EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz is leaving to take the same position at Clemson University.
Guskiewicz is a neuroscientist and previously served as the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He began his tenure as MSU’s 22nd president in 2024, after founding the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center. His work has influenced concussion guidelines in the NCAA and NFL.
In a letter to the university's community, Guskiewicz said disunity among the Board of Trustees was a driving factor in his decision.
"It has become increasingly clear that there are differing perspectives within the Board of Trustees regarding how best to move MSU forward," wrote Guskiewicz. "At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us."
"While I firmly believe we are all better when there is a diversity of viewpoints informing decisions, our ability to make meaningful progress is hampered when disagreements move from offering alternative perspectives into publicly undermining decisions and putting personal interests above the best interests of the university and our faculty, staff and students," continued Guskiewicz. "What is perhaps most troubling is the actions of some to abuse their access to privileged and confidential information to mispresent facts, manipulate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas."
Guskiewicz stepped into the role following Dr. Theresa Woodruff, who was the interim president at the university. She joined MSU in 2020 as the new provost and executive vice president for academic affairs before being appointed interim president in 2022.
Samuel Stanley Jr. stepped down in November 2022 when the board asked him to retire early following his execution of Title IX investigations, which deals with sexual assault and discrimination.
No word yet on who will fill the President role for the time being until MSU can find a replacement.
