SU’s Syverud to start Michigan job this summer

SYRACUSE — Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud is in his final months leading the university, and this summer, will begin leading another of the nation’s well-known institutions of higher learning. The University of Michigan on Jan. 12 announced the selection of Syverud as its next president. His five-year term as Michigan’s 16th president will begin July 1. Syverud is in his final academic year at Syracuse University, having announced plans to step down in late August 2025. He started his duties leading Syracuse on Jan. 13, 2014. Syverud earned graduate degrees from Michigan in the early 1980s. He will replace Michigan’s interim President Domenico Grasso, who has been interim president since May 2025, when former President Santa Ono stepped down in an attempt to become president of the University of Florida. A graduate of Irondequoit High School near Rochester, Syverud went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1977, a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1981, and a master’s degree in economics from Michigan in 1983. After graduating from Michigan, Syverud spent several years practicing law in the public and private sectors, including clerking for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor shortly after she became the first woman named to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. During his tenure on the Hill, Syracuse University had record applications and enrollment. He also enabled Syracuse to play a central role in Central New York’s economic resurgence by helping attract global semiconductor chip manufacturer Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) to build its largest American fabrication facility in the region with plans to invest more than $100 billion over the next 20 years. Syracuse University also became the “best private university for veterans,” with enrollment of veterans and military-connected families more than tripling since 2014, per the Michigan announcement. Syracuse University’s endowment also more than doubled to over $2 billion in 2025 and the university raised more than $1.59 billion through the Forever Orange campaign, the largest fundraising effort in the school’s history. The campaign came to a successful close in December 2024. Syverud currently serves on the boards of the Crouse Health System, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, Le Moyne College, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the Presidents Advisory Council of the Voice of Intercollegiate Esports. In 2016, he completed six years of service as one of two trustees of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, the $20 billion fund created by BP and the White House to manage claims related to the Gulf Oil Spill.