ANN ARBOR, Mich. ― Brown University Provost Mark Schlissel was named Friday as the new president of the University of Michigan, vowing to strengthen what he called a “jewel” of higher education in the U.S.
The Board of Regents approved Schlissel, a biochemist, as the 14th person to lead the Ann Arbor school at a special session.
“I am amazingly honored,” said Schlissel, 56, who has been Brown’s chief academic officer since 2011. Before that, he served as dean of biological sciences at the University of California-Berkeley. He received a medical degree and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.
Schlissel agreed to a five-year contract that will pay him a base salary of $750,000 per year. Schlissel is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He has been married for 29 years to Monica Schwebs, an environmental lawyer. They have four grown children.
Schlissel will succeed President Mary Sue Coleman, who announced last year that she would step down when her contract expires this summer. She will leave as Michigan’s fourth longest-serving leader and the university’s first female president.
“I’m thrilled that they selected another biochemist,” Coleman, 70, said to laughter.
“Dr. Schlissel, welcome to a university unlike any other,” she said.
