Saturdays in the D

Saturdays in the D is back this winter with an exciting new lineup of free courses and workshops for residents of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park! In collaboration with the University of Michigan, this program is designed to empower adult learners with skills to advance their careers, explore new interests, and engage in meaningful learning experiences.

This winter, participants can choose from a variety of courses led by expert instructors and facilitators, including Managing Talent, Python Programming, Project Management, and Purpose at Work. Whether you're seeking professional development, technical skills, or personal growth, Saturdays in the D offers something for everyone.

Join us to build your knowledge, expand your network, and take a step closer to achieving your goals. We are proud to offer this transformative program free of charge, thanks to the generous support of Ally Financial.
 

Certificate Courses 

These courses feature a mix of online and in-person elements. In-person sessions will be hosted at The UM Detroit Center located on Woodward. Online elements are provided through Michigan Online and Coursera. Learners will have access to wrap-around services such as career counseling, peer mentorship, and free laptop loans for those who need one. Successful completion of these courses will earn you a non-credit certificate from the City of Detroit and the University of Michigan. All programs are free but learners must commit to attending the in-person sessions to be eligible for the certificate. 

Certificate courses run from January 11 – March 15, 2025.

Orientation Session (for all certificate courses)
Learners may attend either orientation session:
Morning Orientation: January 11, 2025 from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm 
Afternoon Orientation: January 11, 2025 from 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm 
 

Purpose at Work: A Course for Employees and Leaders

1:30 - 3:30 p.m., 3-week course (1/18 - 2/8)
Click here to register. 

Instructor: Vic Strecher 
Course Facilitator: Kush Dawar

Why purpose at work? Because most of us spend most of our waking hours working. Many of us spend years of effort to obtain jobs that may give us purpose. But can we find purpose in nearly any job? Are we more engaged and likely to remain in our job if it gives us purpose? Can leaders create a culture that makes it easier for people to find purpose in their work? The answers are ‘yes’ to all of the above and this course shows you how.

In this course, we first examine what purpose is, the benefits of having a purpose, and how to find your own purpose. We then look at purposeful work, including ways of finding purposeful work in the process of leading a more engaged and fulfilling life. Finally, we focus on purposeful leadership, including ways of leading with purpose and managing yourself. Also, in this course I interview business executives, leading organizational psychologists, and even the research director of NASA. These discussions offer real-world insights and strategies to students, employees, and leaders.
 

Managing Talent 

1:30 - 3:30 p.m., 4-week course (2/15 - 3/15) 
Click here to register. 

Instructors: 
Cheri Alexander, Professor of Practice Management and Organizations, Ross School of Business
Scott DeRue, Edward J. Frey Dean of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business
Maxim Sytch, Whirlpool Corporation Research Professor of Business Administration Professor of Management and Organizations 
Course Facilitator: Kush Dawar

In this course, you will learn best practices for selecting, recruiting and onboarding talent. You will also learn about the key approaches to measuring performance and evaluating your employees. In addition, you will learn how to develop and coach your talent so that they can realize their full potential at work. Altogether, you will gain a thorough understanding of the complete cycle of managing talent and creating a robust talent pipeline for your team and organization. 

Managing and developing talent is one of the top three issues on the minds of CEOs from around the world. In fact, CEOs cite managing and developing their leadership talent as the issue that is most important to the future success of their business but that their organizations are least capable of addressing effectively. This course will provide you with the insights, frameworks and tools to effectively manage and develop talent in your teams and organizations.
 

Project Management 

10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., 7-week course 
Click here to register.  Note: this is a pilot cohort so spots are very limited.

Instructors: Nicole Friedberg, Master Black Belt and Project Manager, Lecturer for Michigan Engineering, Instructor for Six Sigma Programs
Pat Hammett, PhD, Lead Faculty for Six Sigma Programs, Associate Chair of Masters Education for Integrative Systems and Design, Lecturer for College of Engineering

Facilitator: John Knight

Project management isn’t just for project management professionals. People in almost any role in any industry will encounter projects at various points in their careers. With a methodical way to organize people, resources, and work, you can achieve your goals and meet project requirements. Foundations of Project Management can help individuals achieve their organization’s strategic initiatives by successfully leading projects.

This course provides essential tools and strategies for anyone who is interested in project management, actively participates in projects, or leads projects. The online, self-paced course prepares you to implement new strategies and skills, preparing you for project success.
 

Python II: Python Data Structures

1:30 - 3:30 p.m, (1/18 - 3/15) 
Click here to register. 

Instructor: Dr. Chuck Severance, Clinical Professor, School of Information 
Course Facilitator: Tamara Qawasmeh

This course will introduce the core data structures of the Python programming language. We will move past the basics of procedural programming and explore how we can use the Python built-in data structures such as lists, dictionaries, and tuples to perform increasingly complex data analysis. This course will cover Chapters 6-10 of the textbook “Python for Everybody.” This course covers Python 3.

Prerequisite: Take this course if you are experienced in programming; have used Python before; or have taken the Programming for Everybody course through Saturdays in the D prior to this fall.
 

Python III: Using Python to Access Web Data 

10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., (1/18 - 3/15)
Click here to register. 

Instructor: Dr. Chuck Severance, Clinical Professor, School of Information Course Facilitator: Tamara Qawasmeh

This course will show how one can treat the Internet as a source of data. We will scrape, parse, and read web data as well as access data using web APIs. We will work with HTML, XML, and JSON data formats in Python. This course will cover Chapters 11-13 of the textbook, Python for Everybody.

To succeed in this course, you should be familiar with the material covered in Chapters 1-10 of the textbook and the first two courses in this specialization. These topics include variables and expressions, conditional execution (loops, branching, and try/except), functions, Python data structures (strings, lists, dictionaries, and tuples), and manipulating files. This course covers Python 3.

Prerequisite: Take this course only if you have completed at least Python Data Structures or have gained equivalent programming knowledge. 
 

Workshops 

Workshops to be announced in January.

Questions? 

Visit the Saturdays in the W winter cohort page or email us at [email protected].