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Association of American Universities names Mary Sue Coleman as its next president

Former U-M President Mary Sue Coleman
University of Michigan

The Association of American Universities today announced the appointment of Mary Sue Coleman, former president of the University of Michigan, as its new president, effective June 1, 2016.

Coleman will succeed Hunter R. Rawlings III, who has served as president since June 2011. Rawlings informed the AAU board of directors in May that he would retire from AAU next May.

Coleman retired as U-M president in 2014 after serving for 12 years.

AAU board chair Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, called Coleman "the ideal person to lead AAU."

"During her tenure at both Iowa and the University of Michigan, Mary Sue was universally regarded as one of the very best presidents in the country," Gutmann said. "In her strong and sustained university leadership, she has demonstrated the essential role of higher education in the lives of individuals and our society and world."

During her tenure at Michigan, U-M launched and expanded academic partnerships with universities in China, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil and India. She also announced a groundbreaking partnership between the U-M and Google to digitize the text of the university's 7-million-volume library.

Coleman also served as president of the University of Iowa from 1995 to 2002.

AAU is an association of 60 U.S. and two Canadian public and private research universities. It focuses on issues such as funding for research, research policy issues, and graduate and undergraduate education. AAU member universities are on the leading edge of innovation, scholarship and solutions that contribute to the nation's economy, security and well-being. AAU's 60 U.S. universities award nearly half of all U.S. doctoral degrees and 55 percent of those in STEM fields.