Vice President for Development (University of Michigan) records, 1948 - 2004

Summary

Creator:

University of Michigan. Vice-President for Development.

Abstract:

Records of University of Michigan office (and its predecessor administrative offices) responsible for external fund raising and development activities, including subject files of development officials Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock; staff files; and photographs.

Extent:

54 linear feet

Language:

English.

Call Number:

87366 Bimu B6 2

Authors:

Finding aid prepared by: University Archives Staff. Latest update: April 2019.

Background

Scope and Content:

The records of the Vice President for Development date from 1948 to the present and measure 39.5 linear feet. They reflect the basic concerns of the office for these four decades: preserving and improving the university's public image and planning major fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, both activities are incompletely documented. In the area of public relations the records tend to discuss how immediate problems will be dealt with, rather than overall conceptions of the university's image. The thought behind the innovative fundraising devices created or employed by the office is sometimes recorded through consultant reports, but in general is not well documented.

The manuscript records have been divided into two subgroups, one representing the records of the vice president (or senior staff person, for those years in which there was no vice presidency), the other containing records created by the development office. The Vice Presidents subgroup has been divided by the name of each person who has held the office: Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock. Researchers should note that since Nelson and Radock used their predecessor's files for some time before inaugurating their own records, the relationship between office tenure and file dates is not an exact one. The Development Office subgroup contains records of that office and its subsidiary units. Several accessions of Development Office records received in 1989 and 1990 have been grouped together as Development Office subgroup: 1989-1990 accessions.

Biographical / Historical:

The office now designated the Vice President for Development has undergone a number of changes in title and responsibilities since its inception. While today it is a fundraising unit, the office from which this unit evolved was established as a vehicle for communicating information about the university to those outside.

As early as 1897, the regents of the University of Michigan recognized the need for a means through which official information about the university could be issued. The regents offered a few university units a small sum of money to cover the additional expense of overseeing the dissemination of official communications. The Department of Rhetoric (1897 – 1901, 1912 - 1928), the Alumni Association (1901 – 1912), and the Bureau of Alumni Relations carried out this task.

In 1931, Dr. James B. Bruce because the first university officer to bear the title Vice President for University Relations. An influential member of the Medical School faculty, Bruce's general mandate was to oversee all university contacts with the non-academic world, most importantly by monitoring the intellectual content of post-graduate courses and presentations.

Bruce personally seems to have had little interest in public relations. Upon his retirement in 1942, the regents moved to create a distinct unit within the university's central administration to oversee media relations, establishing the University News Service.

Marvin Niehuss was appointed in 1944 to serve as Bruce's successor. A member of the Law School faculty, he was asked by the president to concentrate upon the relationship between the university and the state legislature. Niehuss shared Bruce's apathy towards public relations, and in 1946 Arthur L. Brandon was hired to fill the new position of Director of Information Services.

Brandon brought to the university an academic and professional background in public relations. He established, or re-established, several publications and offered public relations expertise to the entire campus community. He was also interested in telecommunications. Under Brandon the university began to broadcast over two wholly-owned radio stations, superseding the former practice of irregularly broadcasting programs over commercial radio stations. In 1950 Brandon began to experiment with educational television. He aggressively promoted Michigan productions and by the middle of the decade, the university had more program outlets than any other educational institution.

Brandon was also an innovator in fundraising. After World War II, the university initiated the Michigan Memorial-Phoenix Project. Intended as a memorial to former university students who had died in World War II, the campaign raised money to support research on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Unlike similar efforts in the past, after the immediate goals of the Michigan Memorial-Phoenix Project were achieved, the staff responsible for fundraising was not dismissed. Instead, in 1951 the staff was placed under Brandon's purview as Director of University Relations. In 1953, the university became the first public institution to establish an ongoing fundraising unit with the creation of the Development Council.

Brandon resigned his appointment in 1957 to accept a vice presidency at New York University. Lyle M. Nelson, a professor of journalism, replaced him. Nelson had served previously as an assistant to President Harlan Hatcher (1953 - 1955) before leaving Ann Arbor to go to San Francisco State College. After his return to the University of Michigan, Nelson continued the policies of his predecessor in the areas of public relations and fundraising. The growing responsibilities of the office led to the designation of Nelson as Vice President for University Relations in 1960. The Presidents Club, a widely-imitated fundraising mechanism, was founded in 1961 during Nelson's tenure. Designed to attract large private gifts to the university, the club required a contribution of $10,000 for membership.

Nelson was succeeded in 1961 by Michael Radock. Formerly a professor of journalism at Kent State University, Radock came to the University of Michigan from Ford Motor Company, where he had been a member of the corporate public relations staff and manager of education affairs. Radock continued the substantive public information programs of his predecessors and also continued their tradition of innovative fundraising approaches.

In 1964 Michael Radock oversaw the $55 Million Campaign, which broke new ground for public institutions. Traditionally institutions had sought private funds for a specific project. In the late 1950s, however, Harvard revolutionized fundraising techniques by holding the first modern capital campaign. Rather than seeking support for a single project, Harvard asked its alumni and friends to support the general good of the institution, listing as the campaign's goals a group of needed capital improvements as well as support for endowment funds. Michigan was the first public institution to adopt a similar fundraising approach. In the course of this campaign the staff of the Development Office, which until then had worked almost exclusively with the Development Council, came more directly under the jurisdiction of the vice president.

In the late 1970s, Radock launched another major fundraising initiative through the authorization of a systematic and comprehensive census of alumni. The project's goal was to locate all living university alumni, making possible regular contact with them which would, it was hoped, lead to an increased percentage of alumni making annual contributions to the university.

Between 1961 and 1981, when Radock retired, he exercised his authority under a series of titles. When first hired he was designated Director of University Relations. In 1964 he was given his predecessor's title, Vice President for University Relations. In 1969 he was named Vice President for University Relations and Development.

When Jon Cosovich assumed the office in 1983 his title was Vice President for Development and University Relations. This was changed in 1985 to Vice President for Development and Communication. The shift away from communication toward fundraising was complete in 1988 when responsibility for communication with the larger community was transferred to the newly-created Office of University Relations and Cosovich's title became simply Vice President for Development.

Leadership

Date	Event
1931 - 1942	James B. Bruce, Vice President for University Relations
1944 - 1951	Marvin L. Niehuss, Vice President for University Relations
1946 - 1957	Arthur L. Brandon, Director of Information Services
1951 - 1957	Arthur L. Brandon, Director of University Relations
1957 - 1960	Lyle M. Nelson, Director of University Relations
1960 - 1961	Lyle M. Nelson, Vice President for University Relations
1961 - 1964	Michael Radock, Director for University Relations
1964 - 1969	Michael Radock, Vice President for University Relations
1969 - 1981	Michael Radock, Vice President for University Relations and Development
1981 - 1983	Harvey K. Jacobson, Acting Vice President for University Relations and Development
1983 - 1985	Jon Cosovich, Vice President for Development and University Relations
1985 - 1988	Jon Cosovich, Vice President for Development and Communication
1988 - 1994	Jon Cosovich, Vice President for Development
1994 - 1998	Thomas C. Kinnear, Vice President for Development
1998 - 2003	Susan K. Feagin, Vice President for Development
2003 - 2018	Jerry A. May, Vice President for Development
2018 -	Thomas A. Baird, Vice President for Development

Campaigns

Date	Event
1946 - 1953	Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project
1961 - 1967	$55 Million Program to Ensure the Vital Margin
1981 - 1987	Campaign for Michigan
1991 - 1997	Billion Dollar Campaign for Michigan
2000 - 2008	Michigan Difference
2011 -	Victors for Michigan

Acquisition Information:

The material was received from the Office of University Development (Donor No. 3813 ) in June 1982, May 1984, and in periodic accessions thereafter.

Arrangement:

1. Vice Presidents subgroup
   • Arthur Brandon/Lyle Nelson, 1953-1959 [Boxes 1-4]
   • Lyle Nelson/Michael Radock, 1959-1962 [Boxes 4-6]
   • Michael Radock
     • 1960-1964 (primarily 1962-1963) [Box 7]
     • 1963-1980 (primarily 1964-1976) [Boxes 7-10]
     • 1973-1983 (primarily 1977-1981)
       • External correspondence [Boxes 10-11]
       • Internal correspondence [Box 11]
       • Unit correspondence [Box 11]
       • Senior staff meeting minutes [Boxes 11-12]
       • Reorganization plans [Box 12]
       • Round-Up [Box 12]
   • Jon Cosovich, 1981-1996 [Boxes 39-43]
2. Development Office subgroup
   • Foundation Relations
     • Chronological (1976-1980) [box 13]
     • Committees [box 13]
     • Conferences [box 13]
     • Projects (funding for) [box 13]
     • Schools and Colleges files [boxes 13-16]
   • Topical file
     • Historical files, 1948-1977 [box 16]
     • Alphabetical file [boxes 17-22]
   • Visual Material
     • Photographs [box 23]
     • Slides [box33-38
     • Videotape [box 38]
   • Staff Files
     • Annual Funds Coordinating Council [boxes 24-26]
     • Annual Giving Program [boxes 26-28]
     • Capital Campaigns
       • Campaign for Michigan [boxes 28-29]
     • Cultural Programs/friends groups [boxes 29-30]
     • Development Council [box 30]
     • Tappan Hall fundraising [boxes 30-31]
     • Topical file [boxes 31-32]
   • Capital Campaigns, 1964-1994 [boxes 43-44]
   • Committees, 1980-1998 [boxes 44-47]
   • Topical Files, 1960-1997 [boxes 47-48]
   • Artifacts [box 49]

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

For further information on the history of development programs at the University of Michigan, researchers should see the Michigan Memorial-Phoenix Project records and the University of Michigan Development Council records, both housed at the Bentley Historical Library.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Greek letter societies -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Educational fund raising -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Demonstrations -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Laboratories.
Dormitories -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Classrooms -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Minority college students -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.

Formats:

Aerial photographs.
Photographs.
Videotapes.

Names:

American College Public Relations Association.
Black Action Movement (University of Michigan)
Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project.
Sigma Nu. Gamma Nu chapter (University of Michigan)
University of Michigan -- Administration.
University of Michigan. Broadcasting Service.
University of Michigan. Development Council.
University of Michigan. Foundations Relations Office.
University of Michigan -- Finance.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Societies, etc.
University of Michigan -- Gifts and loans.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Political activity.
University of Michigan. Vice-President for Development.
University of Michigan. Vice-President for Development and Communication.
University of Michigan. Vice-President for Development and University Relations.
Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan)
Inglis House (University of Michigan)
Interlochen Center for the Arts.
University of Michigan -- Buildings.
University of Michigan -- Campus.
University of Michigan -- Commencements.
University of Michigan -- Football.
University of Michigan -- Research.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Social life and customs -- 1971-1980.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Social life and customs -- 1981-1990.
University of Michigan -- Students.
University of Michigan -- Student housing.
Hatcher, Harlan, 1898-1998.
Nelson, Lyle Morgan, 1918-
Radock, Michael, 1917-
Brandon, Arthur Leon.

Places:

Ann Arbor (Mich.)