Fall 2026
What kind of world will we leave to the generations that follow us? That question has never felt more immediate, and it is one we return to again and again at SEAS.
Climate change is reshaping communities, ecosystems are under increasing pressure, and too often, advancing meaningful environmental policy feels like an uphill battle. Despite these challenges, I remain hopeful that we can create a healthier, more affordable and just future for all.
Each day, I am reminded that the SEAS community, especially the passionate students we are preparing to become sustainability leaders, is uniquely positioned to invent a brighter tomorrow for our planet. We have the skills, knowledge and guts to meet the future with confidence.
The world needs more people who are trained not only to persevere through these challenges, but to turn their knowledge into action and develop solutions. At SEAS, this is what we do. It’s what we’ve always done.
But preparing these leaders requires more than a strong curriculum and a rich history. It requires ensuring that talented students, regardless of their circumstances, have the opportunity to become the policymakers, entrepreneurs and scientists our world needs.
That is why student financial support is our highest priority in the Look to Michigan: Invent Tomorrow campaign. Each year, donor support opens the door for numerous students to pursue a SEAS education who might otherwise be unable to attend. In fact, over 220 SEAS students received donor-funded financial aid in the last academic year alone. With your help, we’d like to help even more students next year.
This progress belongs to the people who make SEAS special: YOU. As we look ahead, we want to celebrate what we have accomplished together. Beginning this fall, each gift will come with a commemorative patch highlighting a distinctive era in our school’s history. It’s a small way of saying thank you and celebrating the community that carries SEAS forward.
If you’re asking yourself what impact your gift alone might have, know this: there is tremendous power when the SEAS community comes together. Gifts of EVERY size add up, and together, they create opportunities that no single gift could provide on its own.
Your SEAS experience helped shape your path. Make a gift today and help invent a new tomorrow.
Thank you, and Go Blue!
Jonathan T. Overpeck
Samuel A. Graham Dean
William B. Stapp Collegiate Professor of Environmental Education
P.S. Not sure where to start? Consider a gift to the Student Internship Support Fund that provides aid to students working in underfunded internships. Students today are navigating a more complex professional landscape than ever before.