Vice President for Student Affairs

Michigan State University (MSU) seeks a bold, strategic, and student-centered student affairs leader to serve as its next Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA). This next VPSA will build a division that fully supports students by fostering a strong sense of belonging and aligning co-curricular experiences with academic and career aspirations. As one of the nation’s largest institutions and a global research university, MSU is known for its commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and community engagement. With a diverse student body and a wide array of opportunities to be engaged on campus, MSU offers students a dynamic learning environment and countless opportunities for growth and impact.

The VPSA will lead a newly reformed division dedicated to fostering student engagement and campus life. They will oversee key areas that ensure the Spartan experience is dynamic, supportive, and inclusive by collaborating across departments and divisions, including the Office of the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Student Success and Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, to integrate co-curricular activities with academic achievement. With a focus on student engagement and success, this new leader will work to strengthen a sense of belonging for all students while championing MSU’s commitment to inclusive excellence. 

The incoming VPSA will lead a talented and passionate team of student affairs professionals and build a best-in-class program for a transformative student experience. The VPSA is charged with creating a clear and executable vision for the division that is tied to MSU’s overall strategic plan and will define short and long-term priorities. They will accomplish this through active collaboration with campus stakeholders and the leveraging of student spaces to promote engagement, belonging, and well-being. As a proven manager and leader with strong financial acumen, the VPSA will support their team and advocate for the resources needed to enhance the student experience.

All applications, nominations, referrals, and inquiries should be sent in confidence electronically below. 

Rebecca Kennedy and Keight Tucker Kennedy are leading this search with Melissa DePretto Behan and Cortnee Bollard.

Michigan State University is committed to cultivating a safe and inclusive campus community characterized by caring and respect for others. Michigan State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

As an institution of higher learning, Michigan State University is committed to providing a safe environment for its students, faculty, and staff in support of its educational mission.  With this commitment, the University will conduct a professional misconduct review of all individuals seeking employment in executive management and academic management positions (e.g., President, Provost, Vice President, Vice Provost, Deans, etc.)

A professional misconduct review is a prerequisite for all individuals to be selected for this position. Interviewees will be asked to disclose whether they are subject to any pending investigation, findings or sanctions related to professional misconduct. Professional misconduct includes misconduct related to a person’s employment, including, but not limited to, theft, embezzlement, research integrity, discrimination, or harassment under civil rights laws and policies, including protected identity harassment, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct (sexual assault, sexual exploitation, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, etc.), and retaliation. At the interview stage, candidates will also be asked to sign an authorization and release, which authorizes the University to contact the candidate’s current and former employers, for a period of 7 years prior to the date of application, related to any pending investigations, findings of responsibility and/or sanctions related to professional misconduct. Although the declaration and authorization will be signed at the interview stage, the University will not reach out to the current and former employers until the semi-finalist candidates are identified for on campus interviews but before a formal offer of employment is made by the University.

The existence of professional misconduct history does not automatically exclude a candidate from employment. The University will assess the information, including any information provided by the candidate, in determining whether the professional misconduct history is compatible with the position. The University may decline to hire a candidate based on the professional misconduct review. All records obtained from external employers will be kept in a secure location, separate from personnel files. If an applicant fails to sign the authorization and release, the application will be deemed incomplete and will be considered withdrawn.

We collectively acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. In particular, the University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Michigan State University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.