2022-07-20

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Wednesday, July 20, 2022 - Weekly Summer Edition

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‘It’s a happy damn day’: Dr. Santa Ono officially appointed as 15th president by Board of Regents Ono will take office on Oct. 13 with a base salary of $975,000

ANNA FIFELSKI & GEORGE WEYKAMP Summer News Editor & Daily News Editor

BECCA MAHON/Daily

The Board of Regents held a special meeting on Wednesday to officially appoint Dr. Santa J. Ono as the 15th president of the University of Michigan. Ono, 59, will begin his initial five-year tenure on Oct. 13 and will succeed Interim President Mary Sue Coleman, who was appointed by the board in January following the abrupt firing of former President Mark Schlissel. Coleman will continue to serve as president until Ono’s term begins. Ono is the current president of the University of British Columbia and has previously served as the president of the University of Cincinnati and senior vice provost and vice provost at Emory University. Article VIII § 5 of the Michigan Constitution of 1963 states the board of the University shall hold responsibility for selecting a president to be the principal executive member

of the institution and ex officio member of the board. “I’m thrilled to join in this enthusiastic welcome for Dr. Santa Ono as president of the University of Michigan,” Coleman said. “From academics and research to health care, athletics and service to society, the University is dedicated to excellence. ‘Leaders and best’ is our way of life on all three campuses.” According to a statement by the University on Wednesday, Ono’s appointment followed a nationwide search of potential candidates beginning in February, where the Presidential Search Committee hosted seven virtual listening sessions to hear community input on candidates. Regent Denise Ilitch (D) said in her statement at the meeting that the committee noticed integrity, communication and listening skills were among the main qualities community members were looking for in a leader. “It is readily apparent to me after getting to know Dr. Ono and learning about his experiences as a university administrator that he is the right

person to lead the University of Michigan at this moment in time,” Ilitch said. “His vision for our future is exciting and we have a lot to look forward to. I’m telling you that it’s a happy damn day.” Ono marks the first U-M president of Japanese descent and will receive a base salary of $975,000, which is subject to annual increases at the board’s discretion. Schlissel received a salary of $927,000 at the time of his termination. Ono is also entitled to deferred compensation of $350,000 and residence in the President’s House on South University Avenue. “I am honored to serve what I think is the greatest public university in the world,” Ono said. “The University of Michigan is known worldwide as an exceptional place for learning, teaching, healing and service across this great state, across this great nation and around the world, and I am humbled and honored to be named its 15th president.” Daily News Editors George Weykamp and Anna Fifelski can be reached at gweykamp@umich.edu and afifelsk@umich.edu.

President-elect Santa Ono, Presidential Search Committee chairs discuss priorities for new administration The Michigan Daily sits down with Dr. Santa Ono, Sarah Hubbard and Denise Ilitch to talk about the future

ANNA FIFELSKI & GEORGE WEYKAMP Summer News Editor & Daily News Editor

Following the Board of Regents’ approval of President-elect Santa Ono on Wednesday, The Michigan Daily sat down with Ono as well as the co-chairs of the Presidential Search Committee,

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Regents Sarah Hubbard (R) and Denise Ilitch (D), to discuss Ono’s experience, the presidential search process and more. This article has been edited and condensed for clarity. Interview with Presidential Search Committee The Michigan Daily: When did you first identify Ono as a candidate and how long have you been considering him? Sarah Hubbard: We worked with Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily

a search firm — Isaacson, Miller — and part of what they did is helped us identify this big pool of candidates. So they were going to look at every possible candidate across the world. After the listening sessions, we developed the job description and Ono was in one of those very early pools of 100 candidates when we started the search in March. TMD: What did you do with the information gathered from the

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Presidential Search Committee? Have members of the committee met with Ono? Denise Ilitch: What we did is we looked at all of the candidates that Sarah talked about and then we started an interview process that we did with the Presidential Search Committee and we narrowed down the candidates with the committee. TMD: What were the main

INDEX

Vol. CXXX, No. 86 ©2022 The Michigan Daily

takeaways from the listening sessions? How did that impact your decision to select Ono? SH: The takeaways from the listening sessions were the main attributes we wanted in a president, primarily someone who could really build trust between the broad University community and all its different stakeholders.

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NEWS...................1 ARTS...................2 STATEMENT... . . . . . . . . . . . 3

MIC........................4 OPINION................6 SPORTS..............7


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