ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Board of Regents will be asked to approve the appointment of Paul N. Courant as associate provost for academic and budgetary affairs and Marilyn Knepp as assistant provost for university budget and planning at their Sept. 18-19 meeting. If approved, Knepp’s appointment will be effective Sept. 1 and Courant’s as soon as a transition of his responsibilities as chair of the Department of Economics can be made. Provost Nancy Cantor said, “Paul brings to this position not only a deep and broad knowledge of the University, but the wisdom of his scholarly life in economics and public policy. Marilyn’s expertise in both the budgeting process and in academic planning and analysis will surely provide indispensable help in the coming years.”

Courant, at the U-M since 1973, also is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, professor of economics and public policy and professor of public policy. Knepp, with the University since 1979, has been director of the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis since 1984.

Courant’s post includes major administrative and policy responsibility with respect to a wide range of academic and budgetary initiatives; collaboration with the provost in setting policy pertaining to academic and budgetary issues; and service in a leadership role on the faculty committee on Value-Centered Management. He also will serve as direct liaison to deans and directors in many areas of academic and budgetary affairs.

Courant’s academic work primarily focuses on the economic aspects of public policy. He currently is engaged in a study of economic and fiscal effects of Michigan’s Single Business Tax, an evaluation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s policies regarding residential radon, and in studies of relationships between environmental policy and regional economic performance. “We are so fortunate,” Cantor noted, “to have a world-class scholar with the talent and willingness to think creatively about the financing of higher education.”

Knepp will have primary responsibility for all activities related to University budget planning and implementation and for the collection, analysis and reporting of data regarding University operations. She also will direct the Office of Budget and Planning, a new office resulting from the merger of the existing offices of Budget Administration and Academic Planning and Analysis.

She holds a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from Eastern Michigan University, and has been promoted to positions of increased responsibility and complexity, “which have provided her with an unusual depth and breadth of knowledge about higher education in general and the U-M in particular,” Cantor said.