YPSILANTI, MI — Flint native and Eastern Michigan University graduate Brendan Kelly will serve as the next EMU president, the university Board of Regents announced Wednesday, Dec. 10.

President of the Arkansas State University System, Kelly will replace outgoing EMU President James Smith, who will have spent 10 years at the university.

Kelly earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from EMU and a doctorate in philosophy from Wayne State University. He has been at Arkansas State since 2024 and previously served as president of the University of West Georgia, chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg and Greenville, and interim president of the University of South Carolina, according to his Arkansas State biography .

He was also a vice president at the Univer

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