[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 102 (Monday, June 12, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING DR. M. ROY WILSON'S SERVICE TO THE STAFF AND STUDENTS OF 
                         WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DEBBIE DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 12, 2023

  Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. M. Roy 
Wilson, the president of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan at 
the end of his tenure. His contributions to the lives of students and 
staff at Wayne State and universities across the Nation are worthy of 
commendation.
  Prior to joining Wayne State, Dr. Wilson served as the deputy 
director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at 
the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the 
National Institutes of Health. Previously, Dr. Wilson was vice 
president of health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at 
Creighton University. president of the Texas Tech University Health 
Sciences Center, and chancellor of the University of Colorado-Denver 
while simultaneously serving as chair of the board of directors of the 
University of Colorado Hospital.
  Under the leadership of President Wilson for the last decade, Wayne 
State has seen an era of growth and prosperity. Before my time in 
Congress, I served as Chair of the Wayne State Board of Governors, 
where I was able to see firsthand President Wilson's hard work in many 
different areas. In 2018, Wayne State won the Association of Public and 
Land-grant Universities' Degree Completion Award, which recognizes 
innovative and successful approaches to improve degree completion and 
ensure educational quality. Improvements were particularly seen among 
first-generation, low-income and minority students. As a result of 
efforts to promote the recruitment and retention of those who represent 
out global community and create the best clinical experience within our 
cities, the School of Medicine saw a tenfold increase in the number of 
traditionally underrepresented students from 2014 to 2020.
  President Wilson's tenure also saw a drastic improvement to Wayne 
State's campus. In 2018. Wayne State opened the new Mike Illitch School 
of Business in downtown Detroit, made possible by a generous donation 
from Mike and Marian Illitch. That same year, groundbreaking took place 
for two major projects: the Hilberry Gateway Performance Complex for 
theatre, music. dance, and the arts, and the renovation of an unused 
science library into the STEM Innovation Learning Center, an 
instructional learning environment for undergraduates that opened in 
Fall 2021. The university established a partnership with the Detroit 
Pistons to construct a new $25 million arena for Wayne State's men's 
and women's basketball teams, which opened in fall 2021. The arena also 
serves as the home of the new NBA G League affiliate in Detroit. 
Lastly, the university invested $4 million to upgrade and refresh Wi-FI 
across campus to improve connection reliability and speed.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in celebrating the 
lifetime of work that Dr. Wilson has accomplished. Though his legacy 
will certainly live on at Wayne State University, this is simply the 
most recent chapter in a long and successful career in education for 
Dr. Wilson. I thank him for his service and wish him the best in any 
future exploits.

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