Samuel L. Stanley Jr. has been appointed president of Michigan State University. Longtime President Lou Anna Simon resigned after being criticized for how she handled the sexual abuse case of former school sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted in 2018. Her successor, interim President John Engle, resigned soon after for his comments about Nassar’s accusers. Stanley succeeds their replacement, acting President Satish Udpa. He will be the first head of MSU in decades without ties to the school. In August, he will begin by meeting with sexual assault victims.
Stanley leads Stony Brook University (N.Y.), where he secured a $150 million donation in 2011—the sixth-largest gift, at the time, given to a public university. He was previously vice chancellor for research at Washington University in St. Louis.
Read: People Watch: Katherine Lasher to head up Ohio State’s new Office of Institutional Equity
Other people news:
- John R. Porter, a former IBM business partner, now leads Lindenwood University (Mo.). Porter has served as a board member in higher ed.
- Former Director and Title IX Coordinator Erin Oliver of Purdue University (Ind.) now serves as the first assistant vice president for institutional equity at the University of Notre Dame (Ind.).
