Michael P. Flanagan ('74), the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, will be the keynote speaker at the
Eastern Michigan University commencement Sunday, Dec. 17.
Flanagan was appointed state superintendent of public
instruction by the State Board of Education May 18, 2005.
He directs the Michigan Department of Education; chairs
the State Board of Education; and advises the State Board
of Education, the Governor, and the state Legislature regarding
public education in Michigan.
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Flanagan |
Prior to his appointment, Flanagan served as the executive
director of Michigan Association of School Administrators
(MASA) and Michigan Association of Intermediate School
Administrators (MAISA), which serves Michigan public school
superintendents and intermediate school districts in the
state. These two statewide organizations develop leadership
and unity within its memberships to achieve the continuous
improvement of public education in Michigan. He has been
honored as executive director emeritus by those organizations.
During this time, he also served as education adviser to
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm.
For the previous seven years, Flanagan served as the superintendent
of the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA).
Wayne RESA serves nearly 500,000 children in the more
than-three-dozen diverse communities of Wayne County. Nearly
180,000 of the county's children live in poverty, which
poses a great challenge to the education system. He pushed
RESA to address this challenge, as demonstrated by the
agency's mission of "Leading...Learning for All," with
primary focus on the word "all."
Flanagan was superintendent of the Farmington/Farmington
Hills School District in Michigan for five years, prior
to Wayne RESA. He is past chairperson of the Education
Alliance of Michigan, a nonprofit coalition of leading
parent, business, and education associations; past president
of the National County Superintendents Association; and
past member of the Michigan Commission on Asia in the Schools.
In addition, he served on former Michigan Gov. John Engler's
Reading Plan for Michigan Council; and was appointed education
commissioner on the Detroit 300 Commission by former Detroit
Mayor Dennis Archer.
He has received numerous awards, including the Michigan
Chamber of Commerce's prestigious Eagle Award for Distinguished
Service and Leadership in 2006; the PTA-PTO Lifetime Achievement
Award and the Crystal Apple Award from Michigan State University;
the Notre Dame Scholar Award; the Michigan School Business
Officials Distinguished Service Award; the Michigan Association
for Bilingual Education Award; and the 1999 Educator of
the Year Award from the Michigan Association of State and
Federal Program Specialists.
Flanagan has a bachelor's degree from the University of
Notre Dame; a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University;
and has continued graduate studies at Michigan State University
and the University of Michigan.
