Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr., a Harvard-trained doctor who has led Stony Brook University on Long Island for almost a decade, was named Tuesday as the next president of Michigan State University in the .
The biomedical researcher was chosen in an 8-0 vote by MSU’s board of trustees, effective Aug. 1, for a five-year contract at the 50,000-student university.
Stanley pledged to create a plan for diversity and inclusion, and said he wants to meet with survivors of Nassar, a disgraced MSU sports doctor who sexually assaulted hundreds of patients and student athletes.
“What happened at MSU will not be forgotten, instead it will drive us every day to work together to build a campus culture of transparency, awareness, sensitivity and prevention,” Stanley said, . “A safe campus for all.”
Stanley will be paid an annual base salary of $800,000, according to a contract provided to the news outlet. His contract includes a yearly bonus of up to $160,000 following positive reviews.
Since 2009, Stanley has led the 26,000-student Stony Brook, a part of the State University of New York. He previously was vice chancellor for research at Washington University in St. Louis, where he first did a fellowship in infectious diseases.
His hiring fills a void at MSU left since former president Lou Anna Simon .
Lou Anna SimonGetty Images
She now about what she knew during a probe into a sex assault allegation against Nassar, who also worked at USA Gymnastics and treated Olympians.
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MSU’s former gymnastics coach and dean of the osteopathic medicine school also have been charged criminally.
After Simon’s departure, board vice president and secretary Bill Beekman briefly served as acting president before former Michigan Gov. John Engler was hired as interim president.
Engler, who helped , was over his comments about some of Nassar’s victims.
Since then, the school has been led by acting president Satish Udpa, a university administrator.
Trustee Melanie Foster, who co-chaired the 18-person search committee, said Stanley is a “proven leader with the energy, integrity and compassion needed to lead our university.”
Michigan State has drawn scrutiny for botching previous complaints against Nassar — dating as far back as 1997 — that allowed his abuse to continue until 2016.
Stony Brook University was among 76 universities investigated by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for their handling of sexual violence cases, according to MLive.
In 2015, a graduate student sued the university for Title IX violations, alleging that school officials were indifferent to her sexual assault.
In 2018, a second lawsuit was filed by another student who accused a history professor of sexually harassing her.
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to sexually assaulting nine victims and possessing child pornography, and his sentences .
With Post wires