The collection documents Power's tenure on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, his interest in international freedom of the press, and his involvement with the Michigan Job Training Program.
Philip Harwick Power was born in 1938, the only child of University Microfilms founder Eugene Power and his wife, Ann Arbor activist, Sadye Power. Earning an AB from the University of Michigan in 1960, Power continued to study philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University on a Marshall Scholarship, where in 1962 he earned his MA. In 1965, Power bought four unprofitable weekly newspapers, covering the towns of Livonia, Redford, Plymouth and Farmington. This initial investment laid the foundations for established the Suburban Communications Corporation, which publishes more than 60 community newspapers and six shopping guides in the Detroit, Lansing and Cincinnati areas. Power, in 1993, received the Lesher Award, the highest honor in the suburban newspaper area. An unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate's Democratic nomination in 1978, Power served the state on the Michigan Commission on the Future of Higher Education, and as chairman of the Michigan Job Training Coordinating Council. His career interests have also led him to pursuit politics on a global scale, actively defending the freedom of the press on an intergovernmental stage. After his wife's Sarah Goddard Power's death, Power was appointed regent of the University of Michigan, in June 1987. After completing his appointment in 1990, he was elected statewide to the Board of Regents, where he continued to serve until his defeat in the 1998 election. During a critical period for the university Power served on the board and consequently played a significant role in 1996, with the appointment of Lee Bollinger as President of the University of Michigan. As a publisher and a regent, Power played an active role in advocating of the amendment Open Meetings Act for university presidential searches.
