Faces of Michigan

Bruce Frier: Marries passion with principle in pursuit of diversity

Bruce Frier, who holds academic appointments in both the Law School and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, was one of six faculty members to receive the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award in 2007.

The award, which was established in 1996 in honor of Johnson, dean emeritus of the School of Social Work, recognizes faculty members who have contributed to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse campus community. Honorees receive $5,000 to further their personal research, teaching and scholarship activities.

Frier, the Henry King Ransom Professor of Law and the Frank O. Copley Collegiate Professor of Classics and Roman Law, has championed a range of diversity-related issues. In announcing the diversity service award recipients, The University Record reported: “He has insisted on departmental participation in Martin Luther King Jr. symposia and events, brought African scholars to U-M, overseen salary hikes for female faculty to correct pay disparities when compared with male faculty, and recently has chaired the Task Force on the Campus Climate for Transgender, Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Faculty, Staff and Students.”

Evan Caminker, dean and professor of law at the Law School, wrote of Frier: “Perhaps some are as dedicated to the cause as is Bruce; perhaps some are as passionate about the issue; perhaps some are as courageous as he is. But I doubt that anyone else goes about the project of preserving and cultivating diversity with as much thought and care and savvy and nuance and efficacy as does Bruce. He marries passion with principle and pragmatism in his pursuit of this goal.”

Frier, who received a B.A. degree from Trinity College and a Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University, was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome and taught at Bryn Mawr College before joining the U-M Department of Classical Studies in 1969. He has taught at the Law School since 1981. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Excerpted from The University Record and the Law School Web site.