More than 100 U-M Medical School professors emeriti, their guests, and School and University officials gathered on a warm, clear July evening for the second annual dinner for emeritus faculty at Barton Hills Country Club north of Ann Arbor. "We are here to express our thanks for all you've done to help build this great Medical School over many years," said Dean Allen S. Lichter (M.D. 1972), "and to help foster reconnections with your colleagues and others as continuing, active and important members of the School's community."

Noting the key role played by the Health System in the life of the University, guest speaker U-M President Lee Bollinger acknowledged also the extraordinary role of medicine in the nation's social fabric today. Just as law was at the center of social importance during the years of the Warren court when he began his own career in law and the First Amendment, he said, medicine is now at the center of social importance — and of the University's own priorities. Bollinger cited the Life Sciences Initiative as an example of the University's growing commitment to biological and medical science.

He noted also the precarious position in which some of the nation's leading academic health centers have found themselves and the important role of Michigan's leadership in keeping Michigan on sound footing.

A highlight of the dinner occurred when, accompanied by pianist Irena Portenko, the entire crowd sang "Here's to You, Maize and Blue," a march composed by U-M alumnus and Associate Professor Emeritus of Microbiology Frank Whitehouse Jr. (M.D. 1953), and recorded by the U-M Marching Band on their CD The Spirit of Michigan.