Conway joined the University of Michigan as professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
On September 1, 1985, Lynn Conway was appointed professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, beginning a faculty career that would span over a decade.
At Michigan, Conway continued to advance the field of VLSI system design, building on the methodologies she had developed at Xerox PARC and popularized through her textbook with Carver Mead. She held positions including associate dean of engineering, where she worked on strategic initiatives to modernize engineering education and expand opportunities for students in computing and electrical engineering.
Her time at Michigan also allowed her to mentor a new generation of engineers, including women entering a still male-dominated field, and later, after her own gender history became public in 1999, transgender students and engineers who found in her a rare visible role model of technical excellence and personal courage.
Conway's appointment represented a significant chapter in her post-IBM career, demonstrating that despite the professional setback of her 1968 firing, she had rebuilt a distinguished career in academia at one of the top engineering programs in the United States, continuing to shape both the technical and human dimensions of the computing field.