Lewis A. Morrissey papers, 1991-2003 (majority within 1994-2003)
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The Lewis A. Morrissey Papers document projects and programs undertaken by Lew Morrissey in his tenure in the University of Michigan government relations office as director of special projects, state outreach director, and chief freedom of information officer.
The Big Ten Commercials series documents Morrissey's work as special projects director in developing a series of television commercials promoting higher education (and the Big Ten universities in particular) in cooperation with the other universities in the Big Ten Conference. It includes correspondence between officials at the universities and with advertising firms and possible corporate sponsors, research reports, meeting agendas and minutes, and contracts and other business information related to the project.
The Freedom Of Information Act series documents Morrissey's work as chief freedom of information officer for the university. Specifically, it includes a report on the applicability of FOIA laws to email communication prepared for the Michigan Law Revision Commission by Kent D. Syverud, UM Law professor and Executive Secretary of the Commission. The series also includes correspondence between Syverud and various officials within UM and Michigan state government regarding the issue, and correspondence from Morrissey to university officials regarding Syverud's study.
The Outreach Planning and Development series includes information detailing the new outreach initiative sponsored by UM in the mid-1990s in reaction to fights in Lansing over the university's budget and more generally by what were perceived to be negative perceptions of the university statewide. The series includes reports on the state and need of outreach and possible outreach initiatives, agendas and detailed minutes of meetings between university officials about outreach, and historical information about outreach programs at UM. Morrissey was deeply involved in all these events.
The Michigan Advancement Council (MAC) series documents Morrissey's involvement with MAC, of which he served as president from 1996 to 1998. The series includes meeting notices and agendas, promotion materials, mission statements, and a large amount of correspondence between members. The materials document MAC's activities throughout the 1990s up to its eventual dissolution in 2001.
The Michigan Public Radio series contains information about Morrissey's work with the Michigan Public Radio. This includes correspondence, programming information, equipment and space, and strategic planning. Materials are mainly from the 1990s.
The Michigan Road Scholars (MRS) series, which comprises the bulk of the collection, documents the MRS program, an annual five-day tour of the state of Michigan for 30 faculty and staff members chosen from all UM campuses. The MRS program, one of the most significant results of the new outreach initiative at the university in the late 1990s, was initiated under Morrissey's leadership in 1999, and he continued to coordinate and participate in it until his retirement. The series includes correspondence and planning documents concerning the program's development, as well as detailed information about every tour from 1999 through 2003. This information includes faculty member applications, agendas of the tours, faculty participant evaluations of the tours, lists of participants, agendas of planning meetings, and a variety of other documentation. The series also includes general documentation of the MRS seed grants program, which provided grants to past program participants to do community-based service projects, research projects, or educational programs as an outgrowth of their participation in the MRS program.