President of the University of Michigan

President of the
University of Michigan
President of the; University of Michigan
	Incumbent; Santa Ono; since October 14, 2022
	University of Michigan
Reports to	Board of Regents
Residence	President's House
Appointer	Board of Regents
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Michigan
Formation	1850
First holder	Henry Philip Tappan
Salary	$1,014,000
Website	president.umich.edu

The president of the University of Michigan is a constitutional officer who serves as the principal executive officer of the University of Michigan. The president is chosen by the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, as provided for in the Constitution of the State of Michigan. Fifteen people—fourteen men and one woman—have held the office, in addition to several others who have held it in either an acting or interim capacity.

The University of Michigan's current president is Santa Ono, formerly the president of the University of British Columbia in Canada. He took office on 14 October 2022.^[2]

History

The office was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1850, which also specified that the president was to be appointed by the Regents of the University of Michigan and preside at their meetings, but without a vote.^[3] The precise wording has evolved through subsequent state constitutions, and as of November 2018 the office is defined by Article VIII, section 5 of the Constitution of 1963:^[4]

The regents of the University of Michigan and their successors in office shall constitute a body corporate known as the Regents of the University of Michigan; ... Each board shall, as often as necessary, elect a president of the institution under its supervision. He shall be the principal executive officer of the institution, be ex-officio a member of the board without the right to vote and preside at meetings of the board. ...

Between the establishment of the University of Michigan in 1837 and 1850, the Board of Regents ran the university directly; by law, they were supposed to appoint a chancellor to administer the university, but they never did, and a rotating roster of professors carried out the day-to-day administrative duties instead.^[5]

While the modern office was created in 1850, the University of Michigan itself now traces its date of founding to 1817, when its precursor, the University of Michigania, was founded. The only president of that institution, Rev. John Monteith, appears in the list of presidents but is not officially considered to have been a president of the University of Michigan.^[6]

List of University of Michigan presidents

The first president of the university was Henry Philip Tappan. The position had originally been offered to Henry Barnard, but he declined, and Tappan and John Hiram Lathrop (then Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison) were nominated as new choices, after which Tappan was unanimously elected. Barnard later succeeded Lathrop at Wisconsin.

The 15th and most recent president of the university is Santa Ono, appointed in 2022. Of the previous presidents:

1 had the office abolished
1 died in office
2 were removed by the regents
5 retired at the end of their careers
2 resigned to return to teaching or research
4 resigned to take posts at other institutions (Northwestern University, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Princeton University, and Columbia University)

Presidents of the University of Michigan
No.	Name	Years in office	Notes
	Rev. John Monteith	1817–1821	First and only president of the University of Michigania; 4 years in office
	Vacant	1821–1837	Office abolished in favor of a Board of Trustees
	Vacant	1837–1852	Board of Regents replaces Board of Trustees
1	Henry Philip Tappan	1852–1863	First president of the University of Michigan, removed by regents; 11 years in office
2	Erastus Otis Haven	1863–1869	Resigned to become President of Northwestern University; 6 years in office
acting	Henry S. Frieze	1869–1871	Following President Haven's resignation.
3	James Burrill Angell	1871–1909	Retired after 38 years in office (longest-serving president)
acting	Henry S. Frieze	1880–1882	While President Angell is U.S. Minister to China
acting	Henry S. Frieze	1887–1888	While President Angell is on the commission negotiating the Bayard-Chamberlain Treaty
acting	Harry Burns Hutchins	1897–1898	While President Angell is U.S. Minister to Turkey
interim		1909–1910	Following President Angell's retirement.
4		1910–1920	Was the first student to receive a degree from James B. Angell at Michigan; retired after 10 year in office
5	Marion LeRoy Burton	1920–1925	Died in office
acting	Alfred Henry Lloyd	1925	From February through September after the death of President Burton
6	Clarence Cook Little	1925–1929	Resigned to conduct research at Bar Harbor, Maine; 4 years in office
7	Alexander Grant Ruthven	1929–1951	Retired after 22 years in office
8	Harlan Hatcher	1951–1968	Retired after 17 years in office
9	Robben Wright Fleming	1968–1979	Resigned after 11 years in office; was chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
interim	Allan Frederick Smith	1979	Following President Fleming's resignation.
10	Harold Tafler Shapiro	1980–1988	Resigned to become president of Princeton University; 8 years in office
interim	Robben Wright Fleming	1988	Following President Shapiro's resignation.
11	James Johnson Duderstadt	1988–1996	Resigned to return to teaching; 8 years in office
interim	Homer A. Neal	1996	Following President Duderstadt's resignation.
12	Lee Bollinger	1996–2002	Resigned to become president of Columbia University; 6 years in office
interim	B. Joseph White	2002	Following President Bollinger's resignation.
13	Mary Sue Coleman	2002–2014	Retired^[7] after 12 years in office as the first female president of the University of Michigan
14	Mark Schlissel	2014–2022	Removed^[8] by regents
interim	Mary Sue Coleman	2022	Following President Schlissel's termination
15	Santa Ono	2022–present	Incumbent, took office on October 14, 2022

Source: (Bentley Historical Library 2004)

Notes

^ "Regents laud Ono's performance in first year". record.umich.edu/. University of Michigan Record. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
^ "The Ono presidency begins | The University Record". record.umich.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
^ State of Michigan 1850, Article 13, section 8
^ State of Michigan 1963, Article VIII, section 5
^ Hinsdale 1906, p. 37
^ Bentley Historical Library
^ "University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman to retire in 2014". Archived from the original on 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
^ https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2022/01/15/university-michigan-president-mark-schlissel-fired-board-investigation/ ^{[bare URL]}

References

David Jesse (January 15, 2022), Univ. of Michigan President Getting $852K Salary & Contract Extension, retrieved January 15, 2022 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
Univ. of Michigan President Getting $852K Salary & Contract Extension, September 20, 2018, retrieved October 10, 2018 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
Bentley Historical Library (2018), Presidents of the University of Michigan, retrieved 2018-04-25
Hinsdale, Burke A. (1906), Demmon, Isaac (ed.), History of the University of Michigan, University of Michigan, retrieved 2007-08-16
Sahadi, Jeanne (November 20, 2006), Highest paid college presidents, CNNMoney.com, retrieved 2007-08-24
State of Michigan (1850), Constitution of Michigan of 1850, retrieved 2007-08-24
State of Michigan (1963), Constitution of Michigan of 1963, retrieved 2018-11-03