As much as I love flying, I must admit that this sounds rather exhausting, and also a little monotonous… but good for her!
In this post:
Professor commutes by plane on days where she teaches
Mlive has the fascinating story of a University of Michigan professor who has been a lifelong New York resident, and commutes to Ann Arbor to teach. Okay, one might wonder if this is clickbait — does she just travel to New York on weekends, and have an apartment in Ann Arbor during the week? Well, it sounds like the answer is no, so let’s step back a bit.
Susan Miller is a full time professor at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and she has been teaching there since 2021. However, she has never actually lived in Michigan, but instead, lives in Manhattan, New York.
The idea is that she travels between New York and Michigan more than 55 times per year to teach. She pays for her own flights (primarily flying Delta), stays at the Graduate Hotel in downtown Ann Arbor, and is a seasoned traveler who has a carefully orchestrated routine.
She travels to Michigan the night before she is scheduled to teach. She then visits some of her favorite spots, and walks around campus. The next day, she lectures up to five classes, and then has office hours, before flying home that same night, so she typically makes trips lasting around 24 hours. As she explains, “I have no distractions because I’m really away from my home.”
So, why would Miller teach at the University of Michigan, given that she doesn’t otherwise have ties to the area? Well, both of her children decided to attend the University of Michigan, and Miller fell in love with Ann Arbor and the school. While her children attended the school, she flew there 67 times to visit them.
After giving a few guest lectures at the school, she was offered a full time position as a professor in late 2021. While she initially declined the offer due to the distance, she quickly backtracked, and decided she loved the school so much that she wanted to teach there:
“People ask me ‘Why don’t you just teach in New York? There’s NYU, there’s Columbia, there’s Fordham. You could teach in New York.’ I say, there’s something very special about being in Michigan. With the kind of students that we have at Ross, I think they’re just extraordinary. I’ve had opportunities to teach elsewhere, but I just want to teach at Ross.”
She must really enjoy the road warrior lifestyle!
No matter how much this professor loves the school, there’s no denying that traveling this much is draining, so this is a major commitment. Even if you’re great at planning and managing your travel, this kind of an arrangement complicates things massively, and you always have to adapt when things go wrong, and stuff often doesn’t go as smoothly as we expect.
People will of course be divided on this — some will say this sounds like their personal hell, while others will say it sounds like a dream. I do think that no matter how much you enjoy this, it does get exhausting after some amount of time.
When I was 15 years old, the thought of traveling that often would’ve been very exciting, and I would’ve said I would never bore of something like that. But with years, travel like this takes its toll, and I have to imagine that’s the case for her as well.
I guess she has been doing this for a little over four years now, and I’m curious how much longer she’s willing to do this before she either decides to move to Michigan, or stops teaching there.
I suppose this still pales in comparison to the AirAsia super commuter I wrote about last year, who commutes to work by plane every single weekday. The idea is that she works in AirAsia’s office at Kuala Lumpur Airport (KUL), while living in Penang (PEN). She also has the benefit of getting heavily discounted tickets on the airline, given that she works for it, and Penang is a lower cost of living city (which can’t be said about Manhattan!).
Bottom line
A University of Michigan professor chooses to live in Manhattan rather than Ann Arbor, and simply commutes to work. She reportedly travels between New York and Michigan over 55 times per year, typically staying for just 24 hours, to teach classes, have office hours, etc.
This might seem like a strange arrangement, but she’s a lifelong New Yorker, and has no interest in moving. However, her kids went to the University of Michigan, and she fell in love with the school. When she was offered a job, she initially declined, since she didn’t want to move, before quickly changing her mind, and coming up with the creative solution of commuting instead.
Good for her, and I’m curious how much longer she chooses to do this, since I imagine it’s quite exhausting…
What do you make of this super commuting professor?
There are many people in many professions who have to fly somewhere every week, often multiple places in the same week: management consultants, sales people, etc. I don't see how this is different than that in principle, other than the fact that she is paying for the tickets as a personal expense. I myself did this as a management consultant for about 10 years.
Now that her cover is blown, I wonder if the university will have to fire her to appease the environmentalists.
It's a retirement gig. From a quick google, she is a lecturer and teaches one course in business communications (probably teaches a couple of sections). So she flies out once a week and spends one night away from home - meanwhile consultants are on the road what, 40 weeks a year?
So... this isn't a big deal, although I certainly think it's a cool retirement gig (whether she's making any money off of it,...
It's a retirement gig. From a quick google, she is a lecturer and teaches one course in business communications (probably teaches a couple of sections). So she flies out once a week and spends one night away from home - meanwhile consultants are on the road what, 40 weeks a year?
So... this isn't a big deal, although I certainly think it's a cool retirement gig (whether she's making any money off of it, who knows, but probably in her case, who cares) and it certainly appears from the pictures and article that she's a loyal Delta flyer and enjoys the beautiful brand new LGA TC. The NYPost article from 2024 notes she opened a Delta credit card for the 15% discount and she probably books on miles very far in advance because she knows her schedule. And negotiated a deal with the hotel for a weekly mid-week stay - and I'm sure the hotel is not exactly full on random Tuesday nights.
Anyway, reach out to her and interview her on her mileage strategies! Does she just use Delta points? Maybe the occasional Virgin or AF ticket? Oooh.
Knicks in 4 anyone? Go NY go NY go!
Maybe she has marital problems and uses this strategy to escape.
In her defense, she probably flies out of LGA and obviously into DTW, both of which are close to their respective cities and really nice, easy airports for Delta. She clearly sees the arrangement as a way to compartmentalize her teaching time during the week, which kind of makes sense.
Part of the joy of flying (for me) is experiencing new airlines, aircraft, and destinations. Taking the exact same route might as well be taking the commuter train, but with TSA, rental car shuttles, and all the other inconveniences.
Hey now, some of us make friends along the way. Besides, some of the lounges are decent.
They must pay pretty well for this to be worthwhile. Beyond that, as long as she's happy then good for her.
Talk about a super mom! Going to visit her children several states away sixty seven times is ludicrous though. If my mom visited me more than a couple of times at University (a year) I would have been highly embarrassed.
I think that's over blown.
Her 2 kids over 8 years. Thats like 8 per year. Or about once a month if you don't count summer.
Just barely enough to see a therapist.
Is it a sick comment or a joke that I forgot to laugh? When your mom cares enough to spend money and time to be with you as an adult, you feel embarrassed to show your gratitude to bring you into the world and raised you to where you are at today. She must be among the most unfortunate mom in the world, especially from a son who is supposed to care for the elderly...
Is it a sick comment or a joke that I forgot to laugh? When your mom cares enough to spend money and time to be with you as an adult, you feel embarrassed to show your gratitude to bring you into the world and raised you to where you are at today. She must be among the most unfortunate mom in the world, especially from a son who is supposed to care for the elderly parents. Daughters will belong to her in-law family after marriage. It is not hard to see the days come when she will no longer be independent, you cannot wait to shove her off the the assistance living center and visit her only when she is in the hospice to make sure you are the only beneficiary of her estate. Think before you post your comment. Words cost nothing so be kind and considerate.
There was a student who flew to UC Berkeley from LA basically every day a few years ago too
This is a great post, Ben. I live in Baltimore and fly DCA-LAX 22 times per year to teach at UCLA! Been doing it since 2013.
Is that because DL operates DCA-LAX on 75S (lie-flat), and you like the finer things; whereas, UA and WN fly nonstop BWI-LAX, but they're just recliners/economy-only?
I fly Alaska! At this point, I know pretty much every F/A because the same rotation of about 30 of them work the same route.
Oh! Niiice! See, it is about the friends we meet along the way. Aww…
She's no Fred Finn.
"At the age of 81, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most supersonic passenger flights. Of the 15 million miles Finn clocked up in the sky, 2.5 million of those were recorded on the 718 Concorde flights he took between 1976 and 2003, in ‘his’ seat 9A."
https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/i-would-always-find-a-half-bottle-of-dom-perignon-stashed-under-my-seat-meet-concordes-million-mile-man/
Yabba Dabba Doo
"While her children attended the school, she flew there 67 times to visit them."
Hopefully her kids found her presence as enjoyable as she found Ann Arbor
Yeah her kids are probably enjoying it otherwise they wouldn't tolerate it.
"While her children attended the school, she flew there 67 times to visit them."
Gives new meaning to the term "helicopter parent."
She should be upgraded to "regional jet parent".
DL uses mainline aircraft on LGA-DTW, mostly A321s.
So..."narrowbody parent" maybe?
Reminds me of a student commuting between Calgary and Vancouver to save on rent!
https://www.kktv.com/2024/02/24/student-says-he-flies-class-because-its-cheaper-than-renting-city/
https://nypost.com/2024/02/23/lifestyle/canadian-college-student-tim-chen-flies-2-hours-to-class-to-avoid-paying-rent/
I actually consider this article deeply deeply embarrassing for Ross. You want a faculty that is engaged, dynamic, and, FFS, on freaking site… This makes the school seem like a total clown show
"This makes the school seem like a total clown show"
How so? Is she unreachable during the week? She has office hours. How much one-on-one time did you need from your professors in when you were getting your professional degree? If she's been there since 2021, it sounds like it's working out just fine, considering that students do fill out teacher surveys.
I’d also point out that this generation of students has been raised on Google classrooms and zoom. If they need 1:1 time w a professor I’m sure some type of virtual meeting can work. This is a business professor. She’s not leading a chemistry lab or teaching music.
Having worked in academia, I can assure you people sit in their offices meeting on Zoom rather than walk to the conference room down the hall.
Were it not for the publicity, I’m sure most of her colleagues and students would have had no idea she was doing this.
Kinda sad. I would prefer my professor to be more integrated into the campus and community. It's tough to convince a New Yorker to leave, though!
Will all the classes you take. You probably wouldn't even care if you're professor commute from Europe.
Unless of course, you're Dunstin Hoffman taking Mrs. Robinson's class.
If you wonder why college has become so unaffordable? She's got to be making some serious coin to be able to afford to live in Manhattan and then fly every week to Michigan on her dime. When I went to college from 1977 to 1981 student loans weren't a "thing." In went to a state school and most of the kids were from middle class families. But we have a very modest student center and no professors flying in from NYC.
Oh brother... here we go again, George. Like usual, you’re misdiagnosing the disease. She pays for those flights out of her own pocket, not the university’s. The real reason college costs have skyrocketed since 1981 isn't professors buying plane tickets; it’s that state governments drastically cut funding for public universities, shifting the financial burden entirely onto students. Combine that with a massive explosion in administrative bloat, and that’s why non-dischargeable student loans became a "thing."
Oh brother... here we go again, George. Like usual, you’re misdiagnosing the disease. She pays for those flights out of her own pocket, not the university’s. The real reason college costs have skyrocketed since 1981 isn't professors buying plane tickets; it’s that state governments drastically cut funding for public universities, shifting the financial burden entirely onto students. Combine that with a massive explosion in administrative bloat, and that’s why non-dischargeable student loans became a "thing."
She is officially a "lecturer" (which I don't think is a tenure title) and her public records salary from 2024 is listed at about 91K.
Thank you, betterbub. Facts are more important than George's often-prejudicial feelings.
You beat me in your prompt rebuttal. Getting a tenure at the university, not city college, is no picnic, considering she only taught there shortly before being offered a supposedly " tenure" position. After being hired as a professor, one has to advance her/himself from assistant to associate to full professor in a reasonable timeframe to get tenure position. It depends how many and the quality of your research papers published and delivered at various...
You beat me in your prompt rebuttal. Getting a tenure at the university, not city college, is no picnic, considering she only taught there shortly before being offered a supposedly " tenure" position. After being hired as a professor, one has to advance her/himself from assistant to associate to full professor in a reasonable timeframe to get tenure position. It depends how many and the quality of your research papers published and delivered at various conferences. Another thing to consider is legacy admission of her children might enjoy to be accepted into the same university where she teaches. Legacy admission is equivalent to Affirmative Action admission. However, we all know the latter but not the former simply because the corporate media avoided informing the public be aware of the special treatment extended to a privilege class that includes the majority whites.
Globe, by “corporate media” do you mean the ones bought and controlled by mostly right-wing billionaires? Yeah…
How does this work financially? She teaches once a week > much be a very high salary that covers a roundtrip and hotel out of the net income.
My wife and I both live in France and work in London. While my company pays for my travel, my wife's company doesn't. We both travel on a weekly basis.
With the mileage I get + some cash tickets when cheap, we make the maths work.
London salaries vs cost of living in France also help making this work.
But this is different she lives in Manhattan where rents are sky high.
Let use round numbers: $250 flight $200 hotel $250 Uber/Lounge/Airport Food = $700 a week = 3k a month
$3k net = 4k pretax = 50k yearly just to pay for commuting for a 20% position?
It's possible she flies basic economy and gets no miles, which is absurd.
It's also possible that credit card spend gets her the mileage to fund that travel.
LOL you need to spend A LOT for cover this with miles.
A grad student in LA flew to SFO UC Berkley during masters program so he could live at home and not pay rent three times a week.
Nice! Go New York! Go Knicks!