University of Michigan board elects new president C. Cybele Raver unanimously

FOX 2 - The University of Michigan Board of Regents made it official with new president C. Cybele Raver Tuesday.

Michigan's board of regents unanimously voted to appoint Raver, who had first been announced as a choice Aug. 18 and will serve as the school's 17th president.

"I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve as the 17th president of the University of Michigan," she said in a statement. "It is an extraordinary honor, and I am thrilled to join this community."

The backstory:

Raver, currently serving Vanderbilt University as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will take office in Ann Arbor on Dec. 1 in her new role. 

The move comes after previous nominee Kent Syverud was forced to step down before taking the role after being diagnosed with brain cancer last April. He currently serves as law professor and special advisor to the board of regents.

Current president Domenico Grasso will continue his interim leadership role through Nov. 30, and the two leaders will work together.

On Tuesday Raver's acceptance remarks focused on her vision for the university in her new role. 

"This moment means so much to me. Throughout my career, I have been profoundly inspired by the impact that universities can have, bringing talented people together across disciplines and supporting them to pursue bold ideas," she said. "Michigan does this better than many other universities that I can name, and it’s at a truly remarkable scale. 

"My vision is for us to build on that vision, mission, and those values. We have the opportunity to make clear to the world all that Michigan can offer to this great state and to our nation through education, patient care and discovery."

Regents tout Raver

What they're saying:

Regent Mark Bernstein said Raver understands how a great university can leave it's mark on a society.

"All of us on the board, during this process, were struck by her clear vision and sense of purpose, her success as a leader in higher education, her appreciation for the unique challenges and opportunities at Michigan," he said in a statement. "And I would say of equal and maybe greatest importance, her decency and her integrity."

Regent Denise Ilitch called Raver a change agent.

"She’s well-rounded. She’s a team builder. One of my most favorite qualities of hers is that she’s a collaborator, and she gets everyone talking to everyone," she said in a statement. "Her goal is to make an impact and change the world, and that’s what we do here at Michigan. We change the world, and we train leaders, and that is her ultimate goal."

Raver has held her role at Vanderbilt since 2021 and during her tenure she led Vanderbilt past $11 billion in annual research expenditures, recruited eight deans and launched it's College of Connected Computing.

According to Michigan's release, Raver's qualifications include: 

• As a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• An appointment as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Peabody College.
• Her research on children’s development, education policy and poverty has attracted more than $24 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and others.
• Before joining Vanderbilt, she served as deputy provost at New York University and held faculty roles at the University of Chicago and Cornell University.
• She holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Yale University.