About the Society

Founded in 1970

The Michigan Society of Fellows, under the auspices of the Rackham Graduate School, was founded in 1970 with endowment grants from the Ford Foundation and the Horace H. and Mary Rackham Funds. The seven founding UM faculty members hailed 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.

Leadership

A woman with wavy brown hair and a white top smiles outdoors, enjoying the lively atmosphere of society, with greenery and a red structure blurred in the background.

Scotti Parrish

Chair of the Michigan Society of Fellows

The Chair of the Michigan Society of Fellows is Scotti Parrish, Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature and the Program in the Environment. Since the 1990s, she has been researching and teaching about the intertwined history of environmental transformation and racial formation in North America. She has written two prize-winning monographs, The Flood Year 1927: A Cultural History (Princeton UP, 2017) and American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History in the Colonial British Atlantic World (UNCP, 2006).  She has also edited the Norton Critical Edition of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, The Cambridge Companion to American Literature and the Environment (with Sarah Ensor), and Robert Beverley’s 1705 The History and Present State of Virginia. Her teaching at UM has been recognized with the John Dewey Award, the University Undergraduate Teaching Award, and a Thurnau Professorship.

A woman with long brown hair wearing a maroon top stands outdoors on a walkway with green grass and trees in the background, smiling at the camera.

Jeanne Wacker

Administrative Specialist

Jeanne Wacker is the Administrative Specialist for the Michigan Society of Fellows. She delivers a wide range of programmatic support, including:

  • Management of the application process,
  • Coordination of new postdoctoral research fellowship appointments,
  • Facilitation of senior fellow nominations,
  • Event planning,
  • Financial monitoring and reconciliation,
  • Alumni fellow communications, and
  • Liaising with schools/colleges and the president’s office.

She has over 18 years of experience as an administrative professional and has been with the University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School, since 2021. In her previous role, she supported Rackham’s Professional Development and Engagement team.

Jeanne was awarded the 2023 Rackham STAR Award – “Breaking the Mold” for her incredible work in LEAN office process improvements. She was also a member of the U-M Voices of the Staff from 2023-2025.