The University of Michigan Board of Regents made it official, voting to name C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University, as the school's 17th president.
At a special meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 1, in Ann Arbor, the regents unanimously voted to make Raver U-M's next president, the second woman to lead the university. The first, Mary Sue Coleman, was at the helm in 2002-14.
"Our new president is a very trusted individual and will continue to build trust in our community," U-M Regent Denise Ilitch said at the meeting. "She is a strong listener. She wants to hear everybody's viewpoints, and that will be a key, I think, to her success. She's well-rounded. She's a team builder. One of my favorite qualities
of hers is that she's a collaborator, and she gets everyone talking to everyone."
Ilitch continued, talking about her "strong inner strength" and called her a "change agent."
"One added bonus: She's really fun to be around," she said.
Raver will start at U-M on Dec. 1. She'll replace Domenico Grasso, who was named U-M's president in May after Kent Syverud, the university's original pick for the job, withdrew after being diagnosed with a form of brain cancer. Raver was selected by the U-M Board of Regents after a national search that started in May, and the regents' selection of Raver was first announced in August.
Raver's base salary is $2 million per year, according to her contract that was provided to news media at the meeting, and it also includes an annual incentive program that's up to 30% of her annual base salary and is based on mutually agreed-upon performance metrics. Her contract extends for five years.
"In my view, this is the best job in the country," Raver said after the regents meeting when members of the media asked about why she wanted the job. "As a university president, I couldn't ask for a more remarkable powerhouse institution," she said, listing the university's faculty, research, students, athletics and medical center as examples on what makes U-M great.
"It's just an incredible combination, and I'm just honored and deeply enthusiastic to be able to take us forward."
Raver will join U-M at a pivotal time, as she's inheriting a university facing significant leadership turnover. She'll select a new athletic director when Warde Manuel steps down at the end of the year, as well as a new chief executive of Michigan Medicine after that leader departs in December for Vanderbilt Health, among other positions.
Raver said she has talked with the regents about filling these positions and their "overarching focus is really on my being able to make key decisions in the best interest of the university, and to be able to lead with great attention to what I hear from our community, but also the willingness to actually make those decisions in ways that are very productive and supported, and really driven by the vision for this institution."
Before joining Vanderbilt, Raver was a deputy provost at New York University and held faculty roles at the University of Chicago and Cornell University. She earned her doctorate in developmental psychology from Yale University.
Her research on children's development, education policy and poverty has attracted more than $24 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and others.
While Raver grew up in New York City, she said her stepfather, who attended Tuesday's regents meeting, is from Flint and attended U-M. Her mom and sister, actress Kim Raver, were also in attendance.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: It's official! U-M regents elect 17th president: Cybele Raver
