As students, faculty and staff return to the McNichols campus for the start of the 2025–2026 school year, they might notice something a little different and a lot more colorful.
Scattered throughout campus are works of art. At first glance, they might just look like aesthetically pleasing decorations, but if you stop and read the small plaques beside them, you’ll find that these pieces are from none other than the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Yes, that DIA.
Thanks to a new collaboration between the University of Detroit Mercy and the DIA’s “Inside Out” program, select artworks from the museum’s renowned collection are now on display across campus as part of an effort to bring more public art into everyday spaces and make culture and creativity more accessible to the campus community.
This partnership with the DIA is another representation, along with many throughout the years, of the University of Detroit Mercy connecting with the Detroit community through the arts. Jocelyn Boryczka, Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS), reflects on the importance of what this partnership means to her and how she thinks it will positively impact the Detroit Mercy community.
“I think that arts and culture spur critical thought, create a space for reflection and generate democratic conversations,” Boryczka said. “So it’s so important to have them on a university campus, but also in a variety of areas around the city, including Livernois, where people are going shopping or on campus, they’re walking to class or going to a meeting, and there’s this incredible piece of artwork that just makes you pause. If nothing else, reflect on the beauty of the world that can give us so much hope but oftentimes opens up a space for us to consider the world beyond ourselves and to imagine what is possible. And given the challenges that the world is confronting today, I can think of no better role for arts and culture in all kinds of different, even unexpected spaces, on our campus and throughout the Detroit metropolitan area.”
To hear more on what College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean Jocelyn Boryczka has to say about the partnership, check out the video interview on the Detroit Mercy Campus Connections website, done by University of Detroit Mercy Communications alums Alize Tripp and Jennifer Raptoplous, titled “Video on DIA installation from MarCom communications fellows.”
Maddie Reaume, a junior at Detroit Mercy majoring in history with a minor in museum studies, shared her excitement on the partnership.
“Bringing the pieces from the DIA is such a great way to start conversations about art and museums,” Reaume said. “The DIA is a world-class art museum, and it has so much to offer to students on campus regardless of if they are an art-related major or not. It is a great opportunity for students to learn & get interested in all the beautiful art the DIA has to offer.”
She even shares how seeing a famous van Gogh painting up close inspired her work for a class.
“One of my favorite pieces at the Detroit Institute of Arts is Bank of the Oise at Auvers by Vincent van Gogh,” Reaume said. “I did a project for my Museum Education and Interpretation class, and I did it about van Gogh’s piece. About a month later the oil painting showed up on campus along with the other pieces of art.”
Check out dia.org/insideout to discover the map that provides pinpoints to locate all five art pieces on the Detroit Mercy campus.
So next time you’re walking to class or grabbing coffee, take a moment to check out the new art installations. You might just find your new favorite piece of art without having to leave campus.