Working/Functional Title

Provost & Executive Vice President

Position Summary

Michigan State University (MSU), the nation's premier land-grant university, invites nominations and applications for the position of Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. One of the top public research universities in the world, MSU has 32 undergraduate and graduate programs ranked in the top 25 nationally. MSU is a proud member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, University Innovation Alliance, and Big Ten Academic Alliance.

U.S. News & World Report (2025) lists MSU among the top 30 public universities in the country (#63 overall) and the #1 public university (#8 overall) for education abroad. Times Higher Education 2023 Impact Rankings, which measure how more than 1,900 universities are making progress in working toward the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, ranks MSU 25^th^ in the world and 3^rd^ in the U.S.

With 3,452 faculty, 2,624 academic staff, and 7,926 support staff, MSU offers 400 academic programs across 17 degree-granting colleges. Focused on growth and excellence, the MSU research enterprise has grown substantially over the past 10 years. Total research expenditures were $844 million for 2022, closing in on the MSU 2030 strategic plan goal of $1 billion in annual expenditures. The University has a total economic impact of $6.8 billion in Michigan.

MSU enrolls 41,234 undergraduate students and 10,855 graduate students. Students come from all 83 Michigan counties, all 50 U.S. states, and more than 130 countries. Students of color make up 27.8% of the total domestic student body. The University boasts a 90% retention rate and 81% graduation rate, with the average time to degree of 3.91 calendar years. MSU has 542,415 living alumni worldwide.

Working with Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, senior leadership, deans, chairs and directors, and faculty, students, and staff, the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs ("the Provost") will help to shape and articulate the University's academic and scholarly mission. The Provost is responsible for the administration of all programs of instruction and for promoting goals of academic excellence for the University's faculty and students.

Key priorities for the next Provost include the following: providing vision and leadership to enhance the academic quality of the University and its faculty and students and advancing MSU's national and international reputation and ranking; helping to operationalize the strategic initiatives outlined in MSU's strategic plan; working closely with the academic deans to recruit and retain the best faculty and staff and invest in their career development; overseeing growth in MSU's research portfolio; working collaboratively with the President and other senior leaders to develop a strategic enrollment plan that will pave the way for the next decade; working collaboratively to enhance the financial model (which will soon transition from incremental-based budgeting to a hybrid incentive-based model) to support the academic enterprise; ensuring that MSU's academic programs, structures, and curriculum serve the needs of the state as well as evolving workforce needs and providing intellectual leadership for general education reform; partnering with MSU Information Technology to ensure that information systems are optimized to support teaching and research as well as overseeing the development of a plan for incorporating artificial intelligence into teaching and learning; supporting innovative programs to embed diversity and inclusion in the programs and culture of the University and enhance the cultural and ethnic diversi