About

Republican Carl Meyers has been elected and Democrat Denise Ilitch has been reelected to eight-year terms on the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

With all 83 Michigan counties reporting, unofficial statewide totals indicate Meyers was the top vote-getter in the Nov. 5 election with 2,553,175 votes or 25.76% of votes cast, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s website. Ilitch received 2,472,806 votes, or 24.95%.

Democrat Shauna Ryder Diggs and Republican Sevag Vartanian finished third and fourth, respectively, with Diggs getting 2,330,275 votes, or 23.52%, and Vartanian getting 2,239,397 votes, or 22.60%.

Meanwhile, Kimberly A. Thomas, clinical professor of law at the Law School and director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic, won her bid for an eight-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court. Thomas received 2,572,928 votes, or 61.36%.

Meyers will succeed Regent Ron Weiser, whose term is ending. This will be Ilitch’s third term on the board. Both will begin their terms Jan. 1, 2025.

Meyers of Dearborn is a senior vice president of investments for Raymond James in Plymouth, Michigan, and a 1979 graduate of the UM-Dearborn, receiving his B.S.A. degree. He ran for the board unsuccessfully in 2004, 2016 and 2020.

Ilitch of Bingham Farms was elected to the Board of Regents in 2008 and reelected in 2016. She is an owner of Ilitch Family Companies and president of Ilitch Enterprises. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from U-M in 1977 and has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Detroit.

U-M’s eight regents serve overlapping terms, with two seats up for election every two years.

Other candidates for the Board of Regents and their unofficial vote totals were:

• Donna Oetman, U.S. Taxpayers Party, 157,773 votes.
• Andrew Chadderdon, Libertarian, 156,296 votes.

The University of Michigan has announced its most ambitious and innovative fundraising campaign to date, with a goal of raising $7 billion — the largest effort in its history and the largest known campaign goal of any public university.

Titled Look to Michigan, the campaign supports the Vision 2034 and Campus 2050 plans, announced earlier this year, to live out its mission of serving the public good by making an impact in four areas where Michigan is uniquely positioned to impact global challenges:

• Life-changing education — Elevating the educational landscape by providing solutions to the acute shortages of well-prepared educators, addressing resource disparities, and giving all learners the opportunity to succeed.
• Health and well-being — Tackling critical health challenges both locally and globally, improving affordability and access to quality health care, advocating for preventative health, and generating innovative discoveries that improve and save lives.
• Democracy, civic and global engagement — Reinvigorating community participation and critical thinking; expanding knowledge of democratic practices and principles; and strengthening local, national and international alliances.
• Sustainability and climate action — Mitigating climate change through research and education; empowering students, faculty, staff and community members to find equitable solutions; and collaborating with partners to create long-term change.

The university also is pursuing advances in core commitments and key university priorities:

• Supporting students with the resources and wraparound services they need to become tomorrow’s leaders.
• Engaging with the arts as a creative catalyst for learning and growth.
• Fostering inclusivity on its campuses so each member of the community has equitable opportunities to thrive.
• Increasing U-M’s impact through innovation, partnership and economic development.

“We know that the world is calling on us to answer the most urgent questions of our time — to be the defining public institution that inspires all that is possible,” President Santa J. Ono said.

“The deeply collaborative, universitywide priorities of Vision 2034 have been years in the making and set the stage for Michigan to be that institution. And the Look to Michigan campaign will bring this ambitious vision to life.”

The seventh such campaign undertaken by U-M, Look to Michigan also will raise funds to support the student experience, innovation and research, community engagement and partnerships, and building state-of-the-art facilities across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses, as well as Athletics and Michigan Medicine.

“Our leaders have charted a bold new vision for U-M that leverages our expertise across fields and excellence at scale, one that exemplifies our innovative strength and service to the common good,” said Tom Baird, vice president for development.

“All of which is made possible with the philanthropic support of our generous donors, who have helped sustain our great university for more than 200 years and will continue to help propel us forward in this exciting new chapter.”

The priorities of the Look to Michigan campaign were developed through a series of conversations among academic leaders, working groups from across the university, and philanthropic partners to take an innovative approach that empowers U-M and its donors to leverage the university’s excellence at scale, academic excellence and network of alumni and supporters to make the greatest impact possible on the world’s most pressing challenges.

The university has already received gifts totaling $3.3 billion during the silent phase of the campaign, before the public launch.

U-M’s most recent campaign — Victors for Michigan — ran from 2013-18 and raised $5.3 billion.

As a public, nonprofit institution, U-M relies on philanthropic gifts to deliver world-class education and research that would not be attainable relying solely on government funding and tuition. These gifts allow U-M to attract qualified students from all backgrounds, recruit outstanding faculty, fund innovative research, improve teaching methods, add creative programming, and build and maintain facilities.

The University of Michigan is the No. 22 university in the world and the No. 14 university in the United States, according to the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The list released Oct. 9 includes 2,092 universities across 115 countries and territories.

U-M remains one of only four public institutions in the United States to make the top 25. The others were the University of California, Berkeley (No. 8), the University of California, Los Angeles (No. 18) and the University of Washington (No. 25). 

U-M was No. 23 in the world and No. 14 in the U.S. in 2023.

According to Times Higher Education, the 2025 World University Rankings were compiled using an updated methodology that included 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators.  

The indicators measure an institution’s performance across five areas:

• Teaching (the learning environment) 29.5%
• Research environment (volume, income and reputation) 29%
• Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence) 30%
• International outlook (staff, students and collaboration) 7.5%
• Industry (income and patents) 4%