Dear Spartans,
One of my goals as president is to build on Michigan State’s legacy as a proudly public university and position us to be even more strategic, bold and student focused. Today, I am pleased to announce an important step forward with the selection of Laura Lee McIntyre as our next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
Dr. McIntyre brings palpable energy and outstanding experience in advancing knowledge and transforming lives. Currently, she serves as dean of the College of Education and the Castle-McIntosh-Knight Professor in school psychology at the University of Oregon. Under her leadership, the College of Education has thrived, with a collaborative culture leading to new academic programs, more robust student advising services, stronger graduate enrollment, increased student scholarships, more research awards, increased revenue and a meaningful commitment to shared governance and faculty development.
Aligned with Michigan State’s robust outreach and service mission, Dr. McIntyre has a strong track record of forging community partnerships. For example, she helped raise $425 million to establish UO’s Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, which is implementing a new national model for expanding the mental health workforce and delivering much-needed support in schools and community settings. She also helped expand UO’s HEDCO Clinic, which serves hundreds of children and adults each year with evidence-based behavioral health services.
Dr. McIntyre is an accomplished scholar, known for her work in early childhood, autism, family-centered interventions and family-school partnerships for children with disabilities. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, certified school psychologist and board-licensed psychologist.
I am confident that Dr. McIntyre shares our one-team approach to embracing our rich land-grant traditions while becoming a more contemporary and bold institution. And I want to thank our search committee, co-chaired by Dean Jim Forger and Professor Felicia Wu, for leading such a comprehensive and diligent national search to help bring her to our community. The committee has provided a great service to the university.
I also want to thank Dr. Thomas Jeitschko for his invaluable service as interim provost for nearly three years. I am grateful for his many significant contributions, from building community and strengthening meaningful stakeholder engagement to promoting cross-functional collaboration as one team and recruiting and appointing excellent university leaders. In the months and years ahead, we will continue to build on Thomas’ work and appreciate that he will return to his role as senior associate provost during this leadership transition.
My appointment of Dr. McIntyre is subject to approval by the Board of Trustees at their next meeting on June 13. Her planned start date is Aug. 4, 2025, and she will also serve as MSU Research Foundation Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education. I encourage you to listen to this podcast to learn more about Dr. McIntyre.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. McIntyre and offering her a warm welcome to the Spartan community.
Sincerely,
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D.
President
Professor, Department of Kinesiology