The Michigan Society of Fellows is welcoming its newest cohort of senior fellows. Among them is Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy.
Drawing together fellows from across all scholarly and artistic fields, the society welcomes six postdoctoral junior fellows each year for a term of three years, and a group of senior fellows, drawn from distinguished faculty across the university, for a term of four years.
Continuing the long tradition of presidential commitment to the Society, President Domenico Grasso reviewed the list of nominations for senior fellows and invited a number of the candidates to join as senior fellows.
"For more than five decades, the Michigan Society of Fellows has brought exceptional scholars and artists together across disciplines, creating an intellectual community where ambitious ideas take root and grow. Their work reflects Michigan at its best," Grasso said.
The 2026 new fellows will join the 26 who were appointed previously. Together, all will help create a spirited intellectual community and serve as models, mentors, and colleagues for the junior fellows. They help select the newest cohort of junior fellows, participate in monthly dinners at which all the fellows present their newest work, and recommend a new cohort of senior fellows each year.
The newest cohort of senior fellows includes:
- Mark Clague, professor of music, School of Music, Theatre & Dance; and executive director of the U-M Arts Initiative
- Aimée Classen, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of the U-M Biological Station, LSA
- Clare Croft, professor of American culture, and of women's and gender studies, LSA; and director of arts research/creative practice, Office of the Vice President for Research
- Carrie Ferrario, professor of pharmacology, Medical School; and professor of psychology, LSA
- James Joyce, Cooper Harold Langford Collegiate Professor of Philosophy, LSA
- Anna Kirkland, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; Kim Lane Scheppele Collegiate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, professor of sociology, and of political science, LSA; professor of health management and policy, School of Public Health; and professor of law, Law School
- Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and professor of women's and gender studies, LSA
- David Potter, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History, and professor of Greek and Latin, LSA
- Bruce Tharp, professor of art and design, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
The society, under the auspices of the Rackham Graduate School, was founded in 1970 by seven founding U-M faculty members hailing from Economics, German, English, the Law School, the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now SEAS), and the Medical School, including the then president of the university, Robben Fleming, to stimulate cross-disciplinary awareness and exchange.
Out of these conversations have come new ideas, new methodological experiments, and new collaborative projects.
Written by Jeanne Wacker, Michigan Society of Fellows
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