The University of Michigan–Flint (UM-Flint) is a public university located in Flint, Michigan, United States. It was started in 1956 as the Flint Senior College and was first created as a part of the University of Michigan, offering advanced undergraduate classes. Over time, the institution became a complete university and received official approval in 1970. Later, its name was changed to the University of Michigan–Flint. It continues to follow the rules set by the University of Michigan Board of Regents and does not have its own separate leadership group.

UM-Flint is one of five universities in Michigan that offer doctorate and professional programs. Along with Oakland University, the University of Michigan–Dearborn, and Wayne State University, UM-Flint is one of four members of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) in Michigan.

The university’s student-athletes participate in intramural and club sports as the Michigan-Flint Wolverines. Notable alumni include former U.S. Senator Donald Riegle, Oscar-winning film director Michael Moore, who worked as an editor for the student newspaper The Michigan Times, and former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley.

History

In 1946, former Flint mayor C.S. Mott proposed bringing a full university to Flint during a meeting with then-President Alexander Ruthven. Mott promised to give $1 million to the project if voters approved a $7 million bond issue. At first, the University of Michigan did not support Mott's plan. However, the university later agreed to create the Flint Senior College of the University of Michigan as an extension of Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College), while the two institutions remained separate.

For several years, the college shared the Court Street campus with Flint Junior College. This campus was part of the Flint Cultural Center, which received major donations from local business leaders. Early donors included the Sponsors Fund of Flint and William Ballenger. The first building built on the campus in 1954 was The Ballenger Field House.

In February 1956, David M. French became the first dean of the Flint Senior College. Classes began in 1956 with 118 full-time and 49 part-time students. Degrees were offered in liberal arts and sciences, as well as in education and business administration. The college’s first graduating class was in 1958.

Between 1963 and 1964, studies were conducted to explore turning Flint Senior College into a four-year institution. The Michigan State Board of Education later recommended that the college become an independent four-year institution, reducing the University of Michigan’s involvement. This change was part of a larger trend in Michigan to give branch campuses more independence, similar to Oakland University’s transition from Michigan State University. Supporters believed independence would allow the college to better serve its students with its own governing board. However, C.S. Mott opposed the plan and threatened to withdraw his support. As a result, the proposal was abandoned, and the college was restructured as a four-year institution under the University of Michigan’s board in 1964. It was then renamed Flint College of the University of Michigan.

In 1970, Flint College received its own accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, independent of the main campus in Ann Arbor. In 1971, the Regents officially changed the institution’s name to the University of Michigan-Flint. William E. Moran was named the first chancellor of the university. In 1975, two schools were established at Flint: the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Management.

The community and city helped the University of Michigan-Flint acquire 42 acres along the Flint River. In 1972, the C.S. Mott Foundation pledged $5 million over five years to build a new campus. In September 1972, sixteen temporary buildings were built to address overcrowding, pushing the Regents to relocate the university to its current site along the Flint River.

On September 1, 1973, the Regents approved plans for the first building by Sedgewick-Sellers & Associates, originally intended for a site at Lapeer Road and Court Street. Instead, the first building was moved to the Flint River location, the current campus. The university acquired the Ross House and the Hubbard Building. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 9, 1974, at the Willson Park bandstand. In 1977, construction finished on the Class Room Office Building (CROB), later renamed David M. French Hall, and the Central Energy Plant. CROB included a library and theatre. In 1979, the original Harrison Street Halo Burger location was vacated to make space for parking. That same year, the Harding Mott University Center (UCen) was completed, and the Recreation Center was finished in 1982.

The William S. Murchie Science Building was completed in 1988.

In 1989, the School of Health Professions and Studies was formed and later renamed the College of Health Sciences in 2018. The School of Education and Human Services was established in 1997.

In September 1999, Juan E. Mestas began his tenure as the fifth chancellor of UM-Flint. The William S. White Building was completed in 2002 on the north side of the Flint River for the School of Health Professions and Studies and the School of Management. Halo Burger returned to the campus in September 2002 but was forced to leave in 2008 due to on-campus food regulations.

Ruth Person became chancellor in 2008. The first on-campus dorms, First Street Residence Hall, were completed in 2008. In 2010, UM-Flint was the fastest-growing public university in Michigan. In early 2013, the School of Management moved to a leased floor of the Riverfront Residence Hall from the White Building at a renovation cost of $5.3 million. In 2013, Person’s five-year term ended but was extended for one year to 2014.

In August 2014, Susan E. Borrego became chancellor. On October 15, 2015, the University Board of Regents approved purchasing the 160,000-square-foot, 10-story north tower of the Citizens Banking Buildings from FirstMerit Bank for $6 million, expected to close in March 2016. In mid-December 2015, the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation donated the Riverfront Residence Hall and Banquet Center to the university, with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation forgiving the remaining redevelopment loan for the center. On October 20, 2016, the Regents formed the School of Nursing from the Department of Nursing in the School of Health Professions and Studies. The Harrison Street Annex, located at Kearsley and Harrison Streets in the Harrison Street parking structure, was remodeled into the university’s engineering design studio.

In 2019, Susan E. Borrego resigned as chancellor after five years and was succeeded by Debasish Dutta in July. Dutta was formally installed as the university’s ninth chancellor in August 2019.

Campus

The University Pavilion was previously called the Water Street Pavilion, a festival marketplace in Flint, Michigan. It operated for only five years before closing. The pavilion was created by the Enterprise Development Company (EDC), a company owned by the Enterprise Foundation. The Enterprise Foundation was started in 1982 by James W. Rouse after he left The Rouse Company in 1979. The EDC was formed to bring The Rouse Company’s festival marketplace idea to smaller cities, such as Flint, Michigan. The Water Street Pavilion was designed to help improve Flint. It worked with TRC of Michigan, Inc., a company owned by The Rouse Company, which is based in Columbia.

Although the name is Water Street Pavilion, the building is not located on Water Street. Instead, the name is inspired by Water Street. The name also connects to similar pavilions in Baltimore, Maryland, called the Pratt and Light Street Pavilions.

The Water Street Pavilion once had more than 60 local businesses, but most of them closed in the late 1980s. It was shown in the 1989 movie Roger & Me as an example of a failed development. The pavilion tried to bring a type of retail that needed a lot of tourists to succeed, but Flint did not have enough tourism at that time. Because of this, James Rouse and the EDC left the project in January 1990 and began closing the center. The pavilion officially stopped operating as a festival marketplace in September 1990.

In 1991, the University of Michigan-Flint took over the Water Street Pavilion and renamed it the University Pavilion. It kept some restaurants open and moved administrative offices there. In 1994, the library moved to its own building, the Frances Willson Thompson Library. In 1997, the 25-acre (10 ha) site across the river on the north side was purchased. In 1998, the Northbank Center was acquired.

Today, the University Pavilion is not a festival marketplace, but it has some stores and restaurants, including a Barnes & Noble bookstore, Subway, Jilly’s Pizza, Sportlite Grill, Shawarma Bite, and O’Blendz.

The University Pavilion was renovated in September 2018. During the renovation, escalators were removed because they were expensive to maintain, and more open space was created for dining. The roof was also repaired to add new walking paths for people in the area. Signs were added to help visitors find stairwells.

Organization

UM-Flint, which was once a branch of the University of Michigan, has followed the rules set by the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan since it received official approval in 1970. The Board of Regents, which is the leadership group, is responsible for choosing the university president. The university president leads meetings of the Board but does not vote. Instead, the university president suggests a person to be the chancellor. The Board of Regents must approve this suggestion, and the chancellor is in charge of daily operations as the top administrator of the university.

• William E. Moran (1971 – 1979)
• Conny E. Nelson (1980-1984)
• Clinton B. Jones (1984-1994)
• Charlie Nelms (1994-1999)
• Juan E. Mestas (September 1999 – July 2007)
• Ruth Person (August 2008 – July 2014)
• Susan E. Borrego (August 2014 – July 2019)
• Debasish Dutta (August 2019 – September 2023)
• Donna Fry (Interim) (August 2023 – June 2024)
• Laurence B. Alexander (July 2024 – present)

The UM-Flint faculty governance includes three groups: the Faculty Congress, Faculty Senate, and Faculty Senate Council. The Faculty Congress has the final say on decisions made by the Faculty Senate. The campus has three representatives on the Senate Assembly, which has 77 members total and includes representatives from all three university campuses.

In the fiscal year 2022–23, the university’s operating budget was $141.7 million. This budget comes from four main sources: the General Fund ($116.5 million), the Expendable Restricted Funds ($20.7 million), the Auxiliary Funds ($4 million), and the Designated Funds ($480,000). The Office of Budget and Planning reports that student tuition and fees are the largest source of funding, contributing $90.8 million to the General Fund, which makes up 64.07% of the total operating budget. In the same year, the State of Michigan gave the university $25.2 million, which is 17.79% of the total operating budget. Money from government-sponsored programs added $14.5 million to the Expendable Restricted Funds, which is 10.23% of the total operating budget.

The university includes the following schools and colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), College of Health Sciences (CHS), School of Education & Human Services (SEHS), School of Management (SOM), School of Nursing (SON), and College of Innovation and Technology (CIT).

Academics

The 2022 annual ranking by U.S. News & World Report classified UM-Flint as "more selective." For the Class of 2025 (enrolled in fall 2021), UM-Flint received 4,021 applications and accepted 2,970 students (73.9%). Of those accepted, 495 students enrolled, which is a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 16.7%.

The enrolled first-year class of 2025 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range (25th percentile to 75th percentile) of SAT scores was 1020–1250, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 21–29.

UM-Flint's freshman retention rate is 70.19%, meaning 70.19% of first-year students continued their studies the next year. Of these students, 35% graduated within six years. The eight-year graduation rate at UM-Flint is 49%, with a withdrawal rate of 46%. For Pell Grant recipients, who make up nearly half of the undergraduate population, the graduation and withdrawal rates are 52% and 43%, respectively.

There are 138 majors and concentrations that apply to 12 bachelor’s degrees and 43 graduate majors and concentrations. UM-Flint also offers graduate degrees, including master’s degrees, professional doctorates, and Ph.D. degrees. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were registered nursing (319), psychology (98), health/health care administration (52), accounting (41), biology (36), business administration (33), computer science (32), and mechanical engineering (31).

The university offers an ABET-accredited mechanical engineering undergraduate degree through the College of Innovation and Technology.

UM-Flint is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of Colleges and Schools. Program-level accreditation is maintained by many programs in partnership with: the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the American Chemical Society, Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – International, Association of University Programs in Health Administration, the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, Commission on Accreditation in Respiratory Care, the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education, the Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the Council on Accreditation for Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs, the Council on Social Work Education, the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology, Michigan Department of Education, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the National Association of Schools of Music.

The Princeton Review included UM-Flint in the "Best Midwestern" category in their 2020 publication Best Colleges: Region by Region. They also included UM-Flint's School of Management as one of the Best Business Schools in their 2017 publication. The Part-Time MBA Program was ranked 41st in the United States (overall) and ninth in the Midwest (by region) in 2010 by BusinessWeek.

The U.S. Department of Education reports that as of 2024, federally aided students attending UM-Flint 10 years after starting their studies had a median annual income of $53,230 (based on 2020–2021 earnings adjusted to 2022 dollars), which is higher than the U.S. real median personal income of $40,460 for 2021 adjusted to 2022 dollars.

The highest-earning (median) fields of study for federally aided students include:

• Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research, and Clinical Nursing – Master's Degree ($146,740/year)
• Business Administration, Management, and Operations – Master's Degree ($105,079/year)

The five highest-earning undergraduate fields of study for federally aided students at UM-Flint are:

• Computer Science – Bachelor's Degree ($90,852/year)
• Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research, and Clinical Nursing – Bachelor's Degree ($85,657/year)
• Mechanical Engineering – Bachelor's Degree ($83,494/year)
• Finance and Financial Management Services – Bachelor's Degree ($76,488/year)
• Accounting and Related Services – Bachelor's Degree ($65,566/year)

Student life

In November 2004, the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan agreed to the request from the Flint Campus to study whether student housing could be built. After many studies, surveys, and research showing the campus was likely to grow, student housing was approved. The first student dormitory, called the First Street Residence Hall, opened for students in the fall of 2008.

In December 2015, the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation gave the Riverfront Residence Hall to the university. This building, which is owned by a private company, is a high-rise that provides housing for students from both the University of Michigan–Flint and Baker College. The 16-story building can house up to 500 students.

There are more than 100 officially recognized student organizations and 8 Sponsored Student Organizations (SSOs) at the university. These groups are based on academic subjects, religions, cultural backgrounds, and interests such as honors programs, club sports, social fraternities and sororities, service groups, and special interests.

University-sponsored organizations include:
• The Michigan Times, the student newspaper of the University of Michigan–Flint.
• Black Student Union
• Campus Activities Board
• College Panhellenic Association
• Interfraternity Council
• National Pan-Hellenic Council
• Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine
• Student Government

The university is home to several fraternities and sororities.

The school owns WFUM (91.1 FM), a public radio station connected to the Michigan Radio network.

The Michigan Times was a student-run newspaper at the University of Michigan–Flint. It began in 1959 and was often called "The M-Times" by people on and around campus. The newspaper was printed weekly and given out for free on campus, at other local colleges, in the downtown area, and in the Greater Flint area. In March 2024, the Flint Expatriates blog reported that The Michigan Times would stop operating. The newspaper lost funding from student activity fees at the end of the 2023–2024 academic year because few students were interested in continuing it. If students want to restart the publication in the future, it would need to be run entirely by volunteers who raise their own money.

The University of Michigan–Flint Student Government represents students and manages student funds on campus. Student Government is part of the Association of Michigan Universities.

Athletics

The university's athletic teams are known as the Wolverines. In 2009, students voted to choose the name "The Victors" to help people tell them apart from the Michigan Wolverines. The nickname "Wolverines" is also used by other colleges, including the Michigan Wolverines, the Michigan–Dearborn Wolverines, the Utah Valley Wolverines, the Morris Brown Wolverines, and the Grove City Wolverines.

The university does not have any varsity sports teams. However, students can join club sports teams or participate in intramural sports leagues. Current club sports include:

• Men's & Women's Basketball
• Cheer
• Men's Ice Hockey
• Men's & Women's Soccer
• Women's Volleyball
• Softball
• Baseball

In 2013, the men's ice hockey team got a chance to compete in the ACHA Division III National Tournament for the first time. They advanced to the final game of the national tournament against the Adrian Bulldogs from the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference. In 2015, the women's hockey team won all 18 of their games in conference play.

Football was once a club sport, but the team ended in 2015 because of not enough money.

Notable faculty and alumni

• Jim Ananich – Michigan Senate minority leader
• Deborah Cherry – former Michigan state senator
• John D. Cherry – 62nd lieutenant governor of Michigan
• Bobby Crim – former Michigan Speaker of the House and state representative and founder of the Crim Festival of Races
• Christopher Paul Curtis (2000) – writer and Newbery Medal winner
• Erin Darke – actress
• Mona Haydar – rapper, poet, activist and chaplain
• LaKisha Jones – singer, American Idol contestant
• Michael Moore – documentary film director, author
• Don Riegle (1960) – United States Senator from Michigan
• Marietta S. Robinson – former commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
• John Sinclair (1964) – poet, political activist
• Tim Sneller – member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 50th district
• Woodrow Stanley – former Michigan state representative, Mayor of Flint
• Phil Phelps – former Michigan state representative
• Rob Paulsen – voice-over artist