UM-Dearborn Chancellor Daniel Little has been reappointed to a third five-year term beginning July 1.
The Board of Regents approved the reappointment at its monthly meeting May 20. Little has served as chancellor since 2000, and will become the longest serving chancellor once he begins his third term.
Courtesy UM-Dearborn.
In a reappointment letter of support to the regents, President Mary Sue Coleman says that Little has been an effective leader during his first and second terms, and has made much progress in realizing the campus vision as a “metropolitan university.”
“The future of UM-Dearborn is bright and the opportunities are great,” Coleman said. “I am confident that under Chancellor Little’s leadership, the campus will continue to develop its unique assets and further enhance its already outstanding educational, research and service contributions to the region and the state.”
Coleman says that during Little’s most recent five-year term, new undergraduate and graduate programs — including the campus’s first two Ph.D. programs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and a new Ed.D. program in the School of Education — were established, and the campus fund-raising campaign exceeded its goal by 10 percent, totaling $44 million.
Research productivity of the UM-Dearborn faculty has markedly increased and university enrollments have increased, with first-time-in-college enrollments growing more than 30 percent since 2004, and transfer enrollments growing 14 percent in the same period under Little’s leadership.
“UM-Dearborn is financially stable and has a secure foundation for its educational programs through vigilant financial management, cost reductions, enrollment growth and moderate tuition increases,” Coleman wrote.
Coleman praised Little for his leadership in developing a new Center for Civic Engagement, which has been a key theme for the campus, its faculty and students.
“Chancellor Little has himself been an exemplar of engagement, cultivating strong community ties and partnering with numerous community stakeholders in a variety of ways,” she wrote.
Coleman also cited Little for overseeing the expansion and enhancement of the Early Childhood Education Center, a collaboration with Oakwood Healthcare System and its Center for Exceptional Families; establishment of the Institute for Local Government that helps citizens learn how to run for office and serve in local government; and leadership in increasing the research productivity of the campus’s faculty members.
“I am thrilled to be reappointed,” Little says. “I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students and our community partners to build upon the progress we have made towards realizing our shared vision of academic excellence and metropolitan impact in southeast Michigan.”
Prior to joining the university, Little served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of philosophy at Bucknell University, and he also was associate dean of the faculty at Colgate University.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University.
