A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
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| Latin: Universitas Michigania | |
Former names | Catholepistemiad (1817–1821) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Latin: Artes, Scientia, Veritas |
Motto in English | "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" |
| Type | Public research university |
| Established | August 26, 1817[1] |
| Accreditation | HLC |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $17.9 billion (2023)[2] |
| Budget | $13.1 billion (2024)[3] |
| President | Santa Ono |
| Provost | Laurie McCauley |
Academic staff | 8,189 (2023)[4] |
Administrative staff | 23,798 (2023)[4] |
| Students | 52,065 (2023)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 33,730 (2023)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 18,335 (2023)[4] |
| Location | , , United States 42°16′37″N 83°44′17″W / 42.27694°N 83.73806°W |
| Campus | Midsize city[6], 3,177 acres (12.86 km2) Total: 20,965 acres (84.84 km2), including arboretum[5] |
| Newspaper | The Michigan Daily |
| Yearbook | Michiganensian |
| Colors | Maize and blue[7] |
| Nickname | Wolverines |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Website | umich |
 | |
The University of Michigan (U-M, UMich, or simply Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of the earliest American research universities and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities. In the fall of 2023, the university enrolled over 52,000 students.[4][8]
The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". It consists of nineteen colleges and offers 250 degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate level across various liberal arts and STEM disciplines.[9] The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2021, it ranked third among American universities in research expenditures according to the National Science Foundation.
The University of Michigan's athletic teams are collectively known as the Wolverines. They compete in NCAA Division I FBS as members of the Big Ten Conference. The university currently fields varsity teams across 29 NCAA-sanctioned sports. As of 2022, athletes from the university have won 188 medals at the Olympic Games.
Notable alumni from the university include 8 domestic and foreign heads of state or heads of government, 47 U.S. senators, 218 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 42 U.S. Cabinet secretaries, and 41 U.S. governors.
History
1817–1837
The University of Michigan was established on August 26, 1817,[1] as Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, under an act of the Michigan Territory. The corporate existence of the university had its rise in the Act of 1817, and has been continuous throughout all subsequent changes of its organic law.[10]: 11 Catholepistemiad, a neologism, translates roughly as "School of Universal Knowledge".[11]
Catholepistemiad was not a university in the contemporary sense but rather a centralized system of schools, libraries, and other cultural and scientific institutions borrowing its model from the Imperial University of France founded by Napoleon I a decade earlier.[12][10]: 10 Besides carrying on the central institution, the president and didactorium of Catholepistemiad were also authorized to establish private colleges, academies, and libraries in the Michigan Territory.[10]: 10 It was only after the State of Michigan entered the Union in 1837 that a new plan was adopted to focus the corporation on higher education.[12]
Shortly after the passage of the Act of 1817, John Monteith became the first president of Catholepistemiad, and Gabriel Richard, a Catholic priest, was vice president. Monteith and Richard enacted that private schools should be established in Detroit, Monroe and Mackinaw, and before the end of September 1817, the three private schools were in operation.[10]: 11 The cornerstone of the first school house, near the corner of Bates Street and Congress Street in Detroit, was laid on September 24, 1817. Subscriptions amounting to $5,000 payable in instalments running over several years were obtained to carry on the work.[10]: 12 Of the total amount subscribed to start the work, two-thirds came from Zion Masonic Lodge and its members.[13] In August 1818, a private Lancasterian school taught by Lemuel Shattuck was opened in the building.[10]: 12
1837–1900
After the state of Michigan entered the Union in 1837, its constitution granted the university an unusual degree of autonomy as a "coordinate branch of state government". It delegated full powers over all university matters granted to its governing Board of Regents.[12] On June 3–5, the Board of Regents held its first meeting in Ann Arbor and formally accepted the proposal by the town to locate the university there.[1] The town of Ann Arbor had existed for only 13 years and had a population of about 2,000.[15] A grant of 40 acres (16 ha), obtained through the Treaty of Fort Meigs,[16] formed the basis of the present Central Campus.[17]
Since the founding period, the private sector has remained the primary provider of university financing to supplement tuition collected from students. Early benefactors of the university included businessman Dexter M. Ferry (donor of Ferry Field), Arthur Hill (regent, donor of Hill Auditorium), the Nichols family (regents, donors of the Nichols Arboretum), William E. Upjohn (donor of the Peony Garden), William P. Trowbridge, John S. Newberry, who funded the construction of Helen H. Newberry Residence, and Henry N. Walker, a politician who rallied Detroit businessmen to fund the Detroit Observatory. Clara Harrison Stranahan, a close friend of Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie, donated $25,000 to the university in 1895. The Waterman Gymnasium was financed by donations from citizens and matched Joshua W. Waterman's pledge of $20,000.[10]: 67
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In 1838, the Regents contracted with Alexander Jackson Davis, who according to Superintendent John Davis Pierce provided truly "magnificent designs" in the Gothic Revival style; but unfortunately the completion of them at that day would, as Pierce said, involve an expenditure of half a million dollars.[10]: 31 Although approving the designs, the tight budget of the fledgling university forced the Regents to ultimately abandon them and instead adopted a much less expensive plan.[18] The superintendent of construction on the first structure to be built for the university was Isaac Thompson, an associate of Davis.[19]
Mason Hall was the first building at the University of Michigan dedicated to instruction, serving as both a dormitory and a classroom facility. The building was known as the University Main Building upon its completion in 1841 before changing its name to honor the state's first governor, Stevens T. Mason, in 1843. In 1849, a twin building called South College was constructed south of Mason Hall. University Hall, built between 1871 and 1873, connected the two buildings, which were then referred to as the South Wing and the North Wing.
Asa Gray was the first professor appointed to Michigan on July 17, 1837.[20] His position was also the first one devoted solely to botany at any educational institution in America.[21][22][23][24]Douglass Houghton was named the university's first professor of geology, mineralogy, and chemistry in 1839.[24] Other notable faculty members appointed at the university during this period included Andrew Ten Brook, Samuel Denton, Alexander Winchell, Franz Brünnow, Henry Simmons Frieze, Thomas McIntyre Cooley, and De Volson Wood.[24] Andrew Dickson White, founder and first president of Cornell University, filled the first permanent chair of history in the country at the university from 1857 to 1864.[24] White was one the earliest benefactors of the University of Michigan; he joined the Michigan faculty in 1858.[25]
The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845.[26]
In the following years, the regents established branches of the university in various parts of the state.[27] These decentralized branches were designed to serve as preparatory schools for the primary university.[27] The first branch was located in Pontiac, and others followed in Kalamazoo, Detroit, Niles, Tecumseh, White Pigeon, and Romeo.[27] Despite its optimism, the branches floundered, finding it difficult to enroll students. Some of the branches would later merge with local colleges. Kalamazoo College, the oldest private college in the state, once operated as the Kalamazoo Branch of the University of Michigan from 1840 to 1850.[27]
The years 1837–1850 revealed weakness in the organization and working of the university. Regents of the university discovered that the organic act from which they derived their powers made them too dependent upon the legislature. The subject was brought to the attention of the legislature more than once but without securing the desired action in order to achieve increased independence. By the late 1840s, the Regents achieved a strong position relative to collective bargaining with the legislature as the opinion was becoming common among capitalists, clergymen and intellectual elites, since by then the state derived significant tax revenue through them. Such a situation ultimately led to a change in the organic act of the university. Remodeled, the act, which was approved April 8, 1851, emancipated the university from legislative control that would have been injudicious and harmful. The office of Regent was changed from an appointed one to an elected one, and the office of President was created, with the Regents directed to select one. As Hinsdale argued, "the independent position of the university has had much to do with its growth and prosperity. In fact, its larger growth may be dated from the time when the new sections began to take effect."[10]: 40
The University of Michigan conferred the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1855, four years after the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge conferred the degree in 1851, for the first time in the United States, making Michigan the second institution in the country to confer the degree.[10]: 48 The degree of Bachelor of Philosophy was conferred for the first time in the university's history upon six students in 1870.[10]: 79 The degrees of Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy was first offered in 1875.[10]: 88
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Michigan established its medical school in 1850, engineering courses in 1854, and a law school in 1859.[12] In 1875, the University of Michigan established the College of Dental Surgery, becoming the second university in the United States to offer dental education after Harvard Dental College, which was founded in 1867. The university was also the first to provide graduate-level dentistry education. In 1876, Albert B. Prescott established the university's College of Pharmacy, which was the nation's first school of pharmacy at a state university.
The university was among the first to introduce instruction in fields as diverse as zoology and botany, modern languages, modern history, American literature, speech, journalism, teacher education, forestry, bacteriology, naval architecture, aeronautical engineering, computer engineering, and nuclear engineering.[12] In 1856, Michigan built the nation's first chemical laboratory.[28] That laboratory was the first structure on the North American continent that was designed and equipped solely for instruction in chemistry.[28] In 1869, the University of Michigan opened the first hospital in the country owned and operated by a university.
Methods of instruction had also undergone important changes. The seminar method of study was first introduced into the university by Charles Kendall Adams in 1871–1872, making the university the first American institution to naturalize this product of the German soil.[29][10]: 71
By 1866, enrollment had increased to 1,205 students. Women were first admitted in 1870,[30] although Alice Robinson Boise Wood was the first woman to attend classes (without matriculating) in 1866–67.[31] In 1870, Gabriel Franklin Hargo graduated from Michigan Law as the second African American to graduate from a law school in the United States. In 1871, Sarah Killgore became the first woman to graduate from law school and be admitted to the bar of any state in the United States.[32] Among the early students in the School of Medicine was Jose Celso Barbosa, who graduated as valedictorian in 1880, becoming the first Puerto Rican to earn a university degree in the United States.[33] Ida Gray graduated from the School of Dentistry in June 1890, becoming the first African-American woman dentist in the United States.[34]
By the 1870s, the university had built an international reputation. During this period, over 80 subjects of the Emperor of Japan were sent to Ann Arbor to study law as part of the opening of that empire to external influence.[35] The University of Michigan was also involved with the building of the Philippine education, legal, and public health systems during the era of the American colonization of the Philippines through the efforts of Michigan alumni that included Dean Conant Worcester and George A. Malcolm.[36]
Descendants of Massachusetts founding families made up a large portion of the university population in the 19th century; among them was Regent Charles Hebard, a lineal descendant of William Bradford, a founding father of Plymouth Colony.[10]: 204 In the early 20th century, the university became a favored choice for high-achieving Jewish students seeking a quality education free of religious discrimination when the private colleges with Protestant affiliation often imposed quotas on Jewish admissions. Since then, the university has served as a haven for the community of Jewish-American scholars.[37][38]
Throughout its history, Michigan has been one of the nation's largest universities, vying with the largest private universities such as Harvard University and Columbia University (then known as Columbia College) during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and then holding this position of national leadership until the emergence of the statewide public university systems in the post-WWII years.[12] By the turn of the 19th century, the university was the second largest in the United States after Harvard University.[39]
20th century
From 1900 to 1920, the growth of higher education led the university to build numerous new facilities. The Martha Cook Building was constructed as an all-female residence in 1915 as the result of a gift from William Wilson Cook in honor of his mother, Martha Walford Cook.[40] Cook planned to endow a professorship of law of corporations, but eventually made possible the development of the Law Quadrangle.[41] The five buildings comprising the Law Quadrangle were constructed during the decade of 1923–33 on two city blocks purchased by the university: Lawyers Club, Dormitory Wing, John P. Cook Dormitory, William W Cook Legal Research Library, and Hutchins Hall.[41] The buildings, in the Tudor Gothic style, recalled the quadrangles of the two English ancient universities Oxford and Cambridge.[41]
From 1915 to 1941, the physics department was led by H.M. Randall, who established the importance of theoretical colleagues. O.B. Klein, S.A. Goudsmit, G.E. Uhlenbeck, O. Laporte and D.M. Dennison joined the physics faculty during this time. Theoretical physicist W. Pauli, who became known as one of the pioneers of quantum physics, held a visiting professorship at the university in 1931.[42] Other physicists with ties to the university include the inventor of the Race Track Synchrotron H.R. Crane, G.B.B.M. Sutherland and H.A. Kramers. S. Timoshenko, who is considered to be the father of modern engineering mechanics, created the first U.S. bachelor's and doctoral programs in engineering mechanics when he was a faculty professor at the university.
The University of Michigan Summer Symposium in Theoretical Physics was held annually from 1928 to 1941.[43] During this period, virtually every world-renowned physicist lectured at the symposium, including N. Bohr, P.A.M. Dirac, E. Fermi, W. Heisenberg, P. Ehrenfest, E. Schrödinger, and others.[42] No fewer than fifteen of the visiting physicists were either Nobel laureates or would later receive the Nobel Prize in physics. J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was a professor at the California Institute of Technology and would later be known as the "father of the atomic bomb", visited in 1931 and 1934.[42]
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The University of Michigan has been the birthplace of some important academic movements, establishing the Michigan schools of thought and developing the Michigan Models in various fields. John Dewey, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Robert Ezra Park first met at Michigan. There, they would influence each other greatly.[44] In political science, Angus Campbell, Philip Converse, Warren Miller and Donald Stokes, proposed the Michigan model of voting.[45]
Shortly after the war, in 1947, the Regents appointed a War Memorial Committee to consider establishing a war memorial in honor of students and alumni who fell in World War II, and in 1948, approved a resolution to "create a war memorial center to explore the ways and means by which the potentialities of atomic energy may become a beneficent influence in the life of man, to be known as the Phoenix Project of the University of Michigan," leading to the world's first academic program in nuclear science and engineering.[46][12] The Memorial Phoenix Project was funded by over 25,000 private contributors by individuals and corporations, such as the Ford Motor Company.[47]
During the 1960s, the university campus was the site of numerous protests against the Vietnam War and university administration. On March 24, 1965, a group of U-M faculty members and 3,000 students held the nation's first-ever faculty-led "teach-in" to protest against American policy in Southeast Asia.[48][49] The university's Spectrum Center is the oldest collegiate LGBT student center in the U.S., pre-dating Penn's.[50]
Due to concerns over the university's financial situation there have been suggestions for the complete separation of the university and state through privatization.[51][52] Even though the university is a public institution de jure, it has embraced funding models of a private university that emphasize tuition funding and raising funds from private donors.[53] Considering that "the University of Michigan already has only minimal fiscal ties to the state," the legislature convened a panel in 2008 that recommended converting the University of Michigan from a public to a private institution.[54]
Since the fall of 2021, the university has had the largest number of students in the state, surpassing Michigan State University's former enrollment leadership.[55] Given the state's shrinking pool of college-age students, there is public concern that the university's expansion could harm smaller schools by drawing away good students.[56][57] Some of the state's regional public universities and smaller private colleges have already seen significant declines in enrollment, while others face difficulties in maintaining enrollment figures without lowering admission standards.[56]
Historical links
The University of Michigan was the first attempt in the New World to build a modern university in the European sense. The institution was the clearest and strongest presentation that had yet been made of what, in this country, at once came to be called the "Prussian ideas". It was a radically different approach to higher education; a complete civil system of education, in contradistinction to the ecclesiastical system made out of the colonial colleges. Michigan alumni and faculty members carried this newer concept of the university with them as they founded other institutions including Andrew Dixon White, a cofounder of Cornell University.[12] Cornell alumni David Starr Jordan and John Casper Branner passed the concept to Stanford University in the late 19th century.[58] Clark Kerr, the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, called Michigan the "mother of state universities" and credited the university for the first creation of the research university in America.[59]
- University of California: had its early planning based upon the University of Michigan.[60][61]
- University of Chicago: Michigan alumnus Robert Ezra Park played a leading role in the development of the Chicago School of sociology. The University of Chicago Laboratory School was founded in 1896 by John Dewey and Calvin Brainerd Cady, who were members of the Michigan faculty.
- Cornell University: Andrew Dixon White and Charles Kendall Adams, the first and second presidents of Cornell, respectively, were members of the Michigan faculty. Cornell also had its Law School founded by Michigan alumni Charles Kendall Adams and Harry Burns Hutchins.
- Harvard University: Michigan alumnus Edwin Francis Gay was the founding dean of the Harvard Business School from 1908 to 1919,[62] instrumental in the school's planning.
- Johns Hopkins University: had its pharmacology department established by John Jacob Abel, an alumnus of Michigan.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: had its Media Lab co-founded by Michigan alumnus Jerome Wiesner. Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Media Lab, has held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan.
- Northwestern University: Michigan alumnus Henry Wade Rogers was instrumental in transforming Northwestern from a small cluster of colleges into a major, nationally recognized university. His wife, Emma Winner Rogers, founded the Northwestern University Settlement Association.[63]
- Syracuse University: Alexander Winchell and Erastus O. Haven, the first and second chancellors of Syracuse University, respectively, were members of the Michigan faculty.
- Wellesley College: Michigan alumna Alice Freeman Palmer, the President of Wellesley College from 1881 to 1887, "transformed the fledgling school from one devoted to Christian domesticity into one of the nation's premier colleges for women."[64]
- Yale University: had its residential college system co-organized by James Rowland Angell, a graduate of Michigan.[65] Michigan alumnus Henry Wade Rogers introduced the "case system" and the college degree requirement into the Yale Law School.
Campus
The Ann Arbor campus is divided into four main areas: the North, Central, Medical, and South campuses. The physical infrastructure includes more than 500 major buildings,[66] with a combined area of more than 37.48 million square feet (860 acres; 3.482 km2).[67] The Central and South Campus areas are contiguous, while the North Campus area is separated from them, primarily by the Huron River.[68] There is also leased space in buildings scattered throughout the city, many occupied by organizations affiliated with the University of Michigan Health System. An East Medical Campus was developed on Plymouth Road, with several university-owned buildings for outpatient care, diagnostics, and outpatient surgery.[69]
In addition to the University of Michigan Golf Course on South Campus, the university operates a second golf course on Geddes Road called Radrick Farms Golf Course. The golf course is only open to faculty, staff and alumni.[70] Another off-campus facility is the Inglis House, which the university has owned since the 1950s. The Inglis House is a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) mansion used to hold various social events, including meetings of the Board of Regents, and to host visiting dignitaries.[71] The university also operates a large office building called Wolverine Tower in southern Ann Arbor near Briarwood Mall. Another major facility is the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which is located on the eastern outskirts of Ann Arbor.[72]
All four campus areas are connected by bus services, the majority of which connect the North and Central campuses. There is a shuttle service connecting the University Hospital, which lies between North and Central campuses, with other medical facilities throughout northeastern Ann Arbor.[73]
Central Campus
Central Campus was the original location of University of Michigan when it moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. It originally had a school and dormitory building (where Mason Hall now stands) and several houses for professors on 40 acres (16 ha) of land bounded by North University Avenue, South University Avenue, East University Avenue, and State Street. The President's House, located on South University Avenue, is the oldest building on campus as well as the only surviving building from the original 40-acre (16 ha) campus.[17] Because Ann Arbor and Central Campus developed simultaneously, there is no distinct boundary between the city and university, and some areas contain a mixture of private and university buildings.[74] The Central Campus residence halls are split up into two groups: the Hill Neighborhood and Central Campus.[75]
Central Campus is the location of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and is immediately adjacent to the medical campus. Most of the graduate and professional schools, including the Ross School of Business, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Law School and the School of Dentistry, are on Central Campus. Two prominent libraries, the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and the Shapiro Undergraduate Library (which are connected by a skywalk), are also on Central Campus.[76] as well as museums housing collections in archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, zoology, dentistry and art. Ten of the buildings on Central Campus were designed by Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn between 1904 and 1936 including Burton Memorial Tower and Hill Auditorium.[77]
North Campus
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North Campus is the most contiguous campus, built independently from the city on a large plot of farmland—approximately 800 acres (3.2 km2)—that the university bought in 1952.[78] It is newer than Central Campus, and thus has more modernist architecture, whereas most Central Campus buildings are classical or Collegiate Gothic in style. The architect Eero Saarinen, based in Birmingham, Michigan, created one of the early master plans for North Campus and designed several of its buildings in the 1950s, including the Earl V. Moore School of Music Building.[79] North and Central Campuses each have unique bell towers that reflect the predominant architectural styles of their surroundings. Each of the bell towers houses a grand carillon, 2 of only 57 globally. The North Campus tower is called Lurie Tower.[80] The University of Michigan's largest residence hall, Bursley Hall, is part of North Campus.[75]
North Campus houses the College of Engineering, the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the Stamps School of Art & Design, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and an annex of the School of Information.[81] The campus is served by the Duderstadt Center, which houses the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library. The Duderstadt Center also contains multiple computer labs, video editing studios, electronic music studios, an audio studio, a video studio, multimedia workspaces, and a 3D virtual reality room.[82] Other libraries located on North Campus include the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and the Bentley Historical Library.
South Campus
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South Campus is the site for the athletic programs, including major sports facilities such as Michigan Stadium, Crisler Center, and Yost Ice Arena. South Campus is also the site of the Buhr library storage facility, Revelli Hall, home of the Michigan Marching Band, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education,[83] and the Student Theatre Arts Complex, which provides shop and rehearsal space for student theatre groups.[84] The university's departments of public safety and transportation services offices are located on South Campus.[83]
The University of Michigan Golf Course is located south of Michigan Stadium. It was designed in the late 1920s by Alister MacKenzie, the designer of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, home of the Masters Tournament.[85] The course opened to the public in 1931 and has one of "the best holes ever designed by Augusta National architect Alister MacKenzie" according to the magazine Sports Illustrated in 2006.[86]
Organization and administration
Governance
Standing L-R: Frank B. Leland, John H. Grant, Shirley W. Smith, Harry O. Bulkey, William L. Clements, Lucius Lee Hubbard, Benjamin Hanchett, Junius E. Beal
Seated L-R: Luther L. Wright, James B. Angell, Harry B. Hutchins, Walter M. Sawyer
The University of Michigan is governed by the Board of Regents, established by the Organic Act of March 18, 1837. It consists of eight members, elected at large in biennial state elections[87] for overlapping eight-year terms.[88][89] Before the Office of President was established in 1850, the University of Michigan was directly managed by the appointed Board of Regents, with a rotating group of professors to carry out the day-to-day administration duties.[90] The second Michigan Constitution of 1850, a significant revision to the original 1835 Constitution, established the Office of President. It further made the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan an elected body instead of an appointed one and gave the Regents the authority to name a president to preside over meetings without a vote.[91]
The President of the University of Michigan is the principal executive officer responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the university, that is, the main campus in Ann Arbor. The President is not directly involved in the management of the regional campuses; instead, two additional Chancellors are appointed by the President to administer the two regional campuses located in Dearborn and Flint. The university's current president is Santa Ono, formerly the president of the University of British Columbia in Canada. On October 14, 2022, he became the 15th President of the University of Michigan, succeeding the outgoing president, Mark Schlissel.[92]
The President's House, located at 815 South University Avenue on the Ann Arbor campus, is home to the Office of the President. Constructed in 1840, the three-story Italianate President's House is the oldest surviving building on the Ann Arbor campus and a University of Michigan Central Campus Historic District contributing property.[93]
Student government
Housed in the Michigan Union, the Central Student Government (CSG) is the central student government of the university. With representatives from each of the university's colleges and schools, including graduate students, CSG represents students and manages student funds on the campus. CSG is a 501(c)(3) organization, independent from the University of Michigan.[94] In recent years CSG has organized Airbus, a transportation service between campus and the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and has led the university's efforts to register its student population to vote, with its Voice Your Vote Commission (VYV) registering 10,000 students in 2004. VYV also works to improve access to non-partisan voting-related information and increase student voter turnout.[95] CSG was successful at reviving Homecoming activities, including a carnival and parade, for students after a roughly eleven-year absence in October 2007,[96] and during the 2013–14 school year, was instrumental in persuading the university to rescind an unpopular change in student football seating policy at Michigan Stadium.[97] In 2017, CSG successfully petitioned the Ann Arbor City Council to create a Student Advisory Council to give student input into Ann Arbor city affairs.[98]
There are student governance bodies in each college and school, independent of Central Student Government. Undergraduate students in the LS&A are represented by the LS&A Student Government (LSA SG).[99] Engineering Student Government (ESG) manages undergraduate student government affairs for the College of Engineering. Graduate students enrolled in the Rackham Graduate School are represented by the Rackham Student Government (RSG), and law students are represented by the Law School Student Senate (LSSS) as is each other college with its own respective government. In addition, the students who live in the residence halls are represented by the University of Michigan Residence Halls Association (RHA), which contains the third most constituents after CSG and LSA SG.[100]
A longstanding goal of the student government is to create a student-designated seat on the Board of Regents, the university's governing body.[101] Such a designation would achieve parity with other Big Ten schools that have student regents. In 2000, students Nick Waun and Scott Trudeau ran for the board on the statewide ballot as third-party nominees. Waun ran for a second time in 2002, along with Matt Petering and Susan Fawcett.[102] Although none of these campaigns has been successful, a poll conducted by the State of Michigan in 1998 concluded that a majority of Michigan voters would approve of such a position if the measure were put before them.[101] A change to the board's makeup would require amending the Michigan Constitution.[103]
Finances
In the fiscal year 2022–23, the State of Michigan spent $333 million on the university, which represents 3.03% of its total operating revenues of $11 billion.[104] The Office of Budget and Planning reports that Michigan Medicine's auxiliary activities are the largest funding source, contributing $6.05 billion to the Auxiliary Funds, which accounts for 55.1% of the total operating budget. Student tuition and fees contributed $1.95 billion to the General Fund, accounting for 11% of the total budget.[104] Research grants and contracts from the U.S. federal government contributed $1.15 billion to the Expendable Restricted Funds, accounting for 10.4% of the total budget.[104]
The university's current (FY 2022–23) operating budget has four major sources of funding:[104]
- General Fund money, which accounts for 25.4% of the operating budget, is derived from various sources: student tuition and fees ($1.95 billion or 75.2%), state support ($333 million or 12.8%), sponsored research ($301 million or 11.6%), and other revenue ($8 million or 0.3%). It covers the costs of teaching, student services, facilities, and administrative support. The state's annual contribution to the school's operating budget was 3.03% in 2023 and does not cover intercollegiate athletics, housing, or Michigan Medicine.[104]
- Auxiliary Funds, which account for 58.2% of the operating budget, are sourced from self-supporting units and do not receive taxpayer or tuition support. These include Michigan Medicine ($6.16 billion), intercollegiate athletics ($186 million), student housing ($160 million), and student publications.[104]
- Expendable Restricted Funds, which account for 14.2% of the operating budget, are from providers who designate how their money is spent. Funding comes from research grants and contracts, endowment payout ($305 million), and private gifts ($157 million). It pays for scholarships and fellowships; salaries, benefits and research support for some faculty; and research, programs and academic centers.[104]
- Designated Funds, which account for 2.2% of the operating budget, come from fees charged for and spent on experiential learning, programs, conferences, performance venues, and executive and continuing education.[104]
Endowment
The university's financial endowment, known as the "University Endowment Fund", comprises over 12,400 individual funds.[105] Each fund must be spent according to the donor's specifications.[105] Approximately 28% of the total endowment is allocated to support academic programs, while 22% is designated for student scholarships and fellowships.[105] Approximately 19% of the endowment was allocated to Michigan Medicine and can only be used to support research, patient care, or other purposes specified by donors.[105]
As of 2023[update], the university's endowment, valued at $17.9 billion, ranks as the tenth largest among all universities in the country.[106][107] The university ranks 86th in endowment per student.[106] The law school's endowment, totaling over $500 million, has a significantly higher per-student value compared to that of its parent university.[108] It ranks as the eighth wealthiest law school in the nation in 2022.[108]
Schools and colleges
There are thirteen undergraduate schools and colleges.[109] By enrollment, the three largest undergraduate units are the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the College of Engineering, and the Ross School of Business.[110] At the graduate level, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies serves as the central administrative unit of graduate education at the university.[111] There are 18 graduate schools and colleges. Professional degrees are conferred by the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the School of Nursing, the School of Dentistry, the Law School, the Medical School, and the College of Pharmacy.[110] Michigan Medicine, the university's health system, comprises the university's three hospitals, dozens of outpatient clinics, and many centers for medical care, research, and education.