In 1850, the state of Michigan adopted a new state constitution that created the office of President of the University of Michigan and directed the newly elected Board of Regents to select someone for the office.
They sent a representative to the East to solicit recommendations, and former Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft recommended Henry Tappan.
Despite this recommendation, the regents first elected Henry Barnard of Connecticut, who declined the offer.
Although John Hiram Lathrop (then Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison) was also considered for the job following Barnard's refusal, Tappan was unanimously elected on August 12, 1852.
His starting salary was $1,500 per year.

Tappan was proud of the fact that while he was president of the University of Michigan, faculty were hired based not on their religious connections, but on their capacities within their field of study.

Tappan was also a strong proponent of the German model of university curriculum, which emphasized research, laboratory study, elective courses, and the increased importance of science and engineering, rather than the "British model" of recitation in a core classical arts curriculum that typified most major American universities of the time.
His proposed elective course included "besides other branches, Civil Engineering, Astronomy with the use of an Observatory, and the application of Chemistry and other sciences to agriculture and the industrial arts generally."
 Shortly after his arrival, Michigan became the second university in the country (after Harvard) to issue Bachelor of Science degrees.
Tappan also had plans for a graduate program, once the undergraduate curriculum was more fully developed.

Tappan received a Doctor of Laws degree from Columbia College in 1854.
In 1850, the state of Michigan adopted a new state constitution that created the office of President of the University of Michigan and directed the newly elected Board of Regents to select someone for the office. They sent a representative to the East to solicit recommendations, and former Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft recommended Henry Tappan. Despite this recommendation, the regents first elected Henry Barnard of Connecticut, who declined the offer. Although John Hiram Lathrop (then Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison) was also considered for the job following Barnard's refusal, Tappan was unanimously elected on August 12, 1852. His starting salary was $1,500 per year.
Tappan was proud of the fact that while he was president of the University of Michigan, faculty were hired based not on their religious connections, but on their capacities within their field of study.
Tappan was also a strong proponent of the German model of university curriculum, which emphasized research, laboratory study, elective courses, and the increased importance of science and engineering, rather than the "British model" of recitation in a core classical arts curriculum that typified most major American universities of the time. His proposed elective course included "besides other branches, Civil Engineering, Astronomy with the use of an Observatory, and the application of Chemistry and other sciences to agriculture and the industrial arts generally."  Shortly after his arrival, Michigan became the second university in the country (after Harvard) to issue Bachelor of Science degrees. Tappan also had plans for a graduate program, once the undergraduate curriculum was more fully developed.
Tappan received a Doctor of Laws degree from Columbia College in 1854.
Henry Philip Tappan