mott Children’s
Hospital,” LeDuc said. “We
provide rooms, meals, each
bedroom has a private bath,
and families can stay for
as long as they need to stay
while their child is in the
hospital.”
The
Masons’
donation
is a part of their annual
B.E.S.T. Grant, an acronym
for build, enrich, strengthen
and transform. The Masons
award $1 million dollars
split between seven causes
chosen from 88 applicants.
Executive
Director
Walt
Wheeler said the Ronald
McDonald House stood out
in the applicant pool for its
truly influential work.
“Really,
the
deciding
factor is that we try to look
at what’s going to have
the most impact — what’s
really going to change a
person’s life or really make a
difference in a person’s life,”
MELANIE TAYLOR
Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Roseanne Chao and Sejal Lal
JIALIN ZHANG
For The Daily
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
M. S. Krishnan, associate dean for executive programs at Ross School of Business. speaks at the Michigan India Conference at the Ross School of
Business Thursday evening.
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
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