Mich. State University president to resign

[United Press International]

EAST LANSING, Mich., May 8 (UPI) -- The president of
Michigan State University has announced he will resign as of Jan. 1,
the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday.
M. Peter McPherson, who has run MSU for 11 years and turns
64 in October, said Friday he has no job lined up. But he said major
institutions such as MSU need change "every decade or so."
Only two other MSU presidents had served longer than
McPherson.
His announcement set off speculation about a successor, with
MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon seen as a front-runner.
Simon, MSU's top academic officer, stepped in to run the
university in 2003 after President George W. Bush asked McPherson to
help organize Iraq's war-torn financial system.
Other names mentioned as possible successors include former
Michigan Govs. John Engler and James Blanchard, and Mark Murray,
formerly Engler's budget director and current president of Grand
Valley State University near Grand Rapids.