Michigan State Appoints Interim President
Credit: Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images- Teresa K. Woodruff, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State University, will lead the school as interim president.
- The move comes after President Samuel L. Stanley announced his planned resignation last month.
- Stanley’s resignation came after a lengthy battle with the board of trustees over Title IX reporting issues in which he received support from faculty and students.
Michigan State University (MSU) Provost Teresa K. Woodruff will take over as the school’s interim president after Samuel L. Stanley announced his plans to resign amid a battle with the university’s trustees.
Woodruff, who is also the executive vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State, is “an accomplished administrator and scholar as well as an outstanding advocate for the success of MSU’s students,” according to a Michigan State board of trustees release.
She joined Michigan State in her current role in August 2020, according to the release from board of trustees Chair Dianne Byrum.
“The board recognized Dr. Woodruff’s leadership qualities and her strengths in collaboration and equity,” the board of trustees release reads. “She is an internationally respected expert in ovarian biology and reproductive science and has received numerous academic and science awards throughout her career.”
Woodruff will work with outgoing President Stanley to “come to an agreement about the transition time frame in the coming days,” according to the release.
Stanley announced his resignation, effective in less than three months, in October following a lengthy battle with the board of trustees over Title IX issues. Trustees reportedly disapproved of Stanley’s handling of Title IX-reporting issues surrounding the resignation of Sanjay Gupta, former dean of the business school, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Stanley received support from both faculty and students during the battle with the board of trustees: Both the Michigan State Faculty Senate and the Associated Students of Michigan State University took no-confidence votes in the board during the standoff.
Stanley later said he’d lost confidence in the trustees.
“I cannot, in good conscience, continue to serve this board as constituted,” Stanley said in a YouTube video announcing his resignation.
The board of trustees plans to appoint a search committee early next year to find a permanent president for the university, according to the release.