U-M picks Vanderbilt’s C. Cybele Raver as next president: What to know

U-M is hiring Vanderbilt Provost C. Cybele Raver as its 17th president
She will be the second female president of Michigan’s largest university
She will succeed Domenico Grasso

The University of Michigan has selected C. Cybele Raver, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University, as its next president.

She will be the second female president of the university.

Raver, who holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, is also a professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, where she has conducted research on children’s development, education policy and poverty.

She will succeed Domenico Grasso, who has been U-M’s president since 2025 when Santa Ono resigned.

Since then, U-M announced Kent Syverud, a U-M alum and president of Syracuse University, would lead the school. But earlier this year, Syverud announced he had brian cancer and U-M resumed its search.

“It is an extraordinary honor to be considered as the University of Michigan’s 17th president at this pivotal moment in higher education,” Raver said in a statement. “Michigan’s scale and impact across research, education, economic growth and public service are unmatched, and I’m eager to build on its remarkable legacy. I look forward to working alongside faculty, staff, students and alumni to lead Michigan forward with clarity and confidence.”

RELATED:

The university’s Board of Regents plans to meet Sept. 1 to approve the hiring. If she is approved, she will start Dec. 1.

“Dr. Raver has a proven record of building strong teams, expanding research excellence and strengthening every institution she has served,” said Michael Behm, chair of the Board of Regents, in a statement. “She understands what it takes to lead a complex, world-class university and she shares our unwavering belief that Michigan has been, is now and must remain the best university in the country. We are confident she is the right leader for this moment and we look forward to the board’s formal vote.”

She previously was the deputy provost at New York University, a faculty member at the University of Chicago and a faculty member at Cornell University. She earned her doctoral degree from Yale.

Vanderbilt is a private research university in Nashville with a total enrollment of 13,575 students in 2024, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The main U-M campus in Ann Arbor has more than 53,000 students and the Flint and Dearborn campuses add another nearly 15,000 students.

It’s unclear how much Raver will be paid. U-M said it would not have additional details before Sept. 1.

Syerud had been granted a contract with a $2 million annual base pay and total compensation nearing $3 million, according to an expert who analyzes presidential contracts. At the time, George Mason University Professor Emeritus James Finkelstein told Bridge Michigan that Syverud’s contract “breaks new ground for a public university president.”

U-M President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman was the first woman to lead the state’s largest university, serving from 2002 to 2014. She also previously served in 2022.

Raver will inherit a host of challenges at U-M, including selecting a new athletic director as Warde Manuel is set to step down at the end of the year.

U-M is also planning to build a data center near its Ann Arbor campus despite local opposition and is navigating a federal government that has sought to overhaulhigher education, including how student protests are handled, what research should be funded andhow much money students can borrow for school.

A University of Michigan sign — The University of Michigan Board of Regents is expected to formally approve Raver as president at its Sept. 1 board meeting. (Photo via University of College/Shutterstock)

Here’s a look at some of the challenges and issues Raver would face as U-M’s new leader:

Data center

U-M plans to build a $1.2 billion data center in Ypsilanti Township in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory. But the project faces pushback from local residents. The Ypsilanti township board is expected to consider a six-month delay on Tuesday to determine if local infrastructure can handle the demands of the project.

“We need to examine the impact that these substations are going to have upon the environment, especially when they’re going to build these gigantic monstrosities,” Doug Winters, Ypsilanti Township attorney, told Bridge Michigan Monday.

“What they’re building is already going to produce more energy than what the rest of the township is using right now.”

Athletics

Raver would start the same month Manuel is set to step down.

Manuel agreed to step down following investigations into former football coach Sherrone Moore’s relationship with his executive assistant and a probe into the athletic department.

Manuel will receive a $7 million buyout.

“The broader culture review has identified serious concerns that require immediate action,” Grasso said in a July video. “These include failures in accountability, structural deficiencies, weakness in our reporting and support systems and concerns about retaliation. This is unacceptable.”

Grade changes

In a pilot program slated to begin in fall 2027, first-year students in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, or LSA, won’t see letter grades on their transcripts for classes they take in the first semester. Instead, the grades will be hidden and students will get a “pass” or “no credit” on their transcript. LSA says hiding letter grades could help students adjust to college and address mental health concerns. LSA is the largest college at U-M.

Critics acknowledge a bad grade can bring discomfort but say that’s not a mental health issue and worry that shielding grades is just “coddling” students and could create a sense of entitlement.

Student protests

U-M has faced criticism from some faculty and students for how it handled protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

Some protestors have faced campus bans and are challenging U-M in court, and in 2025, Grasso announced the school would stop its contract with a private security firm after the Guardian reported the firm had followed and recorded protesters for months.

Vanderbilt has also experienced campus protests over the war and suspended some students, which sparked criticism from faculty. After meeting with Raver in 2024, Vanderbilt faculty members told Raver in a letter that she “deflected our substantive concerns that harsh and selective discipline of student protesters does grave damage to our intellectual and pedagogical community.”

Federal uncertainty

The federal government has cut research funding, challenged university presidents’ handling over student protests and revoked statuses of some international students.

International students: The University of Michigan had 8,091 international students in 2025. That’s just more than 15% of total enrollment. In fall 2024, 8,667 international students attended U-M, about 16% of total enrollment.

The nation is projected to lose 111,000 international students this fall, which would be a loss of $3.4 billion and nearly 40,000 jobs, according to a preliminary analysis this month from the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers.

In Michigan, the loss is projected to be $284 million. The decline is fueled by a 21% drop in applications to US doctoral programs, federal travel bans and more.

Research: U-M is one of the nation’s largest research institutions and, like some other US universities, it has faced the prospect of federal funding cuts. U-M spends more than $2 billion a year on research. Vanderbilt lauded Raver’s leadership of research in a statement Tuesday: “Raver set ambitious goals for Vanderbilt’s research enterprise as it reached record heights, surpassing $1 billion in annual research expenditures and $100 million in annual technology transfer revenue,” Vanderbilt said in a news release Tuesday. “She also strengthened the university’s infrastructure for research operations, faculty development and student well-being while advancing efforts to recruit outstanding faculty and students from around the world.”
Student loans: Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s new rules on federal student loans could limit access for some people to attend graduate school. There are stricter borrowing limits for graduate students and students who attended “professional” programs would have a higher borrowing limit than other graduate students. But those designations are now tied up in legal battles.

The Associated Press and Bridge reporter Kim Kozlowski contributed.

Thank you to our Education Watch sponsors

Bridge Michigan Education Watch is made possible by generous financial support from our sponsors. Sponsorship supports our independent journalism mission but does not constitute sponsor endorsement of individual articles or editorial content. Bridge Michigan journalism remains fact- and data-driven and independent at all times.

Please visit the About page for more information and to subscribe to Education Watch. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact Emma Carr.