The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs has elected Derek Peterson of LSA as chair and Soumya Rangarajan of the Medical School as vice chair for the next school year.
SACUA members elected Peterson, Ali Mazrui Collegiate Professor of History and African Studies, associate chair, department of history, professor of history and professor of Afroamerican and African studies, and Rangarajan, clinical assistant professor of internal medicine, on April 14.
Their terms leading the nine-member executive arm of U-M’s central faculty governance system begin May 1 and extend through April 30, 2026.
Peterson, who ran unopposed, will succeed Rebekah Modrak, professor of art and design in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
Rangarajan, who defeated Vilma Mesa, professor of education in the Marsal Family School of Education and professor of mathematics in LSA, will succeed Heather O’Malley, assistant research scientist of pharmacology in the Medical School.
Peterson said that, while he did not set out to become SACUA chair, he stepped up to help ensure faculty viewpoints and values are represented in the coming year.
“This is not a job that I sought or desired. But these are exigent times. Liberal education is under threat,” he said.
“As leader of faculty government at this great public university I will try — insofar as I can — to represent the interests of our disparate faculty and defend the core interests that bind us together: the importance of open inquiry, the freedom to protest and challenge those in positions of authority, and the cultivation of purposeful and informed debate over the pressing problems of our times.”
As a clinical-track faculty member within the Medical School, Rangarajan hopes to amplify the voices at Michigan Medicine and increase collaboration across U-M campuses.
“As the old saying goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” she said.
“When clinical track faculty were first added to the Faculty Senate in 2023, many felt that the Medical School and university were separate entities and businesses with different priorities,” Rangarajan said.
“However, we are inextricably linked, as recent events have shown. The fact that federal medical research funding and Medicare/Medicaid funding are at risk underscores the equal importance of faculty governance and academic freedom to the medical center as on Central and North Campus.”
Peterson and Rangarajan will also serve as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Senate Assembly and the full Faculty Senate.
The Senate Assembly consists of 77 elected faculty members from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses, and the Faculty Senate consists of all tenure-track professorial faculty, research faculty, clinical professors, librarians, archivists, curators, lecturers I, II, III and IV who have at least a 50% appointment, executive officers and deans of each school or college.
