ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan has selected an interim president.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents named Domenico Grasso as the interim president, according to an announcement from the university on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
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“President Grasso is widely admired for his visionary work leading University of Michigan-Dearborn, where he has held the role of chancellor since 2018,” the Board of Regents wrote in a message to the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and Michigan Medicine. “We have full confidence that President Grasso will provide steady leadership during this critical time of transition.”
This comes after the university’s former president, Santa J. Ono, announced that he was stepping down from the role after he was named the sole finalist for the presidency at the University of Florida.
Grasso, who earned his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan in 1987, only wants to serve in the interim role and said he will not apply to become the permanent president, according to the release.
“Being asked to serve as the interim president of the University of Michigan is a profound honor,” said Grasso, who, in addition to his chancellorship and his position as an executive officer of the Ann Arbor campus, is a professor of public policy and sustainable engineering at UM-Dearborn. “I offer my gratitude to the board and my promise to the community to meet this opportunity with energy, integrity and dedication to our shared mission.”
During his time as the chancellor of the Dearborn campus, he increased the four-year graduation rate by 16% and tripled external research funding, which allowed the campus to get R2 status, officials said.
Before he served as chancellor at the Dearborn campus, he was provost and chief academic officer at the University of Delaware.
He was also Smith College’s Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor and the founding director of the Picker Engineering program, which was the first engineering program at a women’s college, according to university officials. The interim president also previously served as the dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and vice president for research at the University of Vermont.