Robben Wright Fleming
| Robben Wright Fleming | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 18, 1916 Paw Paw, Illinois, United States |
| Died |
January 11, 2010 (aged 93) Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States |
| Academic work | |
Robben Wright Fleming (December 18, 1916 – January 11, 2010) was the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1964 to 1967, and the president of the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1978.
Biography
He was born in Paw Paw, Illinois, on December 18, 1916.[1][2][3][4] In 1934, he received a B.A. from Beloit College, and a law degree from the Law School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1941.[2][3]
He worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the War Labor Board.[1][3] During the Second World War, he served as a captain in North Africa and Europe for six years.[1][3] In 1947, he served as the head of the Industrial Relations Center in Wisconsin.[2] In 1952, he became assistant professor and director of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois.[2][3] In 1958, he became a professor of law at Illinois.[2]
In 1964, he became the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he helped assuage student protests in 1964.[1][2] He also expanded university projects in Nigeria, France, Germany and Japan.[3] In 1967, he paid the bail for students who had been arrested for blockading a university building.[1] In 1968, he became the ninth president of the University of Michigan.[1][4] He led discussions during the Black Action Movement strike, with students demanding more African-American students on campus.[1][3] He also helped turn the campuses at Dearborn and Flint into four-year institutions.[5] He stepped down as president in 1978.[1] From 1979 to 1981, he worked for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.[3] In 1981, he became a full professor at the U-M.[3] In 1988, he served again as interim President of the U-M, tackling concerns over racial, sexual and gay-lesbian discrimination, to no avail: Fleming had tried to devise an adjudication system to address discrimination concerns, but the effort failed when a federal district judge ruled that it violated the First Amendment.[3] From 1985 to 1990, he worked as a representative for Michigan Governor James Blanchard.[3]
He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in January 2010.[1]
Bibliography
- Tempests into Rainbows: Managing Turbulence. Robben Wright Fleming, University of Michigan Press, 1996. ISBN 0-472-10674-0
References
External links
- Robben Fleming on LocalWiki
- President (University of Michigan) records 1967-, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Fred Harvey Harrington |
President of the University of Wisconsin 1964–1968 |
Succeeded by William H. Sewell |
| Preceded by Harlan Hatcher |
President of the University of Michigan 1968–1978 |
Succeeded by Allan Frederick Smith |
| Preceded by Harold Tafler Shapiro |
Interim President of the University of Michigan 1988 |
Succeeded by James Duderstadt |