MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — According to multiple reports, West Virginia University has chosen its next President, replacing current President E. Gordon Gee!
BREAKING: West Virginia University has named MICHAEL BENSON as its next President, replacing long-time #WVU President E. Gordon Gee! pic.twitter.com/BsJWW6akwT
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) February 21, 2025
According to Hoppy Kercheval, who was first to report it, Michael Benson, current President at Coastal Carolina, has been chosen and is set to take over for Gee this summer. Benson, 59, is considered an outstanding administrator and was very impressive during his interview with the Board. According to his bio on the official Coastal Carolina website, Benson, who is orginally from Salt Lake City, Utah, has tremendous experienced. “His previous administrative posts include special assistant to the president and secretary to the University of Utah, and president of Snow College (2001-2006), Southern Utah University (2007-2013), and Eastern Kentucky University (2013-2020). He has held faculty appointments at the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins University and has taught at each institution where he served as president.
Michael earned his doctorate in modern history from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) where he was a Rotary Foundation Scholar and recipient of the Oxford Overseas Graduate Fellowship. His books include Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel (Praeger, 1997) and College for the Commonwealth: A Case of Higher Education in American Democracy (with Hal Boyd, University Press of Kentucky, 2017). His latest book, Gilman at Hopkins: The Birth of the Modern American Research University, will be released in 2022 by Johns Hopkins University Press.”
The three finalists for the position were House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes, who was the former dean of the WVU business school and of course Benson. The position has been held by Gordon Gee since March 2014, but he announced that he will retire this summer.
Here's a picture of Michael Benson, the current president at Coastal Carolina and the next president of WVU. pic.twitter.com/i0F6n2oFIX
— Hoppy Kercheval (@HoppyKercheval) February 21, 2025
