Other items approved by the Board of Regents at its March 28 meeting:
Air handling, fire alarm system at Taubman Health Care Center
The air handling units and fire alarm system will be replaced at the A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center in two separate projects. The air handling unit project, with an estimated cost of $8 million, also will replace return air fans, enhance temperature controls and integrate the new equipment into the existing building management control system. This work is part of a multiyear plan to upgrade all air-handling units within the facility. The architectural firm of Integrated Design Solutions will design the project, with construction scheduled to be completed in the winter of 2026. Additionally, a new fire system will address the entire facility, including the replacement of all fire alarms, wiring, subpanels and the main facility fire alarm panel, as well as upgrades to the controls for smoke and fire dampers. The estimated cost of the project is $6.3 million, and funding for both projects will be provided from U-M Health resources. The architectural firm SSOE will design the fire alarm system project, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025.
— Jeff Bleiler, The University Record
Repairs approved for Fletcher Street Parking Structure
A $3.6 million project will update and repair the Fletcher Street Parking Structure. Construction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025 and will include the installation of additional floor drains, waterproofing stormwater piping, repair and replacement of structural concrete, and lighting updates. The architectural and engineering firm of Restore Consulting will design the project, and funding will be provided from Logistics, Transportation and Parking resources. There will be a temporary loss of some parking spaces during construction, but no permanent impact of the structure.
— Hanna Quinlan, Public Affairs
Regents honor two departing executive officers
Regents passed resolutions expressing gratitude and well-wishes for two members of the executive officer team who are moving on to other roles. Sally J. Churchill, who was appointed vice president and secretary of the university in May 2005, is stepping down to become special counsel to the vice president and secretary for a one-year term. She began her career at U-M as an assistant attorney in the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel in 1996, and also served as a lecturer in the School for Environment and Sustainability for 14 years. The resolution expresses the regents’ intention to honor her as vice president emerita and secretary of the university on May 1, 2025, when her service to the university concludes. Rebecca Cunningham, who has served as vice president for research and innovation since 2020, will become president of the University of Minnesota. Cunningham joined the faculty as a lecturer in 1999 and spent more than 20 years as an emergency medicine physician at U-M and Hurley Medical Center in Flint. Regents thanked Cunningham for her “outstanding service” to U-M.
— Jeff Bleiler, The University Record
Ann Arbor campus
Faculty appointments with tenure
Tiffany J. Braley, associate professor of neurology, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024.
Yufeng Liu, professor of statistics, LSA, effective Aug. 25, 2025.
Uday V. Shanbhag, professor of industrial and operations engineering, College of Engineering, effective Aug. 26, 2024.
Named professorships
Erin Bonar, Kathy Fant Brzoznowski Research Professor of Behavioral Health Technology Innovations, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2028.
Dawen Cai, Crosby-Kahn Collegiate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Medical School, effective July 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2028.
Gaurav G. Desai, Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor, LSA, effective Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2029.
Jennifer A. Garner, John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, effective March 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2026.
*Khaled S. Hafez, Valassis Professor of Urologic Oncology, Medical School, effective Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2029.
Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar Endowed Professor of the Learning Sciences, Marsal Family School of Education, effective March 1, 2024, through Feb. 28, 2029.
Julie Simmons Ivy, Vivian L. Carpenter Collegiate Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, College of Engineering, effective March 1, 2024, through Feb. 28, 2029.
Tian Liang, Robert W. Browne Early Career Professor of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, effective March 1, 2024, through Feb. 28, 2027.
Donovan T. Maust, Willard C. Blackney Jr. and Geraldine LaTendresse Blackney Research Professor of Geriatric Psychiatry, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2028.
Shahzad I. Mian, F. Bruce Fralick Professor of Ophthalmology, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029.
Peter B. Reich, Filibert Roth Collegiate Professor of Environment and Sustainability, School for Environment and Sustainability, effective April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2029.
Anthony Rosenzweig, Stanley and Judith Frankel Professor of Heart and Brain Health, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2028.
*Anna G. Stefanopoulou, William Clay Ford Professor of Technology, College of Engineering, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029.
Maureen A. Walton, Toby Brzoznowski Research Professor of Behavioral Health Technology Innovations, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2028.
Daphne C. Watkins, Letha A. Chadiha Collegiate Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, effective April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2029.
Administrative appointments
*Denise L. Anthony, Rubin Department Chair of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, effective Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2025.
Michele M. Day, chair, Naval Officer Education Program, effective Aug. 1, 2024, through July 31, 2027.
Jon Kinsey, vice president and secretary of the university, effective May 1, 2024, through April 30, 2029.
*Lynda D. Lisabeth, senior associate dean for faculty affairs, School of Public Health, effective Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2026.
George A. Mashour, senior associate dean for faculty and faculty development, Medical School, effective May 1, 2024.
Michael R. Meyer, chair, Department of Astronomy, LSA, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029.
Shahzad I. Mian, chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Medical School, effective March 1, 2024.
*Belinda Needham, chair, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, effective Aug. 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025.
Jason D. Owen-Smith, associate vice president for research-institutional capabilities and research intelligence, Office of the Vice President for Research, effective March 1, 2024.
*Geoffrey Thün, associate vice president for research–social sciences, humanities and the arts, Office of the Vice President for Research, effective Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2029.
Other transactions
Jacinta C. Beehner, transfer of tenure as professor of psychology, LSA, effective Aug. 26, 2024.
Dearborn campus
Transfer of faculty appointments and tenure in the College of Business, effective July 1, 2023.
From the Department of Management Studies to the Department of Management and Marketing:
Aaron C. Ahuvia, to professor of management studies.
Frederic Brunel, to dean, College of Business, and professor of marketing.
Elif Izberk-Bilgin, to associate professor of management studies.
Jung Hyun Lee, to associate professor of organizational behavior.
Janice C. Molloy, to associate professor of human resources and organizational behavior.
Crystal J. Scott, to associate professor of marketing.
Karen S. Strandholm, to associate professor of strategic management.
From the Department of Management Studies to the Department of Information and Operations Management:
Charu Chandra, to professor of operations management.
Yi-Su Chen, to associate professor of management studies.
Lee A. Freeman, to associate professor of information systems management.
Yi Guo, to associate professor of management studies.
Jun He, to associate professor of information systems management.
Barbara D. Klein, to professor of management information systems.
Zhixin J. Liu, to professor of decision sciences.
Young K. Ro, to professor of management studies.
Hung-Chung Su, to associate professor of management studies.
Flint campus
Brian D. Blume, Hagerman Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, School of Management, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026.
*Reappointments
Retirements
William E. Barrie, clinical assistant professor of internal medicine in the Medical School, April 30, 2024. Barrie received his M.D. in 1987 from Wayne State University. He completed his internal medicine internship at Naval Hospital Bethesda in 1988 and his residency at Naval Hospital San Diego from 1989-91. Barrie served in the United States Navy Reserves on active duty from 1988-94. He joined the U-M faculty as a clinical instructor in 1994, working full time at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. He was promoted to clinical assistant professor in 1997. He was the department head of primary care at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System from 1994-2003. In 2003, he was activated in the USNR for Operation Enduring Freedom. After returning from his tour of active duty, he became the department head for the emergency department of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. He continued in this role until 2017. He has been a full-time staff physician at the emergency department since 2018. He was elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and was part of the inaugural class of the Department of Internal Medicine Clinical Excellence Society, Academiae Laureati Medici, U-M, 2013.
Melva G. Craft-Blacksheare, associate professor of nursing in the School of Nursing, UM-Flint, Dec. 31, 2023. Craft-Blacksheare received her M.S.N. from Case Western Reserve University in 1994 and her D.N.P. from Oakland University in 2010. She joined the UM-Flint faculty in 2011, was promoted to assistant professor of nursing in 2013, and associate professor of nursing in 2019. Craft-Blacksheare has been a nurse in the maternity and obstetrics field since 1992 and has made it her focus of advocacy. Her research centers on black maternal mortality, the Flint water crisis and increased awareness of implicit bias among nurses. She is a co-investigator for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing research study titled Learning Across Multidimensional Perspectives. She also was primary investigator and project director of “Eliminating Structural Racism in Nursing Academia: A systems change approach to anti-racist nursing education,” funded by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and the “Initiatives for Workforce Diversity” grant through UM-Flint along with other grants that help to decrease barriers and increase access to health care services. She worked with Doctor of Nursing Practice students, guiding them in a transformative approach as they thought about intimate partner violence and increasing access to care among underrepresented minorities with hypertension.
Hugh E. Huntley, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, UM-Dearborn, April 30, 2024. Huntley received his bachelor’s degree in general studies in 1983 from U-M. He earned his Master of Science in Engineering in mechanical engineering and his Ph.D. in applied mechanics from U-M in 1987 and 1992, respectively. He joined the UM-Dearborn faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He was promoted to associate professor in 1998. Huntley’s research interests are in the areas of nonlinear elasticity, viscoelasticity, and plasticity. Prior to joining the university, he worked as a development engineer for Sarns/3M and a technical editor for the law firm Joscelyn & Treat, P.C. Huntley is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a previous member of the former Michigan Teachers of Mechanics. His achievements were recognized by UM-Dearborn with the campus Distinguished Teaching Award in 1996 and the Faculty Appreciation Award in 1998.
William Michael King, professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the Medical School, March 31, 2024. King received an A.B. in 1966 in physics from Harvard University, an M.S. in 1970 in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, and his Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics in 1976 from the University of Washington. He joined Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor in the Wilmer Eye Institute in 1978. In 1981, he moved to the University of Rochester as assistant professor, and then associate professor of physiology; and in 1993, he joined the University of Mississippi Medical School faculty as professor of neurology and founding director of their clinical balance laboratory. He joined U-M in 2002 as a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where he has been a researcher in the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, and director of the Vestibular Testing Center from 2002-18. King’s early career focused on the neural control of eye movements. At U-M, King’s research focused on clinical and basic issues related to vestibular control of balance. King presented the keynote address at an international symposium sponsored by the Society for the Neural Control of Movement in Dublin in 2022.
Jennifer J. Linderman, Pamela Raymond Collegiate Professor of Engineering, professor of chemical engineering, and professor of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering, Dec. 31, 2023. Linderman received her B.S. in 1982 from the University of Rochester and her M.S.E in 1984 and Ph.D. in 1987 from the University of Pennsylvania. She joined U-M as an assistant professor, the first woman faculty member hired in to the Department of Chemical Engineering, in 1989. She was promoted to associate professor in 1995, and professor in 2003. Linderman was director of the U-M ADVANCE Program from 2016-23, associate director from 2014-16, and acting director from 2012-13. She was the associate dean for graduate education in CoE from 2014-16. Linderman develops mathematical and computational models to understand how molecular, cellular and tissue-level processes interact to impact disease progression and treatment. She co-authored a widely used graduate text, “Receptors: Models for Binding, Trafficking, and Signaling,” andnearly 150 refereed publications. Linderman received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the U-M Faculty Recognition Award, the College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award, and the Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Kathy Sue O’Shea, Crosby-Kahn Collegiate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, professor of cell and developmental biology, and professor of psychiatry in the Medical School, Jan. 31, 2024. O’Shea received her B.A. in psychology in 1976 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She then obtained graduate research training and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, in 1980. O’Shea joined U-M as an assistant research scientist in 1982, was made assistant professor in 1988, and was promoted to associate professor in 1995, followed by professor in 2003. In 2014, she was made professor of psychiatry. Research in the O’Shea laboratory has focused on the earliest development of the mammalian nervous system using whole embryo culture and, recently, mouse and human pluripotent stem cell models. O’Shea co-founded the Michigan Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and was its director for more than 20 years. She was associate chair for research in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology from 2007-17. In 2018, she shared the National Alliance on Mental Illness Scientific Research Award. She received teaching awards from the Medical School class in 2011, as well as from the Endowment for the Basic Sciences in 2015.
Elisa A. Ostafin, clinical assistant professor of internal medicine in the Medical School, April 5, 2024. Ostafin received her B.A. in Russian studies from Dartmouth College in 1978 and her M.D. from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1982. She completed her postgraduate training in internal medicine at U-M in 1985. She joined the U-M faculty as a clinical instructor in 1985, and was promoted to clinical assistant professor in 1995. In her primary role as an outpatient clinician, Ostafin cared for a large and increasingly complex panel of general internal medicine patients. She was a clinical educator for the Clinical Foundations of Medicine Sequence at the Medical School for 10 years and was selected for the Doctoring faculty during its inaugural year. She received the Special Recognition for Contributions to the Medical Student Teaching Program Award in 2003. Ostafin was the West Ann Arbor Clinic’s first medical director. She co-chaired the Primary Care Operations Committee from 2015-18. She was the first recipient of the Steven Gradwohl Art of Primary Care Award, and she was inducted into the Internal Medicine Clinical Excellence Society. She is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and received the Outstanding Clinician Award at the Dean’s Awards Program.
Ruth J. Person, professor of management in the School of Management, UM-Flint, Jan. 4, 2024. Person received her B.A. in 1967 from Gettysburg College, her M.S. in 1974 from George Washington University, and her Ph.D. in 1980 from U-M. She joined the Catholic University of America as an assistant professor, then associate professor. In 1986, she served as dean of the College of Library Sciences at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She has served as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and vice president for academic affairs at Ashland University and Angelo State University. She was chancellor at Indiana University Kokomo from 1999-2008, when she became chancellor at UM-Flint. She served as chancellor for six years before returning to her role as professor of management. Person’s research focused on library sciences, personnel management, management development programs and leadership. She also has been a trustee of the Biglari Foundation since 2016. As chancellor, she oversaw development of significant new academic programs at the doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degree levels; created early colleges for high school students; received the Carnegie Engaged Campus designation; and helped the UM-Flint be recognized as Michigan’s fastest growing university.
Donald A. Roberts, clinical professor of radiation oncology in the Medical School, March 29, 2024. Roberts received his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1987. He completed a research fellowship in physics in 1992, a research fellowship in radiation oncology in 2004 and completed his radiation oncology physics residency in 2006, all at U-M. Roberts joined the U-M physics faculty as a research scientist in 1992, and the Department of Radiation Oncology in 2006 as a clinical instructor. He was promoted through the ranks, becoming clinical professor in 2023. Roberts has a long history of precision measurements and expertise in instrumental design and response. His research has focused on advanced treatment delivery methods and quality assurance measurements. He has written several papers on precision dosimetric measurements used in quality assurance measurements and has served as a journal reviewer for numerous prestigious journals. Roberts also designed and commissioned the quality assurance program used to assure patient plan quality for VMAT plans. He was awarded the Outstanding Physics Teacher Award by the physician residents in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Roberts wrote and supported a quality assurance database, Michigan Quality Assurance, that has been used clinically for all therapy machine-related mechanical tests since 2014.
Elona D. Van Gent, professor of art in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, Dec. 31, 2023. Van Gent received a B.A. in English literature from Hope College in 1984 and an M.F.A. in sculpture from the Tyler School of Art in 1989. She was an associate professor at Grand Valley State University before joining the Stamps faculty in 2004 as a visiting associate professor. She was promoted to associate professor in 2005 and professor in 2012. Van Gent was associate dean for academic programs from 2013-19, advocating for interdisciplinary art and design education. Van Gent borrows computer techniques typically used to create characters and special effects in film and video to investigate themes encountered at the intersection of art, science and technology that manifests as speculative creatures and environments. She has exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, Beijing Today Art Museum, Peter the Great Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Roda Sten in Sweden, and Sydney’s University of Technology. Van Gent’s teaching focused on guiding students in the creative use of computer technologies such as 3D modeling, animation, special effects, and 3D printing. At the graduate level, she taught courses on creative process and critique methods.
— Compiled by Katie Kelton, The University Record
