Chancellor Ruth Person reviewed a decade of great progress on the UM-Flint campus, and outlined a vision for the future in a “state of the university” speech Jan. 23.
She concluded her address with an announcement that she would step down in 2014, after a one-year extension of her five-year term as chancellor.
Person said that during the past 10 years, enrollment on the Flint campus had increased 30 percent, from 6,400 to 8,300 students, including more than twice the number of graduate students. The number of international students has grown more than tenfold during the decade.
To accommodate this growth, UM-Flint has added student housing, increased faculty and staff on campus, and expanded academic offerings to more than 107 undergraduate degree programs, 49 graduate degree programs and 11 professional and post professional certificates.
“So much happens here,” Person said.
She updated the campus community on the progress of the strategic-plan initiatives that include enhancing academic programs, expanding civic engagement and experiential learning, further diversifying the student body and increasing student financial aid.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as the chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint. It has been a privilege to serve in this role, and rewarding to see such progress and momentum.
“My five-year term will conclude this August. I have asked President Coleman, and she has agreed, to extend my contract for one additional year in order to complete important initiatives now under way.”
Coleman said she has been “enormously impressed” with the growth and progress of UM-Flint under Person’s leadership.
“We have seen the student body grow and diversify, at the same time the academic offerings have expanded. I am particularly pleased with the increasing depth of engagement by students with the Flint community and beyond.
“We will begin a search for Chancellor Person’s successor this summer. With this contract extension, she and I will work closely throughout the upcoming months to ensure a smooth transition that is focused on UM-Flint’s future impact,” Coleman said.
Person said she is honored to be a part of UM-Flint’s “thoughtful community of students and scholars, colleagues and community members.
“You should leave here today knowing this: We are growing. We are doing amazing things. We are setting standards, and we are excelling. We are the University of Michigan-Flint.”
