Katherine E. White
Katherine E. White is currently Chair of the Board of Regents. She received a B.S.E. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, a J.D. degree from the University of Washington, a LL.M. degree in patent and intellectual property law from the George Washington University Law School and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. From 1995-1996, she was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Randall R. Rader, Circuit Judge (ret.), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. From 2000-2002, she was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to serve on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Public Advisory Committee. She was first appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Variety Protection Office Advisory Board in 2004 and completed her service in 2019. She was elected to the University of Michigan Board of Regents in 1998 and reelected in 2006, 2014 and 2022. Her term expires January 1, 2031. She is a member of the corporate board of directors for Old National Bancorp, as well as Alta Equipment Group, Inc.
She is currently a Professor of Law at the Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. In addition, she is a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army National Guard currently serving as the Special Assistant to the Vice Chief, National Guard Bureau, Arlington, VA. In 2021, she was inducted into the Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor. She is a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Germany), a White House Fellow 2001-2002, and a registered patent attorney.