News Releases

ANN ARBOR—Provost Martha E. Pollack has named a search committee for the next Director of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

James House, the Angus Campbell Distinguished University Professor of Survey Research, Public Policy & Sociology, emeritus, will chair the committee, which is charged with conducting a broad search and recommending an unranked slate of candidates to replace James S. Jackson, who is leaving his post as ISR Director on June 30, 2015. The committee will present candidates during winter term 2015.

The committee includes:

• Daniel Almirall, Research Assistant Professor, ISR Survey Research Center
• Sarah Burgard, Associate Professor of Sociology, LSA, and Research Associate Professor, ISR Population Studies Center and School of Public Health, Faculty Associate, ISR Survey Research Center
• Paul Courant, Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Professor of Economics, LSA, and Professor of Information, School of Information
• Pamela Davis-Kean, Associate Professor of Psychology, LSA, Research Associate Professor, ISR Survey Research Center and Research Center for Group Dynamics and Center for Human Growth and Development
• Vicki Freedman, Research Professor, ISR Survey Research Center
• John Garcia, Research Professor, ISR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Faculty Associate, ISR Center for Political Studies
• Steven Heeringa, Research Scientist, ISR Survey Research Center
• Vincent Hutchings, Professor of Political Science and of Afroamerican and African Studies, LSA, Research Professor, ISR Center for Political Studies
• Helen Levy, Research Associate Professor, ISR Survey Research Center and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Assistant Research Scientist, School of Public Health
• Trivellore Raghunathan, Research Professor and Director (starting September 2014), ISR Survey Research Center, Professor of Biostatistics, School of Public Health
• Catherine Thibault, Assistant Director for Administration, ISR Survey Research Center

In an email to faculty and staff at ISR, Pollack praised Jackson as “a true champion for social science research and for training the next generation of research scientists.” She noted that during his tenure as ISR Director, sponsored research expenditures have increased by 56 per cent, from $62.5M in FY 2005 to $97.5M in FY 2013. During this period, ISR has also seen the expansion of its scientific portfolio and diversification of funding sponsors, she said, adding that “ISR faculty are engaged in numerous, productive collaborations with units across campus, including the Medical School, the Life Sciences Institute, the School of Education, LSA and more.”

Pollack also praised Jackson’s leadership in the recently completed $29 million building expansion, which has increased ISR’s capacity to support its many large, on-going research programs as well as the educational needs of the UM Program in Survey Methodology.

“In addition,” she wrote, “James Jackson has a deep commitment to diversity and has enhanced the institute’s climate of openness, mutual respect and pride.”

 

Contact:  [email protected]

By Diane Swanbrow