Kevin Guskiewicz is set to become Michigan State University's next president. MSU’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved his appointment Friday after a months-long search.
Guskiewicz is the chancellor of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and intends to step down from the position in January after nearly five years in the position.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Guskiewicz shortly after his appointment.
Interview Highlights
On why he chose MSU
I’m a big believer in public higher education and the nation needs a strong vibrant Michigan State University. I see a strong university with an inspiring historical foundation that can reach new levels of excellence, through its commitment to student success to its knowledge discovery. The incredible researchers that are solving some of the grand challenges of our time. And I love its commitment as a land-grant service institution. I'm really looking forward to working with all members of this community and getting to know them better, going on a listening and learning tour and making sure that we have a good roadmap to get to that destination.
On his accomplishments at UNC
We finished a $5 billion capital campaign that I helped to lead for most of those five years. We have placed a lot of emphasis on innovation. We just opened about four months ago our new Innovate Carolina Junction, which is an incubator to bring partners that want to rub elbows, as I like to say, with our world class faculty researchers to start up new companies to commercialize our research.
On restoring trust in MSU leadership
I also think that there have been issues around relationship violence and sexual misconduct that has touched down on the campus on more than one occasion. And we have to be sure that everybody understands the policies that are in place in the way that they need to be enforced. And so there's, I think, some trust that needs to be rebuilt there. And I'm committed to that.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Kevin Guskiewicz is Michigan State University's next permanent president. MSU’s Board of Trustees approved his appointment today after a months-long search.
The current University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill chancellor will begin his term in early March. Guskiewicz joins me now. Thank you for being here.
Kevin Guskiewicz: Thanks for having me, Sophia.
Saliby: MSU has been through a lot over the past years. The school has seen five different leaders since 2018. Its previous permanent president left, citing issues with the Board of Trustees. So I have to ask, why did you want this job?
Guskiewicz: I’m a big believer in public higher education and the nation needs a strong vibrant Michigan State University. I see a strong university with an inspiring historical foundation that can reach new levels of excellence, through its commitment to student success to its knowledge discovery.
The incredible researchers that are solving some of the grand challenges of our time. And I love its commitment as a land-grant service institution. I'm really looking forward to working with all members of this community and getting to know them better, going on a listening and learning tour and making sure that we have a good roadmap to get to that destination.
Saliby: You're leaving UNC-Chapel Hill after being its chancellor for more than four years. What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Guskiewicz: Well, we've accomplished a lot. We finished a $5 billion capital campaign that I helped to lead for most of those five years. We have placed a lot of emphasis on innovation. We just opened about four months ago our new Innovate Carolina Junction, which is an incubator to bring partners that want to rub elbows, as I like to say, with our world class faculty researchers to start up new companies to commercialize our research. Those are two of the areas.
And then I think, the roadmap that we build out for Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good places a lot of emphasis on student success, building our community together, which emphasizes the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion. And also placing emphasis on making sure that we're a global university.
We're the nation's first public institution here at Carolina. But I've often said that we've got the public part down. We're the first of the publics and we are also a great research institution. But we need to think about how we cross the borders of the U.S. and make an impact around the world. And so we've done a lot of work in that space over the past five to eight years and I'm proud of that.
Saliby: How do you think your time in North Carolina will inform your approach here in Michigan?
Guskiewicz: I think I'll bring a wealth of experience and expertise in problem solving. Higher ed in general is facing challenges, some of them are not unique to any one institution. And I'm proud of the way in which we've been able to keep the cost of attendance low and proud of the way in which we've rethought our curriculum here. And I'm looking forward to learning more about the general education curriculum at Michigan State that all the undergraduates take to be sure that we're preparing students for careers and jobs that don't even yet exist.
I talk often about when I welcome new students to campus this year, the class of 2027, I said, you're going to be walking out of here four years from now in 2027 with a degree in hand. But you're going to be retiring from your career around the year 2077. And imagine what careers and jobs are going to exist in the year 2077.
We got to prepare students for jobs and careers that don't yet exist. And so I'm eager to find out how we can do that at Michigan State. I’m taking a close look at the curriculum as well. Working with the faculty on that is going to be important.
Saliby: What do you expect your biggest challenge to be as you take over leadership of the university?
Guskiewicz: Again, I want to go on this listening and learning tour, which I'll spend probably the first two months doing so that I can make a more informed response to questions like this. Because I do think that those constituencies are so important so that we can set our priorities for the future.
But I know that Michigan State's had its challenges. As I've already said, I want to be sure we've got to trust one another. There's nothing more important than trust. There's some trust that needs to be rebuilt and I will spend time doing that. I have experienced doing that and I'm confident that we can do that.
Saliby: When you say trust, what is the biggest point of mending do you see? Is it between the president's office and the Board of Trustees? Or the president and the student body? Or is there something else that you feel like there needs to be a focus on when it comes to building trust?
Guskiewicz: Well, I think that there's always these sorts of interpersonal or inner group dynamics that are important and building trust. And I think it's a willingness to listen. And I've been convinced in meeting with the Board of Trustees collectively, now on a few occasions, and then getting to know them independently, that they are committed to this. They want to work with the faculty and student leaders and the employees and with this administration. And I think we have to go into this working together as one. So that's part of it.
But I also think that there have been issues around relationship violence and sexual misconduct that has touched down on the campus on more than one occasion. And we have to be sure that everybody understands the policies that are in place in the way that they need to be enforced. And so there's, I think, some trust that needs to be rebuilt there. And I'm committed to that.
Saliby: Is there anything, you know, this can be about your leadership style, this can be about as much of your personal life that you want to share. But what do you want the Spartan community to know about you on this kind of day one of your leadership role on campus?
Guskiewicz: I want them to know that I'm an inclusive servant leader. And I talked a little bit about that this morning. I think that when you roll up your sleeves together and sit at the table and talk about the challenges and gain an understanding of the role that we each play, whether this is meeting with the Faculty Senate, whether it's meeting with the student government leaders or the employee forums I meet regularly with here, I just met with them two days ago, or with the board or with our alumni, because alumni are so important, that I'm going to listen.
That's what I want people to know — that I'm going to listen. I'm not going to be able to solve every problem on day one. That I want people to trust me, that we're going to listen, that we're going to work together, identify the set of priorities moving forward. And I've always I've always said that easy is boring. And I come in to problem solving roles. Let's roll our sleeves up. This isn't going to be easy but let's just recognize that at the outset and we'll do great things together.
Saliby: Kevin Guskiewicz is MSU’s president-elect. Thank you for joining me.
Guskiewicz: Thanks so much, Sophia. I enjoyed it.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
