Regents reappoint Mary Sue Coleman to second term as U-M president

December 10, 2008
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ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Board of Regents voted today to reappoint President Mary Sue Coleman to a second five-year term when her current contract expires July 31, 2007.

Their action came after a thorough review of her performance that included interviews with faculty, staff, students and other University stakeholders.

“The results of our review were overwhelmingly positive,” said Martin S. Taylor, regent and chair of the Regents’ Compensation, Personnel and Governance Committee. “Being president of this great public university is a complex and difficult undertaking. nsexemplary, and she has an established track record of outstanding accomplishments. We have been fortunate to have her leadership.”

Coleman said: “I am grateful for the vote of confidence extended to me today by the Board of Regents. The past four years have been the most satisfying in my professional life, and I look forward to another term leading an institution that is assuming ever greater leadership responsibilities in the state, the nation and the world.

“Michigan’s astounding academic leadership comes not from an administrative office, but from our faculty?s scholarship, from our students’ love of learning, and from the remarkable staff who support the academic environment in ways both subtle and profound,” she said.

Coleman’s new five-year contract contains similar provisions as her original contract, including a $500,000 retention bonus and $75,000 per year in deferred compensation. The regents will act later to set her salary for 2006-07. Her current annual salary is $501,458.

Coleman assumed the U-M presidency on Aug. 1, 2002. At Michigan, she has launched several major initiatives that will have an impact on the future of generations of students, the intellectual life of campus, and society at large. These include: strengthening and enhancing student residential life; building upon the interdisciplinary richness of the U-M to offer more extensive team-teaching opportunities; exploring the role of ethics in public life; and addressing challenges related to health care and the University?s ability to foster a healthy work force.

Under her leadership, The Michigan Difference fund-raising campaign has achieved $2.1 billion of its $2.5 billion goal. The campaign will enhance programs across campus, including new scholarships for students and endowed chairs to support outstanding faculty. The endowment, which produces income to support the excellence of the University into the future, has increased in value from $3.4 billion in 2002 to $4.9 billion as of June 30, 2005, the most recent figure available.

Coleman and her husband, Kenneth Coleman, pledged a gift of $500,000 to the campaign in 2003.

In 2005, Coleman announced the ground-breaking partnership between the University and Google, which will digitize approximately 7 million volumes in the U-M Libraries and allow the public to discover books and to search their contents in ways never before possible.

Coleman has built institutional partnerships in China with the goal of enhancing the University’s global influence along with international opportunities for students and faculty. She also has shown strong leadership on tech transfer, state economic development and partnerships with the region, including the new U-M Detroit Center.

Over the past four years, the University’s research expenditures have grown by nearly $100 million to $753 million per year, the majority of that investment coming from federal research funding. Tech transfer activity at the University also has increased substantially, with 287 invention disclosures by U-M faculty, 86 licensing agreements with outside companies, and $16.7 million in revenue from University discoveries in FY2005.

Coleman has provided leadership in enhancing the University?s facilities for the 21st century, overseeing major renovation and construction projects such as Weill Hall, School of Public Health, Biomedical Science Research Building, Ross School of Business, North Quad Residential and Academic Complex and plans to renovate Michigan Stadium.

In defending the University?s admissions policies, Coleman led the affirmative action cases to a victory in the Supreme Court in 2003 and since then has invested considerable time in personal admissions recruiting and outreach visits. Coleman also launched a major new commitment to financial aid in 2005 with the M-PACT program, which provides additional grants to approximately 3,000 Michigan undergraduates each year. Total student enrollment at the Ann Arbor campus has grown from 38,972 in fall 2002 to nearly 40,000 in fall 2005, with the majority of that growth in undergraduate enrollment.

Her extensive leadership positions in higher education include serving on the Association of American Universities executive committee, the Internet2 board of directors, the National Collegiate Athletic Association board of directors, and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1997, Coleman also is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She co-chaired a major policy study of the Institute of Medicine examining the consequences of uninsurance, and has become a nationally recognized expert on the issue.

Coleman earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Grinnell College and her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina. She holds honorary doctorates from Grinnell College, Luther College, the University of Kentucky, Albion College, Dartmouth College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Northeastern University.

Regent Taylor’s remarks

President Coleman’s remarks

News highlights of Coleman’s administration

Coleman’s presidency by the numbers