An expansion of the health care system and new initiatives to promote the arts and enhance school safety are among the many notable achievements featured in the University of Michigan’s annual report.
The fiscal year 2023 report, now available online, underscores that the university remains financially strong and “well positioned for the future.”
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President Santa J. Ono, whose March 7 inauguration as the university’s 15th president was highlighted in the report, acknowledged U-M’s “strong financial foundation” as critical to carrying out the university’s mission.
“The University of Michigan stands as a beacon of excellence, marked by world-class academic programs, cutting-edge research and one of the top-rated health systems in the nation,” Ono wrote.
“Underlying all that we do is our vital mission: an enduring commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.”
In addition to messages from university leaders, the report includes successes from the year, awards and honors, prominent capital projects and financial statements.
Some of the many items in the report include:
- The university will allocate $20 million over 2023-28 for its Arts Initiative, expanding access with new programs and projects to engage university audiences, bring more artists to campus, and support and amplify the arts across the state and region.
- The U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and the state finalized a $1 million contract to create a statewide initiative designed to enhance school safety and prevent school violence.
- UM-Dearborn welcomed its largest class of international students, most of whom study in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
- Students from UM-Flint’s Doctor of Occupational Therapy program became the first class to graduate with a doctorate in the field in the state of Michigan.
- With the addition of Sparrow Health System on April 1, Michigan Medicine now oversees more than 200 care sites across the state, and annual clinical care activities have grown to $7 billion.
Describing it as a “remarkable and transformational year for the university,” Geoffrey Chatas, executive vice president and chief financial officer, wrote in his message about several multiyear efforts that started this year and will shape the institution for decades to come.
“A number of significant initiatives began, including Vision 2034, a collective strategic visioning process to imagine our shared future for the next 10 years, which engaged U-M students, employees, alumni and partners,” Chatas wrote.
“The launch of Campus Plan 2050 provides an extraordinary opportunity for the U-M community to help craft a blueprint for the university’s Ann Arbor campus, with a special focus on creating the living, learning and working environments that support our strategic vision.”
U-M’s net position — the residual interest in the university’s assets and deferred outflows, after liabilities and deferred inflows are deducted — was $20.7 billion at the end of the fiscal year.
Distributions from the university’s endowment provided $470 million to support university operations during the fiscal year, for a total of $2.1 billion over the past five years.
“U-M maintained its unrelenting focus on ensuring that its foundation remains strong — financially and in other ways — so it is well positioned to continue educating students from around the world, conducting research that helps society and providing outstanding health care services,” Chatas wrote.
Additional financial highlights in the report include:
- The university reported a record $1.86 billion volume of research expenditures, with more than $1 billion sponsored by the federal government. The research helped to launch 25 new startup companies and generate 580 invention disclosures.
- The value of the university’s endowment totaled $17.9 billion on June 30, 2023.
- The FY ’23 budget included a 5% increase in financial aid for undergraduates on the Ann Arbor campus, as well as 12% and 9% increases in institutionally awarded aid on the Dearborn and Flint campuses, respectively.
- U-M remains one of only seven public universities in the country to earn the highest possible credit ratings from S&P Global (AAA) and Moody’s (Aaa).
The annual report also highlighted several significant donations made by university supporters over the past fiscal year. In total, the university received $456 million in pledge payments and cash gifts from nearly 100,000 donors.
Notable gifts included a $50 million commitment by the family of Kathleen and Bryan Marsal and their children, Megan Marsal Kirsch and Michael Marsal, to the School of Education, which was renamed the Marsal Family School of Education.
Additional gifts included $2.75 million and $1.5 million to the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning to support access to architecture education and leadership in urban planning, respectively, and $2 million to endow the W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden at Nichols Arboretum.
The report also included Michigan Medicine’s announcement that it would name its new hospital to recognize a $50 million gift from the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation — one of the largest ever to Michigan Medicine.
“I am thrilled to see how our community’s passion for creating a better world is expressed through the breadth and depth of gifts we receive,” Thomas Baird, vice president for development, wrote in the report.
The consolidated financial statements of the university are audited by the independent accounting firm of PwC.
