Dean's Blog: Support for Acting President Upda

January 17, 2019 - Dean Rachel Croson

 

 

Yesterday Interim President John Engler submitted his resignation. Over this past year, MSU has made much progress but has also experienced significant setbacks.

Our search for a permanent President is underway, and I am optimistic that a candidate will be chosen this spring and will start this summer. In the meantime, the Trustees have named Dr. Satish Udpa as Acting President

I fully support the choice of Dr. Udpa. He has served as a faculty member, Department Chair, Dean and Executive Vice President.  In all those roles, he has proven to be an ethical and supportive leader. He understands the internal and external forces facing MSU, and has my strongest endorsement.

My faculty and staff, and all of MSU’s leadership, continue our commitment to ensuring that our students are safe and supported, and that they receive the very best education possible.  As the Deans wrote in a recent letter, published in Inside Higher Education,

“We must avoid the temptation to put the Nassar crisis behind us. Rather, we need to keep what happened and the lessons we are learning from it in front of us.”

We will never forget the tragedy of what the Sister Survivors experienced and our failure to protect those who were assaulted and abused. We will use those memories to continue to reform our institution, and all of higher education. I know that Dr. Udpa shares this belief and he will be a strong partner in our work on the important cultural changes that need to happen.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional concerns or if I can provide more information.

 

Sincerely yours,

Rachel T.A. Croson