The University Musical Society (UMS) and George Shirley, emeritus professor at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), were recognized as recipients of the National Medal of Arts at a September 2015 awards ceremony at the White House.

UMS was recognized for bringing world-class orchestras, dance ensembles, jazz performers and theater companies to Michigan, while supporting the study and creation of new works. It also holds the distinction of being the first university-related arts presenter to receive this high honor.

George Shirley was celebrated for his courageous contributions as an African-American opera singer. After breaking the color barrier of the U.S. Army Chorus, performing with many of the world’s great orchestras and earning a Grammy Award, Shirley turned his sights toward pedagogy. From 1987 to 2007, he served as the director of SMTD’s vocal arts division. He is now the Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice.

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government.

President Obama nominated University of Michigan professor Kathryn Dominguez to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in July 2015.

Dominguez is a professor of public policy and economics at U-M and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She also began serving as associate dean for academic affairs at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in fall 2015.

“Professor Dominguez is a renowned scholar and teacher with a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s leading experts on global financial markets. I am pleased and proud that she’s been invited to join the nation’s top monetary policy-making body,” said U-M President Mark Schlissel.

Dominguez’s current research examines the reasons for the U.S. economy’s slow recovery from the Great Recession, including the role of global economic developments. She joined the U-M faculty in 1997. Prior to that, she taught at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She has also taught at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, London School of Economics and Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She worked as a research consultant for the Federal Reserve System, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Bank for International Settlements.

If confirmed, Dominguez will become the second faculty member of both the Ford School and Department of Economics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts to serve on the Board of Governors. Edward Gramlich was a member of the Board of Governors from 1997 to 2005 and chaired the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs.

The University of Michigan Health System was recognized in 15 of the 16 adult specialty areas and ranked in 11 by the U.S. News & World Report list of 2015-2016 “Best Hospitals,” which also named UMHS the No. 1 hospital in Michigan and the metro Detroit area. Only 2.7 percent, or 137 hospitals out of 5,000 in the U.S., earned even one ranked spot.

Eleven UMHS specialty areas, including Cancer, Cardiology and Heart Surgery and Neurology and Neurosurgery increased their rankings from the 2014-2015 list. Urology and Ophthalmology both ranked in the Top 10 nationwide.

This is the 23rd year in a row that UMHS has been recognized for strong across-the-board performance on a national level. The U.S. News’ “Best Hospitals” list is designed to address the highest-performing hospitals for complicated and serious medical conditions and procedures.

The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital also earned top rankings in the U.S. News & World Report list of “Best Children’s Hospitals”. C.S. Mott was the only hospital in Michigan to be ranked nationally in all 10 pediatric specialty areas evaluated in the report.

The University of Michigan took a giant step up in one set of rankings this year, pulling into the No. 2 slot on Money Magazine’s annual list of best colleges for your money.

U-M was ranked 18th last year, but came in second this year. It’s the highest a public university has ever been on the list. U-M just narrowly lost the No. 1 slot to Princeton.

Money Magazine looked at more than 2,000 colleges and universities and screened out those with low graduation rates, financial difficulties and fewer than 500 undergraduates. The 705 remaining schools were ranked on 24 factors.

Rating factors included graduation rates, affordability measures such as how much students and parents have to borrow and measures of alumni success, such as how much recent graduates earn. New to the package this year, Money’s methodology incorporated data from the federal government’s College Scorecard and took into account the percentage of a school’s graduates who consider themselves to be in “meaningful” jobs.

Four U-M faculty elected to National Academy of Medicine

Kathleen Cho, Laurie McCauley, Robert Neumar and Marita Titler were elected to the National Academy of Medicine in recognition of their major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health.

Six named AAAS fellows

Six University of Michigan faculty members are among 347 newly elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): John Carethers, James Dalton, William Giannobile, Peter Green, Timothy McKay and Edward Stuenkel.

Ross School receives diversity award

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine recently bestowed on Michigan’s Ross School of Business its Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, citing the school for inclusive excellence on its website, hosting a variety of student-led groups and conferences that support and encourage diversity, creating an office of diversity and inclusion and launching a new Identity and Diversity in Organizations milestone requirement.

U-M ranks as top disability-friendly college

When College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings, selected 2016’s most disability-friendly educational institutions in the United States, Michigan topped the list. U-M’s Services for Students with Disabilities office was credited for U-M’s strength in this area.

University climbs to gold rating for sustainability performance

The University of Michigan’s sustainability performance moved up to a gold rating by the international Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System in 2015. The new rating is an improvement from the university’s previous silver rating in 2012.

Law professor named to Michigan Supreme Court

University of Michigan law professor Joan Larsen was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in September 2015 by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Kelbaugh awarded Topaz Medallion

Douglas Kelbaugh, University of Michigan professor and dean emeritus of architecture and urban planning, received the 2016 Topaz Medallion from the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. This is the highest award given to a North American architecture educator for excellence in architectural education.

Three faculty selected as Sloan fellows

Three assistant professors were among 126 early career scientists and scholars from the United States and Canada selected as 2016 Alfred P. Sloan research fellows. The foundation honors researchers it deems “rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.” Those selected from U-M were Paul Zimmerman, Michael Cafarella and Honglak Lee.

Five U-M faculty receive Guggenheims

For their distinguished achievement and exceptional promise of future accomplishment, five professors have received prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships: Victor Caston, Charles R. Doering, Mark Newman, Derek R. Peterson and Valerie Traub.

U-M researchers elected to NAS

Four professors are among the most recent inductees into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest distinctions for a scientist or engineer in the United States. The researchers are Stephen Forrest, Judith Irvine, Susan Murphy and Melanie Sanford. These professors bring the total active NAS members on U-M’s faculty to 29.

U.S. News & World Report Rankings

The University of Michigan continues to be recognized nationally in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. We currently have 103 graduate programs ranked in the top ten. Not all specialties are ranked annually. The rankings that were released during FY 2016 are listed below.

Undergraduate:

• #29 National University (#4 Public University)

Graduate:

• #1 School of Social Work
• #3 College of Pharmacy
• #4 Medical School (primary care)
• #6 College of Engineering
• #7 School of Nursing
• #8 Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
• #8 Law School
• #11 Medical School (research)
• #12 Stephen M. Ross School of Business
• #12 School of Education

Global Rankings

• #14 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings
• #30 QS World University Rankings

Executive Officer

S. Jack Hu — vice president for research

Administrators

Roger Cone — director of Life Sciences Institute

William Greer — assistant vice president for research—animal program compliance oversight

Matthew Kaplan — director of Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

Warde Manuel — Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics

Jeffrey Veidlinger — director of Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies

New Deans Announced

Effective 7/1/16

Scott DeRue — Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Alec D. Gallimore — College of Engineering

Elizabeth B. Moje (interim) — School of Education

Lori Ploutz-Snyder — School of Kinesiology

Effective 8/1/16

Thomas A. Finholt — School of Information

Patricia D. Hurn — School of Nursing

Lynn Videka — School of Social Work