Nellie Varner In Regent Race

Nellie Varner in regent race

Dr. Nellie M. Varner, former associate dean of the Graduate School of the University of Michigan, has announced her candidacy to be the Democratic Party’s choice for the University’s Board of Regents.

The announcement was made in a prepared statement to the News.

“I believe my experience as an educator, an administrator and a businesswoman qualify me to represent the best interests of the people of Michigan on the board of one of our country’s most prestigious educational institutions,” Ms. Varner said.

Former U-M president Robben W. Fleming said, in supporting Varner’s candidacy: “I have worked closely with Dr. Varner. With her years of experience in and understanding of the University, she would be a superb addition to the Board of Regents.”

Ms. Varner was graduated from Wayne State University in 1958 and received her M.A. degree from Wayne the following year. After a five-year stint at teaching in the Detroit school system, she earned her Ph.D. at the U-M in 1968.

BETWEEN 1968 and 1979, she has served the U-M as professor and administrator. She has been assistant professor of political science, special assistant to the dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, director of the University’s affirmative action programs and associate dean of the Graduate School.

In 1970-71 Ms. Varner was a research fellow at the Harvard University Center for International Affairs and a research asociate at Harvard’s Russian Research Center.

In 1978 she received a citation from Change Magazine and the American Council on Education as one of the “Top 10 Young Leaders in Higher Education in America.”

During the past three years, Ms. Varner obtained a real estate broker’s license and has been involved in real estate acquisitions and investment brokerage. She is vice president of Strather-Varner Properties, Inc. and partner in SVL Investments.

THE CANDIDATES for Board of Regents are selected by each Michigan political party at their annual convention. Two candidates representing their party affiliation will be on the November 1980 ballot.

Ms. Varner is a member of the Michigan Democratic Black Caucus and the Women’s Caucus.

Her professional affiliates include memberships in the Detroit Board of Realtors and the Michigan and National Associations of Realtors. She is listed in American Men and Women of Science, in the World’s Who’s Who of Women and the national Who’s Who Among Black Americans.