Interview: Grasso on AI, Free Speech, Football, and Life After Michigan

The Michigan Review: During your tenure as interim president, the university has undergone significant changes, including major investments through Look to Michigan. What do you think your greatest accomplishment during your tenure at the University of Michigan is or will be?

Domenico Grasso: Well, thank you for the question. First, I want to say that I think the university is in a much stronger and more stable place than it was a year ago when I took office. When I took office, we laid out some of our priorities. One was that we wanted to make steady progress on previously announced projects. We had this thing called Vision 2034. I took a look at that, and it looked like it was more of an anodyne description of what we were going to do, so we reinvisioned that, and it became Look to Michigan and Look to Michigan Strategic Plan, and then it became a media campaign. We invested money in it, and that was, I think, probably one of my biggest accomplishments.

Campus Plan 2050 and other efforts were also part of this as well. We made a very strong commitment to listening and engaging with individuals throughout the community. We can continue to pursue our mission and commitment to our values. I was attempting to lay a sound foundation for our next president, Kent Syverud, who is going to be starting here in just a few weeks.

MR: During your tenure with the University of Michigan, from serving as chancellor of the Dearborn campus to your current role as interim President of Michigan, you have witnessed the University both with and without AI. Are you optimistic about AI’s impact on academia? How will AI change the university in the coming years?