Former University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman has been named the next president of the Association of American Universities.
Coleman served as U-M's president from 2002 to 2014 and helped form numerous partnerships with other academic, business and government organizations.
Even before Coleman came to Ann Arbor, she served as the president of the University of Iowa from 1995 to 2002. A statement from the AAU noted her leadership experience as ideal for the role:
During her tenure at Michigan, Coleman helped launch the Obama Administration’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, and in 2010, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke named her co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Under her leadership, the University of Michigan launched and expanded academic partnerships with universities in China, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil and India. She also announced a groundbreaking partnership between the University and Google to digitize the text of the University’s 7-million-volume library.
In a press release issued by the AAU, Coleman says she is looking forward to working with the organization and is ready to start.
“I am eager to continue the work of elevating the American research university as essential to our nation’s prosperity, security, and wellbeing,” Coleman said.
The AAU is an international organization comprised of 62 different universities that focuses on promoting academic research and education.
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— Taylor Pinson is the WEMU News assignment reporter, and producer for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him studio@wemu.org
