Faculty & Staff

Goals

A great university is defined in large part by its outstanding faculty. The University of Michigan attracts faculty members with commitments to both teaching and research excellence, as shown by the high quality of the graduating students and the superior research and scholarship by the faculty.

Likewise, the university seeks the highest level of performance and productivity from its staff members in support of the institution’s academics, research, and service.

Overview

The faculty headcount in Fall 2025 at the University of Michigan was 8,526 and the full-time-equivalent (FTE) total was 7,278. Instructional appointments comprise 3,837 FTEs, and another 3,441 FTEs are individuals with clinical, research and other titles who are primarily involved in health care, research, and related scholarly activities.

Although statistics can hardly capture the full scope of the faculty’s activities and accomplishments, a summary of awards and honors earned by faculty members provides a glimpse into their successes. The U-M is proud of the sizable cadres of faculty who have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, faculty members have been awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (aka “genius” awards), Emmy and Grammy awards, National Medal of Art, and countless other honors bestowed by scholarly and professional societies. In 2018, Gérard Mourou, emeritus professor in electrical engineering and computer science, received a Nobel Prize in Physics for “groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.”

U-M faculty members are primarily involved in teaching, research, and scholarship, but also have service responsibilities to the university, broader academic community, and society at large. Faculty also play important roles in setting academic policies for admissions, the granting of degrees, and the content of the curriculum.

Staff members play key roles in the efficient and productive operation of all facets of the university. They participate in the conduct and administration of research; provide academic, housing, and other services for students; manage financial operations of the institution; manage the physical and digital infrastructure of the campus; and monitor federal, state, and professional compliance rules the institution must follow.

Academic Workforce

The University of Michigan’s academic workforce spans a wide range of positions, with Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty making up the largest share.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

The total academic workforce is 8,526 by headcount and 7,278 by full-time equivalents (FTEs), based on data collected on November 1 each year. Full-time equivalent (FTE) faculty represents the total teaching or research load of faculty members, expressed as a proportion of a full-time workload. A standard full-time faculty load is one FTE, while part-time faculty loads are expressed as one-third FTE.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty members and clinical faculty manage most instructional activities. Lecturers also play a significant role in instruction. Research faculty include individuals involved in research, mentoring of graduate students and research fellows.

“Other Academic” includes not-on-tenure-track faculty, librarians, curators, and archivists, supplemental instructional faculty (adjunct/visiting), supplemental research faculty (adjunct/visiting), and emeritus faculty.

Graduate students with supplemental appointments (GSI/GSRE/GSSA) who engage in instruction or research are not included in the above charts.

Nearly all categories of faculty have grown in headcount, but the greatest growth has been in clinical faculty.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

The academic group growing most rapidly is clinical faculty. The bulk of this group is faculty-physicians who teach and provide clinical care throughout the U-M Health System. Counts are recorded as of November 1 of each year.

Faculty Renewal

Tenured and tenure-track faculty headcount has increased modestly, with most growth happening in the Professor and Associate ranks.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

Growing the faculty ranks has been a priority over the last decade in efforts to support emerging research opportunities, enhance the student learning experience and increase the proportion of small classes offered.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty have shown a year-to-year net increase in nine of the last ten years.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

The hiring and departure decisions reported above occurred during the academic year leading up to November 1 of the year on the chart. Departures include faculty members who retire, move into non-tenure-track assignments, or who leave the University for other positions.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented effect on hiring and departure decisions. In April 2020, U-M announced a hiring freeze covering virtually all positions except with the possible exception of staff or faculty in roles considered critical, and those fully funded by federal grants. This, combined with an increase in retirements and resignations, resulted in the only year-to-year net decrease in tenured/tenure-track faculty in the last decade.

The age distribution of tenured/tenure-track faculty is similar to a decade ago; most tenured/tenure-track faculty are ages 40-49.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

Faculty Discipline Mix

The fields of study represented within each faculty category vary widely. Lecturers are most present in Humanities & the Arts and Social Sciences.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

In addition, 120 members of these faculty groups are not easily placed in a single discipline and do not appear in this chart. A list of disciplines assigned to each group is found in Appendix C.

Faculty Honorifics

328 U-M faculty members have been elected to one or more of the National Academies since 1966. Fifteen members of the U-M faculty were elected to an academy during 2024.

   SOURCE: National Academy membership directories; U-M Human Resources Data

Membership in a National Academy is one of the highest honors bestowed upon scientists, engineers, and scholars in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original scholarship and research.

Through the Academies, U-M faculty members serve as a source for independent, unbiased expertise on challenging issues facing the nation and the world. Their advice and insights help shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine.

Election to these prestigious societies is through nomination and selection by existing members in recognition of extraordinary achievements and commitment to service.

Note: because some faculty members have been elected to more than one academy, the total count of U-M faculty who are academy members will be smaller than the sum of members by academy.

U-M faculty have received a combined 319 major awards since 2001.

   SOURCE: Awarding organization directories; U-M Human Resources Data

Receiving one of these awards is one of the highest honors bestowed upon scientists, engineers, and scholars in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original scholarship and research.

Faculty Salaries

The average salaries of faculty members at U-M and its public peers decreased slightly over the last decade, when adjusted for inflation. U-M faculty members remain competitive with their public university peers, and lag their private university peers.

6.5 Average Faculty Salaries by Rank for U-M and Peer Groups, Adjusted for Inflation, FY2015-FY2024

   SOURCE: American Association of University Professors

The current average annual salary of full professors at the University of Michigan is $66,800 less than the average of full professors at private peer institutions, and $4,500 less than the average of full professors at public peers. U-M associate professors currently earn $36,000 less than their private university counterparts and $9,800 more than associate professors at public peers. Assistant professors at the U-M currently earn $31,800 below those at private peer universities and $2,100 less than at public peers. All comparisons exclude medical school faculty.

Salaries of medical school faculty are excluded from these data. A list of the “official” peers used for comparison on this page is found in Appendix A. Inflation calculations are based on FY2024 U.S. Employer Cost Index.

Staff Counts

The total Ann Arbor campus staff has increased at an average annual rate of 3% over the last decade.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

The primary drivers for increasing staff are research activity, enrollment growth, strategic investments in our students’ health and well-being, as well as sustained programmatic and personnel investment in academic and curricular innovations critical to student success.

Headcount for each fiscal year is based on appointment data as of November 1. “Regular Staff” primarily hold full-time appointments, but this headcount also includes individuals with part-time positions. Regular staff excludes those with appointments in the supplemental staff categories, as well as graduate student instructors, graduate student research assistants, graduate staff assistants, research fellows, and non-faculty staff from U-M Health System. Staff counts also exclude individuals whose primary appointment is in a faculty position.

Over the last decade, the age distribution of regular non-instructional staff has skewed younger, with the majority now falling into the 30-39 age bracket.

   SOURCE: U-M Human Resources Data

Staff by Occupation – Peer Comparison

74% of U-M staff work in non-academic occupations. Within the broad occupation groups for non-academic staff, U-M is about average among peers in terms of the proportions of staff working for each respective category.

   SOURCE: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)

Academic occupations include instructional, research and public service. Administration & Services occupations include librarians, curators, archivists and other teaching instructional support, student and academic affairs and other education services, sales and related occupations, office and administrative support, health practitioners & technical, and service occupations. Computing & Infrastructure occupations include computer engineering & science, natural resources construction and maintenance, and production transportation and material moving.  “Other” includes community service, legal, arts, design, entertainment, sports and media.

U-M Staff by Occupation

The makeup of U-M staff by occupation has remained relatively unchanged over the last decade.

   SOURCE: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)