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?
Big deal. I travel between IL and FL weekly and I only have 2 days a week off.
"Both children decided to attend the University of Michigan" - here we go. Teaching at University of Michigan is a good way to arrange them free tuition - family members of faculty don't pay tuition in most schools, or at least get it heavily discounted. A smart idea.
Good for her! It makes her happy … that is all that matters.
Did it for a while between home in Denver and North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. Taught Tuesday-Thursday, out on Monday night, home late Thursday/first flight Friday. Bounced between JAX or MCO, whoever had cheapest fares. Cannot remember ever having a cancelled flight so I was lucky.
Luckily my research area is the spatial components of the industry so I got experience what I was researching and teaching.
Woah, with all the thunderstorms in FL, you really did get lucky. Sounds like a lot of driving on I-4/95
“As much as I love flying, I must admit that this sounds rather exhausting, and also a little monotonous”.
These are words the old Lucky would NEVER EVER utter.
Sayonara travel blog.
LOL at the magatards desperately trying to find something in this post to get triggered by.
Losers.
I don't see anything newsworthy here
I travel 40 times a year roundtrip to NY from the west coast and once a month to Europe, all trips for less than 48-72 hours
And have been doing this for the past 14 years minus the 2020-21 covid times when my schedule relaxed. And I suspect I’m far from being a rarity
News report: man saves three from house fire.
You: that ain't newsworthy, I saved ten.
This comes to mind, is that Ohio-based humor?
I salute, you lady, that's commitment. To fly to Ann Arbor that many times a year.... What a god awful hole of a town. Somehow finds a way to make Detroit look exciting..... And during the school year, i.e. Michigan winter.......
I can see why you want to spend as little time there as possible
Ann Arbor is a fine town. The U of M is an excellent institution. Their sporting teams are not particularly reputable or cheer-worthy.
Beware, RPC... This comes to mind is based in Ohio... O-H...
As a former academic: that a professor would be offered a job simply because their kids went there seemed highly improbable. Even more improbable to only be on campus as a professor at a research-focused place. But she is actually an adjunct clinical instructor, which feels comparatively more realistic with the schedule.
but it doesn't make sense financially. adjuncts do not make bank.
BREAKING NEWS
Super Commuter: McKinsey Consultant Flies To Work, From New York
She probably has Knicks tickets.
It’s either “Manhattan” or “New York, New York” (if you’re sending mail). It’s never “Manhattan, New York”.
She loves Ann Arbor so much that she doesn't want to spend more than one night there, got it. I bet she flies to attend climate change protests too.
Man tough going lately for you and your fellow incels
This is not that unusual. I know a top Professor who did this for years, commuting 800 miles by plane, and just restarted earlier this year.
Many years ago when I worked in London. I knew an airline sales guy (for a US carrier) who commuted EVERY DAY from FRA-LHR on LH. My door to door back then was 2.30 hours in, 2 hrs on the return via high speed train. He beat me door to door from another country.
Prof C K Prahalad (RIP), easily one of the most beloved Professors at Ross School of Business University of Michigan famously commuted from San Diego to Ann Arbor. I believe he had a single three hour class per week. He was my Professor but at that time I believe he did live in Ann Arbor
I lived in New York and worked in the UK in the early 2010s. I travelled twice a week, most weeks, for 2.5 years. Plenty of variety on the route and miles that I’m still spending :)
There was a radio host a number of years back that did morning drive on Chicago radio and evening drive in Dallas. He flew ORD-DFW every mid-day M-F, then DFW-ORD 5× a week. I don't remember where he slept weekday nights (but I suspect Chicago). Also, I'm not sure where he spent weekends. Obviously, technology made the computer unnecessary at least two decades ago.
I had a professor in college who did this. He lived in LA but got a tenured position in the SF East Bay. He owned a “dollhouse” in Oakland. He would fly BUR-OAK on Southwest on Monday night, taught two classes Tuesday afternoon, office hours all day Wednesday before a 3 hour film class on Wednesday night, and then two more classes on Thursday before flying back Thursday night. He did this for 15+ years, and as far as I know, he’s still there.
She is obviously doing this job so her kids can go to UM tuition free. Out of state tuition at UM is $64K a year. And that's per student.
If she has two kids going there, that alone is good enough reason to teach 1 day a week there.
Ding ding ding ding!!! Winner winner chicken dinner!!!
According to the linked story, her kids graduated in 2010 and 2013, so this is probably not the motivation.
No fair actually reading the article before you comment!
would be curious to know if she takes the DTW flight from HPN instead of LGA; would definitely make the whole thing a lot less stressful/draining.
The new LGA is wonderful; HPN is possibly more stressful and no lounges.
Yes, but HPN you can show up 10 minutes before boarding and feel confident you'll make it on the flight.
Maybe, but if your flight is delayed, no lounge to wait it out in… to each, their own!
DL and AA fly non-stop LGA to Ann Arbor.
"DL and AA fly non-stop LGA to Ann Arbor." Nope, they fly LGA-DTW, but DTW is about half an hour drive from Ann Arbor. So, that is a pretty easy ride-share.
4:57am... oof, you're up early! Europe? Did you fly J? DeltaOne??
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.
Absolutely agree. I know dozens of people who fly every week and this isn't really very different.
word. don't see how this story is special.
Now that her cover is blown, I wonder if the university will have to fire her to appease the environmentalists.
Easy there, Sting. The only reason teachers get fired these days is if they aren’t sufficiently sycophantic to our Dear Leader… /s
Fine. Not now, but in two years.
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!
Go NY! Go!
Maybe she has marital problems and uses this strategy to escape.
Oh, so now we’re just defaming people on here. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool. (Not.)
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.
Wow you teenage years must be very memorable and fun.
Do you still live with your mother?
When you care about someone, you can lock it in a golden cage and forever be your pet.
BTW, "Daughters will belong to her in-law family after marriage."?
Belong?
You are a very sick hypocrite more than you realize.
Eskimo, please answer your own questions! Sharing is caring!
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…
Before I retired, I flew from Boston to St. Louis to teach every week during the school year. Twice as far as her, but nowhere near close to as far as you! I didn't enjoy it a bit, and started phased retirement as a result.
Sounds like you fly out every two weeks. I did that sometimes to cut down on the wear and tear. I salute you!
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?
Better than a CRJ parent..
Since her kids graduated in 2010 and 2013, per MLive, that 67 times in seven years, assuming the first one started in 2006.
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.
@1990 Yep don't hold those universities accountable for charging over $100K for a useless college degree and getting students to take on debt to get such degree. You're a fraud, a fake and a joke.
boo... hoo... Georgie... boo... hoo...
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…
globetrotter, don't let facts get in your way. It has already been posted, a mere three comments before you as I write this, that she is not tenured, but simply a lecturer. And if you look at Ben's link to the original story, you will see that her children graduated in 2010 and 2013, so she isn't doing this for their tuition. And the story also points out that she did her undergraduate and graduate...
globetrotter, don't let facts get in your way. It has already been posted, a mere three comments before you as I write this, that she is not tenured, but simply a lecturer. And if you look at Ben's link to the original story, you will see that her children graduated in 2010 and 2013, so she isn't doing this for their tuition. And the story also points out that she did her undergraduate and graduate work at universities in New York, so her kids weren't legacy admits at Michigan. I don't think Michigan does legacy admissions anyway; that's more the provenance of the Ivy League.
Maybe the reason is that education became big business. Salaries skyrocketed not just for coaches. And for decades we keep being told if only teachers were better paid the students would have better outcomes. Same theory as paying FAs more. Not really working out IMO.
I have a physician relative at UMich. Just last year the university raised physician pay to up to the 50th percentile in the US medical schools. Not a place where most are getting excess compensation.
I went to college 1977-81 and most certainly had student loans.
Why do you make things up?
LK, come on, I overlapped you in college years, and student loans back then were tiny compared to what they are today. I went four years to an expensive school and my total at graduation was, IIRC, $5815. The payments over ten years were a rounding error in my budget.
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?
For real, Marc. That “the rent is too damn high” guy was right! (Still, worth it. Go Knicks!)
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.
In my opinion, she should not get many miles if flying basic economy but she should get a few. However, now only Alaska gives miles and that is ending soon.
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!