U-M's Gramlich named interim provost

Contact: Linda Packo, (734) 764-8593, lklee[at]umich.edu

From the Michigan Record, 7/25/05.

By Kim Broekhuizen
Office of the Vice President for Communications

U-M Professor Edward M. Gramlich, a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, has been selected as interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs by President Mary Sue Coleman. Gramlich's appointment will be effective Sept. 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents.

"I am delighted that when Ned Gramlich returns to the University, it will be as interim provost," Coleman said. "Ned will bring a wealth of academic leadership and public policy experience to the position, and I know that we will make progress in advancing the academic mission of the University under his guidance. I look forward to working with him in the months ahead."

Gramlich says, "I hope to continue in the tradition of excellent Michigan provosts, including Paul Courant, and I look forward to working with President Coleman. The central focus of the job has always been to maintain a quality University in the presence of tight budgets. It is possible to do that by thinking and acting strategically, and the fact that Michigan has been a world-class university for so long indicates that the way is shown. I will try to continue on that path."

Gramlich has served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board since 1997. The board oversees the Federal Reserve System, which formulates monetary policy, sets interest rates for millions of American consumers and businesses, and regulates the nation's banking system. At the Federal Reserve, Gramlich served as chair of the board's Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs.

During his tenure the committee proposed, and the board adopted, important changes in the Home Owner Equity Protection Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. It also proposed a revision to the Community Reinvestment Act. In addition, Gramlich served as chair of the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, established after Sept. 11, 2001, to make loan guarantees to applying airlines.

In May, Gramlich announced he would be leaving the Federal Reserve Board to return to the University as the Richard A. Musgrave Collegiate Professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He also will hold a part-time appointment as the Richard B. Fisher Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization. Gramlich will continue his research on evaluation of public policies and plans to focus on low-income housing and airlines, two issues he has been dealing with at the Federal Reserve.

Gramlich has been professor of economics and public policy at U-M since 1976. He served as the first dean of the School of Public Policy from 1995-97, and prior to that served as director of its predecessor, the Institute of Public Policy Studies, in 1979-83 and 1991-95. The School of Public Policy has since been renamed the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Gramlich also served as chair of the economics department in 1983-86 and 1989-90.

Gramlich's extensive governmental experience includes serving from 1994-96 as chair of the Quadrennial Advisory Council on Social Security, a body established to examine the actuarial finances of Social Security and to suggest policy changes. In 1986-87, he was both deputy director and acting director of the Congressional Budget Office. He also was director of the Policy Research Division at the Office of Economic Opportunity (1971-73), senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (1973-76), a staff member of the Federal Reserve Board (1965-70), and staff director for the 1992 Economic Study Committee on Major League Baseball.

He received a bachelor of arts degree from Williams College, and his master's degree and doctorate in economics from Yale University.

Gramlich has written numerous books and articles on such topics as macroeconomics, budget policy, income redistribution, fiscal federalism, Social Security, and the economics of professional sports.

A national search is underway for a permanent replacement for Provost Paul N. Courant, who will step down Aug. 31 to return to the faculty. James S. Jackson, director of the Institute for Social Research and the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, is heading the search advisory committee.

Nominations can be made by e-mail to provost.search.2005[at]umich.edu, or by writing to James S. Jackson, Chair; Provost Search Advisory Committee, c/o Office of the President, University of Michigan, 2080 Fleming Administration Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340.