The Board of Regents held a
special meeting on Wednesday to
officially appoint Dr. Santa J. Ono as
the 15th president of the University of
Michigan.
Ono, 59, will begin his initial
five-year tenure on Oct. 13 and will
succeed Interim President Mary Sue
Coleman, who was appointed by the
board in January following the abrupt
firing of former President Mark
Schlissel. Coleman will continue to
serve as president until Ono’s term
begins. Ono is the current president of
the University of British Columbia and
has previously served as the president
of the University of Cincinnati and
senior vice provost and vice provost at
Emory University.
“I’m thrilled to join in this
enthusiastic welcome for Dr. Santa
Ono as president of the University
of Michigan,” Coleman said. “From
academics and research to health
care, athletics and service to society,
the University is dedicated to
excellence. ‘Leaders and best’ is our
way of life on all three campuses.”
According to a statement by the
University on Wednesday, Ono’s
appointment followed a nationwide
search
of
potential
candidates
beginning in February, where the
Presidential
Search
Committee
hosted
seven
virtual
listening
sessions to hear community input on
candidates. Regent Denise Ilitch (D)
said in her statement at the meeting
that the committee noticed integrity,
communication and listening skills
were among the main qualities
community members were looking
for in a leader.
“It is readily apparent to me after
getting to know Dr. Ono and learning
about his experiences as a university
administrator that he is the right
person to lead the University of
Michigan at this moment in time,”
Ilitch said. “His vision for our future
is exciting and we have a lot to look
forward to. I’m telling you that it’s a
happy damn day.”
Ono marks the first U-M
president
of
Japanese
descent
and will receive a base salary
of $975,000, which is subject to
annual increases at the board’s
discretion. Schlissel received a
salary of $927,000 at the time of his
termination. Ono is also entitled to
deferred compensation of $350,000
and residence in the President’s
House on South University Avenue.
“I am honored to serve what I think
is the greatest public university in the
world,” Ono said. “The University
of Michigan is known worldwide
as an exceptional place for learning,
teaching, healing and service across
this great state, across this great
nation and around the world, and I am
humbled and honored to be named its
15th president.”
Daily
News
Editors
George
Weykamp and Anna Fifelski can be
reached at gweykamp@umich.edu and
afifelsk@umich.edu.
Santa Ono is expected to be
confirmed as the 15th president
of the University of Michigan by
the Board of Regents Wednesday
afternoon, the Detroit Free Press
reported late Tuesday.
Ono’s appointment marks the
second time a person of Color
has served as president of the
University, after former Presi-
dent Homer A. Neal, who served
as interim U-M president in
1996. Ono is the first person of
Japanese descent to serve as the
president of the University.
Since 2016, Ono has served as
the current president and vice
chancellor of the University of
British Columbia. He previously
served as president of the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati from 2012
to 2016.
Ono received an undergradu-
ate degree in biological sciences
at the University of Chicago in
1984 before pursuing a Ph.D.
in experimental medicine at
McGill University in Montreal in
1991. Ono has received the Regi-
nald Wilson Diversity Leader-
ship Award from the American
Council on Education, as well as
the Professional Achievement
Award from the University of
Chicago, a Grand Challenges
Hero Award from UCLA and
the NAAAP 100 Award from the
National Association of Asian
American Professionals.
The University established the
Presidential Search Committee
in February to survey candidates
for the position. Regents Denise
Ilitch (D) and Sarah Hubbard (R)
were co-chairs of the committee,
which included representatives
from the three campuses and
Michigan Medicine and sought
input
from
the
community
through virtual learning ses-
sions and an online survey.
The hiring comes after for-
mer President Mark Schlissel
was fired on Jan. 15 for engag-
ing in a two-year relationship
with a subordinate over email.
The board appointed Coleman as
interim president that same day
to serve until a replacement was
found.
Schlissel’s termination came
after he announced he would step
down from the role of president
one year early in June 2023. As
part of his exit package, Schlis-
sel was initially entitled to his
base salary of $927,000 for two
years, $2 million to start a lab
and a $5,000 monthly housing
allowance. Following his termi-
nation, Schlissel’s exit package
was voided, but he was awarded
a one-year sabbatical in which he
was paid $463,000, after issuing
a 91-word apology to the board
back in April. Following the sab-
batical, Schlissel is eligible to
return as a U-M faculty member
with a salary of $185,000.
A spokesperson for the Uni-
versity was not immediately
available in time for comment.
Daily News Editors George
Weykamp and Anna Fifelski can
be reached at gweykamp@umich.
edu and afifelsk@umich.edu.
4A — Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ANNA FIFELSKI &
GEORGE WAYKAMP
Summer News Editor &
Daily News Editor
Following the Board of Regents’
approval of President-elect Santa
Ono on Wednesday, The Michigan
Daily sat down with Ono as well
as the co-chairs of the Presidential
Search Committee, Regents Sarah
Hubbard (R) and Denise Ilitch (D), to
discuss Ono’s experience, the presi-
dential search process and more.
This article has been edited and
condensed for clarity.
Interview with Presidential
Search Committee
The Michigan Daily: When did
you first identify Ono as a candidate
and how long have you been consid-
ering him?
Sarah Hubbard: We worked
with a search firm — Isaacson,
Miller — and part of what they did
is helped us identify this big pool
of candidates. So they were going
to look at every possible candidate
across the world. After the listen-
ing sessions, we developed the job
description and Ono was in one of
those very early pools of 100 candi-
dates when we started the search in
March.
TMD: What did you do with
the information gathered from the
Presidential Search Committee?
Have members of the committee
met with Ono?
Denise Ilitch: What we did is we
looked at all of the candidates that
Sarah talked about and then we
started an interview process that
we did with the Presidential Search
Committee and we narrowed down
the candidates with the committee.
TMD: What were the main take-
aways from the listening sessions?
How did that impact your decision
to select Ono?
SH: The takeaways from the
listening sessions were the main
attributes we wanted in a presi-
dent, primarily someone who could
really build trust between the broad
University community and all its
different stakeholders. The top
takeaway was someone who was
capable, who could do the job and
understood how to run a Universi-
ty. We wanted to hire someone who
didn’t need training wheels, and
the listening sessions really helped
us focus on those attributes.
DI: I would just add that he talk-
ed about being a connector of peo-
ple. One thing I took away from the
listening sessions is that our com-
munity wants to be heard and they
want to be listened to and they want
to be connected with, and Ono’s a
connector. That was really critical,
not only in his style of leadership
but also in the way he communi-
cates. We happened to fall in love
with the way he communicates,
and that he looks at communication
in a lot of ways.
TMD: Were there any qualities
that members of the board were
looking for in a new president?
SH: Something that was really
important to me was someone who
had presidential experience. That
wasn’t an absolute bottom line, we
were still interested in people who
had provost experience and dean
experience, but someone who had
experience as a president for me
was very, very important.
DI:
Presidential
experience
was really a dealbreaker. I was not
willing to take the risk of having a
person that did not have the expe-
rience of running an institution of
our size and public. It would have
been a very unusual person to make
that exception. But for me also it
was the healer-in-chief, someone
who could take the situation that
we’re in now and rebuild trust in
our community.
TMD: How will the board help
facilitate the presidential transition
and what role do you both plan to
play in said transition?
DI: I think it’ll be business as
usual. We’ll try to be as supportive
as possible. We’re excited because
we believe Ono is a transparent per-
son, he’s a collaborator and he likes
to work in partnerships. He has a
servant-style leadership, so he has
humility and he likes to ask advice
and get help and listen. We want to
be a strong support system to him
and that’s what we’ll do.
SH: I think he’ll also stay in touch
with (Interim) President (Mary
Sue) Coleman and that transition,
and while he wants to be respectful
of her retirement, she wants to be
sure he gets off on the right foot too.
TMD: How did the presidential
search process change following
former President (Mark) Schlis-
sel’s termination? Were you already
considering
candidates
when
Schlissel announced his retirement
in October?
SH:
Because
Schlissel
had
already announced his retirement
we started looking at search firms
and started preparing for that pro-
cess, but it wasn’t until he actually
left that we really moved forward
with the search committee. We cer-
tainly didn’t expect to have to move
as quickly as we did. But when we
needed to do it, we did.
DI: Our timing was really good
because there’s like five differ-
ent presidential searches going on
right now across the country, and
so we’re really happy that we didn’t
have to compete with them. We
got a little bit ahead of that, and we
were able to get the best candidate.
TMD: What was the biggest
challenge in the presidential search
process?
DI: Confidentiality. Most people
don’t understand, it’s really about
the other candidates, not just the
candidate-elect, but those that also
were interviewed to protect their
privacy because they all have cur-
rent jobs and everything.
Interview
with
President-
elect Santa Ono
TMD: How has your experi-
ence as president of the University
of Cincinnati and the University of
British Columbia prepared you to
lead a public research university
with a Big Ten athletics program?
How has your experience at Cin-
cinnati shaped your relationship
with The Ohio State University?
Santa Ono: Oh, that’s a pretty
funny question. That’s an in-state
rivalry. So like I could ask you
‘What’s the relationship between
Michigan and Michigan State?’ I
would say that the University of
Cincinnati shares that rivalry that
Michigan has with Ohio State.
You’re not looking at a Buckeye fan.
As you probably know, the
University of British Columbia is
gigantic — there are about 71,000
students enrolled there. It’s a very
comprehensive research university,
like Michigan. I would say there
Read more at michigandaily.com
News
Dr. Santa Ono is expected to be confirmed
at surprise Regents meeting
Santa Ono to be named 15th
President of the
University of Michigan
NEW PRESIDENT
President-elect Santa Ono, Presidential
Search Committee chairs discuss
priorities for new administration
The Michigan Daily sits down with President-elect Santa Ono
as well as Regents Sarah Hubbard and Denise Ilitch
NEW PRESIDENT
Trigger Warning: This article
contains mentions of suicide and
attempts of suicide, mentions of sexual
assault and mentions of police violence.
“It’s official: Santa is coming
to town,” “I’m okay with our new
president being a Sagittarius” and
“Santa’s meme game is fire” are only
a few of the memes circulating on
Instagram and Twitter following
the appointment of Dr. Santa Ono
as the University of Michigan’s 15th
President at a special Board of Regents
meeting July 13.
Ono’s appointment as the 15th
President of the University comes
after a four-month search by the
Presidential Search Committee, led by
co-chairs Regents Sarah Hubbard (R)
and Denise Ilitch (D). In an interview
with President-elect Ono, Hubbard
and Ilitch emphasized the impact the
community listening sessions had on
the presidential search. Hubbard also
said Ono was in one of the first pools
of candidates that the committee
began considering in March.
Zackariah Farah, U-M alum and
Research Assistant at Michigan
Medicine, said he is impressed by
how Ono interacts with the students
at the universities he has led, the
University of British Columbia and
the Univerisity of Cincinnati.
“I’ve heard that he is very
accessible and that he loves talking
to students, and in my four years at
U-M, I only saw Mark Schlissel in
person once, which is pretty crazy,”
Farah said. “(I’m looking forward to)
just having someone who is willing
to mingle and (be) friendly with
the people that they’re supposed to
represent and lead, and I hope that is
what Santa Ono is going to bring to the
table.”
Farah said that while he’s excited
for Ono to take over as president,
he’s left with questions about how
Ono’s administration will handle the
problems at the University.
“When it comes down to (it),
I’m mostly interested in ‘How is
his administration going to reduce
emissions? How is his administration
going to prevent sexual assault cases
and actually take accountability for
the massive cases of sexual assault
that have happened on campus
with Dr. Anderson, for example, or
Professor Conforth?’” Farah said.
“And I’m also really interested to see
how his administration will treat
the workers of this university. I was
very disappointed by how (former
President) Mark Schlissel threatened
our unions on campus.”
During Ono’s presidency at the
University of Cincinnati, Samuel
Dubose was fatally shot by UC police
officer Ray Tensing during an off-
campus traffic stop on July 19, 2015.
In response to the shooting, Ono
announced the review and reform
of the UC police department and
appointed a new Vice President for
Safety and Reform, Robin Engel.
Though Tensing was tried twice on
charges of murder and voluntary
manslaughter, both ended in mistrials
and Tensing did not face criminal
charges.
In 2016, after a student on the
University of Cincinnati campus
committed suicide, Ono spoke out on
Twitter about his past struggles with
mental health and his own attempts
at suicide. Ono also attended an N15
fundraiser, named for the statistic
that one in five people will suffer from
mental illness, to help raise money
for teenagers struggling with mental
illness.
Kirsten
Herold,
LEO-GLAM
President, Public Health lecturer and
a member of the Presidential Search
Committee, declined to participate
in a formal interview to maintain
the confidentiality of the presidential
search. In an email to The Michigan
Daily, Herold stated she was honored
to be part of this year’s search
committee.
“Here is what I think I can say: I
was honored to be asked to serve on
the committee,” Herold wrote. “We
had a much more diverse search
committee than most universities
have (typically Deans and wealthy
donors only), and we all took the
process very seriously and worked
extremely well together. We all
attended the listening sessions and
took the input to heart. The search
firm, the UM staff support and the
joint leadership of Regents Hubbard
and Ilitch made it an efficient and
collaborative process. I am very
pleased with the final result and am
excited to be working with the new
president in the years to come.”
Eshana Bhangu, a third-year
student at UBC and President of Alma
Mater Society (AMS) — the student
government at the Vancouver campus
— said that Ono was receptive to
student needs and often worked with
AMS on student issues.
“There’s this discipline regulation
that applies to all students that is
essentially under the President’s
Office … and after the president’s
approval, it was published.” Bhangu
said. “However, (AMS) hadn’t been
consulted on that. And we reached
out to Dr. Ono on a Friday evening,
letting him know that ‘Hey, we
weren’t consulted, and we aren’t
happy with this change because it
affects a lot of students,’ and Dr. Ono
didn’t hesitate from rescinding his
approval of the change in regulation
and said that nothing will go forward
without student consultation on that
case.”
Bhangu also said Ono had a
positive relationship with students
on the UBC campus and enjoyed how
involved he was with the campus.
“He’s quite a good sport,” Bhangu
said. “He’s very pleasant to interact
with. He’s very accessible to students.
I think students just love that about
him … and he’s just very present on
our campus. One of our (campus)
bucket list items is ‘Get a Selfie with
Santa,’ so you’ll often see him across
campus, and he will not even think
twice before stopping and taking
selfies with like a hundred students
crowded around him.”
Campus reacts to Santa
Ono’s appointment as 15th
UMich President
Campus looks forward to changes under new President
TAYLOR PACIS/Daily
NEW PRESIDENT
ANNA FIFELSKI &
NIRALI PATEL
Summer News Editors
ANNA FIFELSKI &
GEORGE WAYKAMP
Summer News Editor &
Daily News Editor
Read more at michigandaily.com
‘It’s a happy damn day’: Dr. Santa
Ono officially appointed as 15th
president by Board of Regents
NEW PRESIDENT
Ono will take office Oct. 13 with base salary of $975,000
ANNA FIFELSKI &
GEORGE WAYKAMP
Summer News Editor &
Daily News Editor
BECCA MAHON/Daily