The community has shaped many aspects of the Environmental Interpretive Center (EIC) on UM-Dearborn’s campus. From the mural painted by Alexis Knott, ’24, behind the welcome desk, to the more than 40 Eagle Scout projects across the grounds, to the community members who host programs they care about, such as “Birding By Ear and Beyond” a program for the visually impaired to spot birds by sound, hosted by Donna Posont, ’15, who herself is blind.
“We have communities that see our space as an opportunity to practice or to apply something,” says Jacob Napieralski, director of the EIC.
Sharing grounds with the Henry Ford estate, the EIC offers education, research, and community engagement programs, and serves as the gateway to the 120-acre Environmental Study Area, a nature sanctuary and outdoor classroom for researchers and students of all ages. Here, visitors encounter walking trails, the former site of Clara Ford’s rose garden, Fair Lane Lake, and more. The grounds are a major green space in an otherwise mostly dense urban area.
“I see the Environmental Interpretive Center and our grounds as being this eco-lighthouse standing tall in this really heavily developed community,” Napieralski says.
Napieralski, who has been the director since 2023, says the future of the EIC includes more interdisciplinary integration, such as the new sustainability fellowship which brings in students from each of the four UM-Dearborn colleges to improve sustainability practices on campus, both through individual projects and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“We want kids in the college of business to see value in understanding the economics of nature and the environment,” Napieralski says.
Research projects and their effects can be seen on the grounds, such as a solar-powered water circulator in the rose garden pond that began as an engineering project. Now, it limits mosquitos and algae without disturbing the geese nesting within the reeds.
Many K-12 students and community members use the space to connect with and learn about nature as well. Napieralski says “well over a quarter million K-12 students” have come through the space since it opened nearly 25 years ago.
“A job that we feel responsible for is reconnecting the younger generation with nature and reading nature and understanding the significance and the value of green space and blue space,” he says.
Napieralski adds that these programs are an investment in the future — not just in the children, but in sustainability itself.
“Many of the visitors and a majority of students that attend our campus, graduate and stay,” he says. “So our investment is in informing the next generation so that they understand the concepts of sustainability, can reevaluate their communities, and understand the value of green space, understand why short-term economic growth shouldn’t really overwhelm your decision-making and supersede long-term sustainability because a lot of this generation, they’re the ones paying the price for that.”
Katherine Fiorillo is the senior editor of Michigan Alum.
