The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is supported by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was established in 1877 and is the largest Catholic university in Michigan. It has four campuses where it provides over 100 academic degree programs. In athletics, the university supports 17 NCAA Division I sports for both men and women. It is part of the Horizon League.

History

The University of Detroit Mercy began in 1877 with the creation of Detroit College near downtown Detroit by the Society of Jesus, led by John Baptist Miège. The college became known as the University of Detroit in 1911. In 1927, John P. McNichols, who was the president at that time, started a second campus. In 1941, the Sisters of Mercy opened Mercy College of Detroit.

In 1990, these two schools joined together to form the University of Detroit Mercy. The school chose Donald Taylor as its 26th president in July 2022.

Colleges and campuses

The University of Detroit Mercy has eight colleges and schools: School of Architecture and Community Development, College of Business Administration, School of Dentistry, College of Engineering & Science, College of Health Professions, McAuley School of Nursing, School of Law, and the College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences.

The university has three campuses in Detroit and one in Novi, Michigan, which is northwest of Detroit. The main campus is located at the southeast corner of McNichols Road and Livernois Avenue in northwest Detroit, near the University District, Pilgrim Village, and Palmer Woods neighborhoods. Most undergraduate and graduate programs, along with the university's main administration and athletic facilities such as Calihan Hall, are located here. This campus also includes all six student residence halls. The Riverfront Campus in downtown Detroit houses the School of Law, and the Corktown Campus hosts the School of Dentistry and Dental Clinic.

In addition to its own campuses, the university offers programs at Macomb University Center in Clinton Township, Michigan. Detroit Mercy also partners with Aquinas College and St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to provide a Nursing prelicensure program.

A former campus at 8200 West Outer Drive in Detroit was the home of Mercy College of Detroit from 1941 until 1990, when it merged with the university. After the merger, the Outer Drive Campus was used for the Dentistry Clinic starting in 1997. In 2003, the university agreed to sell the Outer Drive Campus to WCCCD. The School of Dentistry and Clinic moved to the Corktown Campus in January 2008.

Academics

Detroit Mercy's most popular undergraduate majors in 2021 were Registered Nursing, Biology, Business Administration and Management, Architecture and Building Sciences, Dental Hygiene, and Mechanical Engineering.

The Black Abolitionist Archive is a digital collection of more than 800 speeches by African Americans before the Civil War. It includes 14,000 documents, a large microfilm library, a collection of newspaper clippings, scholarly books, articles, and dissertations. These materials show how African Americans worked to end slavery. Dr. James O. Horton of the Smithsonian Institution's Afro-American Communities Project called it "the largest collection of primary sources on black activism before the Civil War."

The Padre Guadalupe Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA) holds books, human rights reports, newspapers, and social justice papers in Spanish and English. These materials reflect the work of individuals and groups helping people in Latin America over more than 25 years.

The Center for Social Entrepreneurship helps businesses in Detroit that aim to improve their communities while also meeting regular business goals. Its main service is the CSE Boost Program, which offers in-person workshops for early-stage social organizations.

The School of Dentistry provides free or low-cost dental care through several clinics, including a mobile clinic in a customized RV. These clinics are student-run programs where students learn under the supervision of licensed dentists.

The Institute for North Korean Studies (INKS) is a research center based in the United States. It focuses only on North Korea and was the first of its kind in the United States or Europe. INKS works with McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, to organize seminars and publish research. Its academic journal is called North Korean Review.

In 1965, the University of Detroit's Urban Law Clinic received the ABA Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access in 2012 and the ABA Law Student Division's Judy M. Weightman Memorial Public Interest Award in 2006. In 2003, the clinic got a 28-foot-long mobile law office, possibly the first of its kind in the country. In 2012, the clinic moved into a downtown building near court buildings. At that time, the clinic helped more than 1,000 clients each year.

Detroit Mercy Law students must take one "clinic" course during their studies. These courses allow students to work with people who need legal help, such as immigrants, veterans, or those facing criminal charges. The courses teach students practical skills and include guided reflection and final interviews with professors.

The clinic courses at Detroit Mercy include:

• Immigration Law Clinic: Students help immigrants with family sponsorship, legal status for children, or cases related to abuse. They work in U.S. Immigration Court and other legal settings.
• Veterans Law Clinic: Students help veterans apply for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Criminal Trial Clinic: Students learn to defend people in court for minor crimes, including courtroom appearances and plea negotiations.
• Juvenile Appellate Clinic: Students argue cases related to child protection or juvenile delinquency before a panel of lawyers and may appear in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
• Appellate Advocacy Clinic, State Appellate Defender's Office (SADO): Students prepare legal documents for people who cannot afford lawyers. They may present their work in mock trials or before real courts.
• Intellectual Property Law Clinic: Students help inventors who need legal support for patents. To qualify, students must have a science degree. This program also teaches U.S. and Canadian patent law through a partnership with the University of Windsor.

In 2026, U.S. News & World Report ranked Detroit Mercy tied for 183rd in National Universities, 22nd in Best Value Schools, 194–211st in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, tied for 214th in Nursing, and tied for 144th in Top Performers on Social Mobility. This improved compared to 2023 rankings, when it was tied for 202nd in National Universities, 40th in Best Value Schools, 196–212nd in Engineering, tied for 172nd in Nursing, tied for 209th in Social Mobility, and had the 141st-ranked law school out of 196. In 2025, The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse ranked Detroit Mercy 43rd in the nation and 2nd in Michigan. It also ranked 35th in social mobility, 44th in best salaries, and 91st in best value.

Admissions

Detroit Mercy is considered "selective" by U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2025 (enrolling in fall 2021), Detroit Mercy received 4,435 applications and accepted 4,135 students (93.2% acceptance rate). Of those accepted, 565 students enrolled. The middle 50% of SAT scores for students who enrolled ranged from 1,063 to 1,250. The middle 50% of ACT composite scores for enrolled students ranged from 22 to 29.

For Fall 2022, the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law received 955 applications and accepted 536 students (56.13% acceptance rate). Of those accepted, 209 students enrolled, which is a 38.99% enrollment rate. The middle 50% of LSAT scores for students who enrolled ranged from 150 to 157, with an average score of 154. The average GPA for the 2022 first-year law class was 3.39.

Athletics

The University of Detroit Mercy supports 17 NCAA Division I varsity sports teams. Men's and women's Detroit Mercy Titans teams compete mainly in the Horizon League. Sports include Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing (Central Collegiate Fencing Conference), Golf, Lacrosse (men's: Northeast Conference; women's: Mid-American Conference), Soccer, Softball (women's team only), Track and Field (indoor), and Track and Field (outdoor).

Detroit Mercy's most recent league championship was in 2019, when the women's softball team won the Horizon League Championship. In 2014, both the women's golf team and men's cross country team earned Horizon League titles for the second straight season. The men's lacrosse team won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship in 2013.

The men's basketball team has often tried to win the Horizon League title. Mark Montgomery was hired as the 23rd head coach in the men's basketball program history on April 3, 2024. Montgomery joined the Titans after working as an assistant coach under Tom Izzo at Michigan State for 13 years. He is from Inkster, Michigan, and was an assistant coach at UDM during the end of the 2020-21 season, when the Titans went 11-3 in their last 14 games.

Mike Davis coached the Titans from 2017 to 2024. He led Indiana University to the 2002 NCAA Championship game. He led the Titans to a 1-31 season.

Ray McCallum coached the Detroit Mercy men's basketball team from 2008 to 2016. He led the Titans to the Horizon League Championship and an NCAA tournament appearance during the 2011–12 season. McCallum's predecessor, Perry Watson, led a successful program at Detroit's Southwestern High School before coming to Detroit Mercy after years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan. Watson guided Detroit Mercy to 10 winning seasons, three league titles, two NCAA Tournament appearances, and an NIT Final Four during his 15 years with Detroit Mercy. The Titans' two NCAA appearances included victories over St. John's and UCLA. Between 1997–98 and 2000–01, the Titans had four straight 20-victory seasons.

Dick Vitale, an ESPN college basketball commentator, was the University of Detroit men's basketball head coach for four seasons (1973–1977) before becoming the school's Athletics Director for 1977–78. In his final year as a college head coach in 1977, Vitale led the Titans to a school record 25 victories and the Round of 16 in the 1977 NCAA tournament before losing to Michigan, 86–81. Vitale had a 78–30 career record as head coach of the Titans. In 1978, Vitale left to coach the Detroit Pistons before starting his broadcasting career with ESPN in 1979. He was the color commentator for the first college basketball game carried by the new network. As its lead college basketball analyst, he helped make the network an important part of the game's popularity. An author of six books about basketball, Vitale received the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award in 1998, won the NABC Cliff Wells Appreciation Award in 2000, and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2011, Detroit Mercy named its basketball court at Calihan Hall in his honor.

Highlights from the Detroit Mercy Titans men's and women's basketball teams include appearances in the 2011–12 postseason. The women's basketball team participated in the WNIT Tournament for the first time ever and finished with its first 20-win season (20–14) since 1997, when the team made its only NCAA Tournament appearance. The men's basketball team captured the 2011–12 Horizon League Championship and reached the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in its history and first since 1999.

Detroit Mercy has hosted several NCAA Tournament men's basketball games. The university hosted the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional and 2009 NCAA Final Four, played at Ford Field, as well as the 2018 NCAA First and Second Round games, played at Little Caesar's Arena. In 2021, Detroit Mercy and Oakland University teamed up to co-host the 2021 NCAA First and Second Round games. The two schools combined to host the 2024 NCAA Midwest Regional, also at Little Caesars Arena.

All home basketball games feature the Titan Pep Band, Dance Team, and Cheerleading Team.

Detroit Titans football was played from 1896 to 1964. The team claimed a college football national championship with a 9–0 record in 1928. Gus Dorais, coach of the Titans from 1925 to 1942, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954. There is a plaque dedicated to him at the entrance of Calihan Hall. He also coached the NFL's Detroit Lions.

Notable people

The University of Detroit Mercy and its previous schools have helped many important people finish their education or find jobs. For more examples, please refer to the main article: /think.