Moving ahead with an eye on the past

By Laurel Thomas Gnagey
University News Service

The inauguration of U-M’s 13th president, Mary Sue Coleman, was celebrated as a day to “look back” and “reach forward.”

“The glory of the University of Michigan resides in its ability to reinvent itself continually, to cherish its roots while inventing the future,” Coleman said in the president’s address. She used a symbol from Ghana in West Africa, the sankofa, as an illustration.

President Coleman and Charles Koopmann Jr., president of the University Senate and professor of otorhinolaryngology, lead the recession from Crisler Arena after inauguration ceremonies.

“The sankofa is a bird that is moving forward, while its head is turned backward,” Coleman said at the March 27 event. “The proverb associated with the symbolism of the bird is: Look to your roots in order to reclaim your future.”

Coleman acknowledged the contributions of past U-M presidents, including two in attendance at the ceremony: James Duderstadt and Lee Bollinger. She extolled the values of a public university by quoting James Angell, Michigan’s eminent president at the turn of the 19th century: “The state and the University should feel their interests are identical. The prosperity of the University is bound up in that of the state. Michigan cannot grow stronger, wiser and happier without strengthening her principal seat of learning.”

In looking forward, Coleman addressed challenges created by technologies that are “transforming all areas of learning.” She also talked of U-M’s responsibility to the environment, to economic growth and to maintaining ethical controls over science and technology.

“The University of Michigan has emerged as a leader in no small part because of its public character,” she said. “We will not be working alone. To address broader issues will require collaborations far beyond Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint. The University of Michigan can bring vast intellectual resources to bear in our resolve to work on behalf of society.”