This dissertation examines two critical periods in the history of institutional transformations at the University of Michigan: the University's battle for constitutional autonomy during the second half of the 19th century, and the creation of the University's business administration in the early 20th century. Constitutional status secured the University's autonomy over its own internal management – a power entrusted to the University Regents and protected from interference of the state legislature. However, this autonomy also diminished access to the University through the public sphere of the political realm, and allowed the University to engage in the private sphere of economic activities heavily influenced by the professions. At the turn of the 20^th century, the University's institutional autonomy set the stage for its management reform. The authority of management was dispersed and placed in the charge of business administration professionals, executive officers and academic units. This drastic overhaul of the administrative system initiated by University business officers and based on models borrowed from industry brought about a profound transformation of the University's governance and administration.

This study engages a wide range of topics such as corporation, public-private dichotomy, profession, management, accounting and social engineering, in order to examine the relationships between university governance and management, and between university, state and society. Although the study ends at the 1930s, its reexamination of the formative period of a key American public university provides a useful historical case for better understanding the relationships between government, public universities and modern society at the turn of the 21st century.