The 2023-2024 Theme Year at UMSI engages the UMSI community in the collective exploration of ideas around a common social issue.

Anchored in engaged learning pedagogy, the Theme Year at the University of Michigan School of Information provides an opportunity for a thematic application to information work and methodology derived from a contemporary social issue. Students, faculty, staff, and community members collaborate through coursework, lectures, immersive experiences, service learning, design jams and hackathons, film showings, and more.

Theme semesters have been an integral part of the teaching and learning experience on the U-M campus for more than two decades, connecting the great intellectual and cultural strengths of the University of Michigan to the issues defining our world today.

2023-2024 | Water Conservation and Access

This school-wide theme semester is derived from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; the theme of water access and conservation spans several goals, including Clean Water and Sanitation, Life Below Water, and Climate Action and is meant to be a theme that is important to all community members, although in varying ways. This year’s theme will bring together UMSI community members; water advocacy organizations; local, state, and federal government organizations, and industry organizations to explore this topic deeply and generate novel ideas and approaches to societal concerns around water access and conservation. 

The School of Information's stated mission is, "We create and share knowledge so that people will use information — with technology — to build a better world." Perhaps more than anything else, the world needs reliable access to sources of clean, usable water.  It's essential for a sustainable future.  Unfortunately, this most critical resource often isn't accessible or clean, which causes major issues for families, communities, businesses, and thousands of species of plants and animals.  Water issues are everybody's issues.