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Calvin University president stepping down after upcoming academic year

Michael Le Roy
ANDY CALVERT / Calvin University
Michael Le Roy
Posted at 3:59 PM, Jun 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-10 15:59:07-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Calvin University President Michael Le Roy announced on Thursday that he’ll be leaving after the 2021-22 academic year.

Entering his 10th year as president of the university, Le Roy is in the final year of his current contract, according to a news release.

In a letter to the Calvin University community, Le Roy said he and his wife, Andrea, made the decision “after a long season of prayerful discernment.”

“This was a hard decision for us to make, but we now believe it is the right time to respond to the pull we feel to return to the Northwest to be closer to our family,” Le Roy said. “Over the past nine years our family has grown and changed. We arrived at Calvin with active teenagers living under our roof. Now, family time has been reduced to fleeting moments with a family of young adults and aging parents who need more time and attention from us. During my 17 years in higher education leadership, I know I have missed a lot. The center of gravity for our family is now firmly rooted more than 2,000 miles away. During the pandemic, this distance only seemed greater to us. Having now emerged from this long crisis, we long to give greater emphasis to the family commitments in our lives.”

During Le Roy’s time at Calvin, he was committed to the university’s mission, its students and his desire to connect that compelling mission to new learners and in new ways.

As part of Vision 2030, Le Roy led the transition of Calvin from a college to a university and expanded the populations the university serves, including adding to its graduate programs and establishing the School of Business.

The university also began offering bachelor’s degrees to inmates at Handlon Correctional Facility through the Calvin Prison Initiative.

More than $300 million in fundraising was brought in during Le Roy’s tenure, including a record-setting year in 2020.

The Board of Trustees has begun planning a search for the university’s next president and had appointed Mary Tuuk Kuras, vice chair of the Board of Trustees, as the chair of the search committee. The rest of the search committee is expected to be named soon.

Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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