Sullivan will also receive tenure as a professor of sociology, although it is not clear whether she will teach a course. She said in her first year she will probably not be able to teach, but that she would like to do so afterward if the job allows. She currently teaches a freshman seminar called Credit Cards, Debt and American Society at UT-Austin, where she has won a number of awards for her undergraduate teaching.

At Texas, she worked to bridge the gap between the health and academic sides of the university, led searches for four university presidents within the Texas system and worked to increase the amount of research throughout the system.

She said faculty should engage in research as well as teaching because "universities are communities of learners," and that the faculty should not be exempt from learning. She added that the experience of teaching has also improved her research.

University Regent Andrea Fischer Newman, who is currently the chair of the board, called Sullivan "an extremely impressive person." She added that it is more important to find the best person than to pick an internal candidate.

Sullivan will face a number of challenges as provost. Faced with a sputtering economy, the state has been cutting funding to the University in recent years. In 2002, the state allocated $363 million to the University, but that number will be $316.3 million for 2006.

On Monday night, The Michigan Daily published a story online saying Coleman would name Sullivan the new provost, the University announced her nomination on Tuesday, earlier than the University planned on making the nomination public.

Sullivan's husband, Douglas Laycock, is a First Amendment scholar and will become a professor at the University's law school. He helped guide the UT system through the fallout of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in the Hopwood v. Texas case that banned the use of affirmative action in university admission in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.