It is always rewarding to reflect on the accomplishments and important milestones
achieved by the University, and what they mean for our future endeavors as a great
public research university.
One particular event springs to mind. This past year, the U-M Solar Car Team
crossed the finish line first in Calgary, Alberta, to claim the North American Solar
Challenge—the fourth such time we have won the title in 15 years of competition.
It was a success that represented some of the best qualities of the University of
Michigan: cooperation among different schools and departments, support from
industry and alumni, and perhaps most of all, the talent and dedication of our
students. They absolutely radiated collaboration.
The name of their solar car and their team? Momentum.
Our strength is research. And research productivity at our university translates to economic power for the state of Michigan. It means hundreds of millions of federal and other research dollars—nearly $800 million of research expenditures this year alone, making the U-M one of the top three research institutions in the nation.
The University received the largest research grant in its history with $70 million in funding from the National Institute on Aging for the Institute for Social Research to continue the Health and Retirement Study. Currently in its 14th year, the study is our country’s leading resource for data on the health and economic conditions of Americans over age 50.
Our life sciences complex is now complete, with the openings of the Undergraduate Science Building and the Biomedical Science Research Building. Over the past six years, we have invested $1 billion—nearly 1 million square feet of new space—devoted to life sciences research, education and economic development.
With our life sciences complex, we have built a nucleus of facilities that draw upon the energy of their neighbors: medicine, engineering, public health, kinesiology, pharmacy, chemistry, biology, dentistry and nursing. We are one of the very few universities in the world that offers all of the disciplines that must be brought to bear upon difficult problems.
In the past year, we celebrated the opening of the Stephen M. Ross Academic Center; dedicated the Stamps Studios in the School of Art & Design; and broke ground for the William E. Upjohn Exhibit Hall at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.
We saw construction continue on Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, the new home of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; the Walgreen Drama Center and the Arthur Miller Theatre; and the School of Public Health’s Crossroads and Tower Building. And we prepared to open the doors to the College of Engineering’s Ann and Robert H. Lurie Biomedical Building and Computer Science and Engineering Building.
All of this remarkable activity, much of it supported by our donors, is changing the physical face of the University and providing superior research, teaching and exhibition space for the students and faculty of the 21st century.
A great university must hold open its doors and make itself, and its discoveries, accessible.
Technology transfer is essential, as university inventions and business spinoffs are key to our nation’s competitiveness. In this past fiscal year, the University recorded $20 million in licensing revenues and 287 new invention disclosures from our research. That’s more than five invention disclosures every week.
In the last year, our research led to seven highpotential business startups. In the last five years, our University has launched at least two new businesses every economic quarter—46 new businesses. And the majority of those businesses are headquartered in Michigan.
We are finding new ways to tell people about the University and our discoveries. This past year we launched what is believed to be the most comprehensive university-based Spanish language news service in the United States. By distributing news stories about groundbreaking scientific findings, consumer-oriented health news, and social, cultural and economic trends, we are exposing U-M to Latino media in the United States, Latin America and Spain. By extension, we are reaching families and counselors of prospective Michigan students.
We also are reaching out to new students with a new program to quadruple our enrollment of lowand moderate-income community college transfer students. This outreach program is supported in part by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
None of our work is possible without the dedication and energy of our students, faculty and staff. Their accomplishments alone could fill an entire report, but some highlights include:
Scientist Sean J. Morrison, director of the U-M Center for Stem Cell Biology, was named Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News for his work in finding new ways to treat disease more effectively. A nationally recognized spokesman for the stem cell research community, his research focuses on adult tissue and cancer-causing stem cells.
School of Music senior Carolyn Jantsch graduated to one of the most remarkable positions in all of classical music: principal tuba player with the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra. She became the first female tuba player with a major American symphony orchestra and, at the age of 20, the youngest in the Philadelphia organization.
English Professor Willam “Buzz” Alexander, the founder of the U-M’s Prison Creative Arts Project, was named U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He has worked with more than 1,000 students to lead workshops in the arts at Michigan prisons, juvenile facilities and marginalized Detroit high schools.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, an epic production of School of Music Professor William Bolcom, received four Grammy Awards: for Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Producer of the Year, Classical. The album was recorded at Hill Auditorium.
Twenty-nine U-M students were awarded prestigious Fulbright fellowships this year—more than any other university in the nation.
We cannot talk about U-M achievements and not include our alumni and friends. Their support of the University through the Michigan Difference campaign helps to set us apart from other institutions. Michigan faculty, students and staff are the greatest resource we have, and one of my jobs is to provide the tools that allow them to do their best work. That is why I am so committed to the Michigan Difference, and am grateful to our donors and their vision of a stronger University.
As the academic year drew to a close, the Board of Regents voted to reappoint me to a second five-year term. I am tremendously appreciative of this vote of confidence, and I look forward to continuing the great work we have underway at Michigan. This has been a spectacular year, and I look forward to an even more spectacular future.
Mary Sue Coleman
President