The Michigan State University Board of Trustees today elected Trustee Rema Vassar as its next board chair, a historical moment that makes Vassar the first Black woman to serve as chair of the board. Trustee Dan Kelly was elected vice chair during today’s first meeting of 2023.
Vassar and Kelly will each serve a two-year term, ending January 2025. This is Kelly’s third term as vice chair.
In her comments at the board meeting, newly elected Chair Vassar quoted Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968: “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”