The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor plans to spend $30-million over the next five years on hiring 100 new tenure-track faculty members to lead interdisciplinary research and teaching in areas such as energy and environmental sustainability.

The hiring plan, announced yesterday by the university’s president, Mary Sue Coleman, sets aside $10-million for salaries and benefits and $20-million for start-up costs to attract junior faculty members who will work together across disciplines and share research facilities.

“This is a major commitment — financially and philosophically,” said Ms. Coleman in a university address. “As faculty evaluate scholarship, they must challenge each other to think differently about work that crosses boundaries.”

Ms. Coleman also announced a $100-million cooperative effort between Michigan’s public universities, philanthropic foundations, and private companies, called the Michigan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, to promote academic entrepreneurship and speed the commercialization of university research. —Paula Wasley