Michigan State University confirmed a new president on Friday, an attempt to introduce a permanent leader after years of turnover, scandal and internal strife.
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, a neuroscientist who has served as chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2019, was unanimously voted president by the board of trustees on Friday and will begin his term in March.
Dr. Guskiewicz is the sixth president of Michigan State in six years. The university was roiled by a sexual abuse scandal when Larry Nassar, a doctor who worked with gymnasts at the school, pleaded guilty in 2017 of molesting girls under the guise of giving them medical treatment, and school officials came under fire for not stepping in quickly to stop the abuse.
Since then, Mel Tucker, a football coach, was fired and found by university investigators to have violated the university’s sexual misconduct policy. In a separate incident, at a football game this fall, Michigan State showed an image of Adolf Hitler on its video screens during a pregame quiz, prompting an apology.
The board of trustees at Michigan State has had public infighting for months over governance, ethics and allegations of bullying.
The accumulation of disputes and embarrassments even prompted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a graduate of the university, to denounce Michigan State in October for a lack of “clear unified leadership or direction and tragically no accountability, either.”
In an interview on Friday, Dr. Guskiewicz, who has spent 28 years at the University of North Carolina, said that one of his first goals was to increase transparency at Michigan State and reassure the university community after years of tumult.
“It’s a place that’s craving stability,” he said. “There certainly has been some challenges over the past five to seven years. And I know that I’m going to bring experience and expertise from U.N.C. Chapel Hill. We’ve had our own share of challenges. And, you know, for some of these things, there’s no playbook for it. And you have to lean on your instinct and surround yourself with really good people.”
Dennis Denno, chairman of the university’s presidential search committee, said of Dr. Guskiewicz in a statement: “We are confident that he has the intellectual vision, broad worldview and personal integrity to inspire our university community to new levels of excellence. And we look forward to working alongside him to foster a climate of community, engagement and mutual respect.”
Dr. Guskiewicz, a native of Latrobe, Pa., visited Michigan State for the first time in November, on a campus visit with his wife, Amy, before he interviewed for the job of president in Detroit. He went for a jog around the sprawling campus and attended a football game, he said, “an important step for me because we believe in being part of the campus community and we want to be in a place that it feels good.”
Dr. Guskiewicz is moving from one politically charged job to another. In recent years, North Carolina Republicans, who control the State Legislature, have asserted vast power over the state university system, stamping its assorted board with allies who have shaped campus personnel decisions, altered research ambitions and influenced the fate of a Confederate statue on the campus in Chapel Hill.
Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, said Friday that Dr. Guskiewicz’s decision to leave U.N.C. — one of the most academically renowned public universities in the country — for Michigan State was an indictment of North Carolina’s recent approach to higher education.
“U.N.C. governing boards with extreme appointees controlled completely by legislative Republicans seem to prefer chaos and meddling over sound and stable leadership, and these actions will ultimately hurt our state’s economy and reputation,” Governor Cooper, who earned undergraduate and law degrees at U.N.C. Chapel Hill, said in a statement.
The U.N.C. System did not comment on the governor’s statement.
Alan Blindercontributed reporting.