Three faculty members with backgrounds in medicine, engineering and research science will soon join the executive committee of the U-M’s central faculty governance system.
The Senate Assembly voted electronically March 23-26 to elect the following members to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs:
- Steven Buchman, M. Haskell Newman Collegiate Professor of Plastic Surgery, professor of surgery, and professor of neurosurgery, Medical School.
- Kim Kearfott, professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, College of Engineering; professor of radiology, Medical School; and professor of biomedical engineering, College of Engineering and Medical School.
- Michael Schubnell, research scientist, physics, LSA.
Each member’s three-year term begins May 1.
Buchman, Kearfott and Schubnell will succeed three SACUA members whose terms expire April 30: Vilma Mesa, professor of education, Marsal Family School of Education; and professor of mathematics, LSA; Susan Najita, associate professor of American culture and associate professor of English language and literature, LSA; and Lauren B. Smith, clinical professor of pathology, Medical School.
In his remarks to the Senate Assembly on March 23, Buchman said he believes U-M leadership has shifted away from shared governance and, as a result, weakened faculty rights. He also argued that faculty face an increasingly opaque and retaliatory system and wants to push for stronger, enforceable reform.
“I’m interested in transformational reform,” he said. “The late Congressman John Lewis often spoke about the necessity of disrupting the status quo to achieve justice. He famously said, ‘Never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.’ If elected, I promise to get in that good trouble.”
Kearfott, a former SACUA chair, told the Senate Assembly she believes the university’s strength lies in its interdisciplinary collaboration and broad faculty contributions across campuses and roles. Framing academic freedom as both a professional and personal commitment, she said she would use her experience to defend shared governance, protect faculty voices, and push for greater transparency and accountability amid financial, political and cultural pressures.
“I cannot promise simple solutions, but I can promise transparency and accountability,” she said. “I will fight to ensure that whatever you are, wherever you are in the clinic, the lab, the library, or the studio, your right to research, teach and speak is represented and protected.”
Schubnell emphasized in his remarks that he was running to help protect the university as a place for free teaching, learning and research shaped by meaningful shared governance. He pointed to outside political pressures and the rapid rise of generative AI as two major challenges, arguing that faculty should play a central role in defending academic freedom and developing clear but flexible AI policies across disciplines.
“Generative AI is a structural change for universities. This is not a passing trend, whether we like it or not,” he said. “In the next decade, it will significantly reshape teaching and research. I use AI in my work and I see real benefits as it speeds up routine tasks and supports technical problem-solving. But I also see real risks, bias, privacy, data stewardship, access, equality and confusion about what counts as actual student learning.”
Other candidates on the ballot were:
- Germine “Gigi” Awad, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, professor of psychology, and of women’s and gender studies, and associate director, Global Islamic Studies, LSA
- Sun-Yung Bak, clinical associate professor of dentistry, School of Dentistry
- James Gulvas, senior associate librarian, Library Collections, University Library
- Niko Kaciroti, research scientist, pediatrics, Medical School; and research scientist, biostatistics, School of Public Health
- Mukesh Nyati, professor of radiation oncology, Medical School
- Merle Rosenzweig, librarian, Health Sciences, University Library
- Maria Silveira, associate professor of internal medicine, and adult hospice and palliative medicine research co-director, Medical School
- Lauren B. Smith, clinical professor of pathology, Medical School
SACUA is the nine-member executive arm of U-M’s central faculty governance system, which also includes the Senate Assembly and the full Faculty Senate.
