The University of Michigan has elected Kent Syverud as its 16th president for a five-year term that will begin by July 1.
Syverud returns to Michigan where he earned a Juris Doctor and Masters in Economics and also previously served on the law faculty, including as associate dean for academic affairs. He has been the chancellor and president of Syracuse University for the last 12 years. An ALI member since 1996, his scholarship focused on negotiation, civil litigation, dispute resolution and higher education.
Learn more about Syverud here.
I do believe Michigan has been, is now, and must remain the best public research university anywhere. That has been my experience of Michigan. This university gave me everything I have become.
These are challenging times for Michigan, for higher education, and indeed for the whole world. We at the university have a choice how to respond. We can curl up in a ball … or, we can do what Michigan has always done when it’s at its best. We can lead. We can lead not by arrogantly lecturing others, but by modeling each day, in small ways and in big ones, the values and the ideas and the innovation and the civil engagement that this world so badly needs.
I want to help us to do that, and I want to help us do that always remembering our special obligation to the people of the state of Michigan — all the people of the state of Michigan, who created this institution and who merit our priority.