Michigan regent speaks on process behind selecting Santa J. Ono as next president
The University of Michigan regents voted in Santa J. Ono as the 15th school president in its storied history on Wednesday. One of the prominent figures in the search weighed in afterward to give an inside look.
Regent Jordan Acker took to social media late last week to shed some light on the process behind Ono’s hiring at Michigan. He hopes that this year helped re-instill confidence in administration and the powers that be in Ann Arbor.
“First, it was an extraordinarily difficult year to be chair in 2021-22,” Acker tweeted on Thursday. “After a difficult year, the fall semester was absolutely wonderful. The dismissal of President [Mark] Schlissel was both necessary and painful. For the first time in 200-plus years, a U-M President was terminated, and for the first time, with cause. It’s fair to say that, as a Board member, I felt that trust in the administration at that moment was at an all-time low.
“[Former Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman] stepping into the breach and plugging those holes (at least on an interim basis), will, in my view, be one of the most important things this Board has ever done. We needed to immediately stop digging and restore the trust deficit. The week after, as the Board met to discuss these circumstances (and, more importantly, the future), the Board was united strongly: We need someone to keep the University the best in the country academically, and be the person that could restore trust and accountability.
“We chose a search committee perhaps bigger and broader than any other [University of Michigan] search beforehand. It was a broad cross-section of students, staff (including the President of [Michigan Lecturers’ Employee Organization] which was important), and faculty. We had a great mix of faculty, but what made me proudest is we picked many faculty members who are clearly leaders in their fields AND those who are about to become nationally-known superstars in the next few years.
“Whenever you have a group this big, it can be scary: confidentiality was a must. It happened for us because everyone felt their voice was important and heard. (It also helped that this was literally true: the voices of each member WAS important and heard).”
The Santa Ono era begins at Michigan
Ono comes to Michigan via the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He was also the president at the University of Cincinnati prior to that. Ono’s career in academics also included stops at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, among others.
Michigan more doubled Ono’s salary from UBC. His annual salary was $449,000 ($369k in U.S. dollars), whereas he could make up to $6 million over his five-year contract, per MLive’s Samuel Dodge. His term begins on Oct. 13.
“It was a real honor to share this celebratory day with our entire search committee,” Acker said on Twitter. “As [Ono] said, being a new person you don’t expect trust to be given right away. But our committee allowed him to start off on the right foot, and I am incredibly grateful for all the time every committee member gave. So–we’re here, celebrating an important milestone and the beginning of what I see as the potential for a great presidency, because of the work of our campus community.”
Acker went on to praise the Michigan student voices that were part of the search.
“I don’t believe you can have a successful search without students involved,” he said. “Not only do they provide an important perspective, the interaction between students and their president is the most telling for how a Presidency will go.
“Still floating on cloud nine, thrilled that we’re going to have such a fantastic President. The future is bright in Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn. Lets go Santa Ono!”
