Board of Trustees

MARY SUE COLEMAN

Interim President, University of Michigan
President (ret.) American Association of Universities
President Emerita, University of Michigan

Mary Sue Coleman began her tenure as president of the Association of American Universities on May 31, 2016.

Prior to joining the AAU, Coleman was president of the University of Michigan from 2002 to July 2014 (where she is now president and professor emerita) and president of the University of Iowa from 1995 to 2002. Long involved with the AAU, Coleman served as chair in 2011-2012.

Dr. Coleman has during her career as a faculty member and administrator been a national leader in higher education. Time magazine named her one of the nation’s “10 best college presidents,” and the American Council on Education honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

At the University of Michigan, Dr. Coleman oversaw the groundbreaking partnership with Google to digitize the University’s 7 million volume library, launched enduring institutional partnerships with universities in China, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil, and India.

In recognition of these efforts, Dr. Coleman was named by President Obama in 2010 to help launch the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke named her as co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

In recognition of these efforts, Dr. Coleman was named by President Obama in 2010 to help launch the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke named her as co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), Dr. Coleman is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

As a biochemist and faculty member at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Coleman built a distinguished academic career through her teaching and research on the immune system and malignancies. Prior to becoming a university president, Coleman was vice chancellor for research and graduate education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and provost at the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Coleman earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Grinnell College and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds honorary doctorates from numerous institutions.

Currently, Coleman is also a member of the boards of trustees of the Kavli Foundation, the Mayo Clinic Foundation, the Gates-Cambridge Scholars Program, the Society for Science and the Public, and the University of Denver.