More than 160 Michigan State University faculty members earned reappointments, promotions or tenure in recognition of their outstanding teaching and scholarship.
The promotions include 45 new associate professors with tenure, six associate professors receiving tenure with their reappointment, 42 promotions to full professor, and 73 reappointments as assistant professor. These faculty represent colleges across the university and demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching, research and service.
“The faculty promoted in 2025–26 exemplify advancing knowledge and transforming lives,” said Teresa Mastin, vice provost and associate vice president for Faculty and Academy Staff Affairs. “Their scholarship, creative work, and outreach and engagement span a wide range, benefiting both Michiganders and communities around the world.”
Faculty earn promotions and tenure through multiple levels of evaluation, beginning with peer review in their department or unit and advancing to college and dean recommendations to the provost. The president ultimately approves promotion actions, and the Board of Trustees approves tenure actions at its June meeting each year.
Promotion and tenure recognize sustained excellence in scholarship, teaching and service.
As one example along a continuum of faculty excellence, Teresa Bergholz, in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, combines fundamental microbiology with practical food safety solutions — producing both strong scholarship and real-world impact for industry and consumers. Her work helps address the estimated $17.6 billion annual cost of foodborne illness.
At another point along the continuum, Department of History Professor Helen Veit, in the College of Social Science, both educates and entertains through her acclaimed book “Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History.”
Additionally, newly promoted Professor Christopher Corneal, in the Department of Art, Art History and Design in the College of Arts and Letters, conducts work centered on socially responsible design and how it advances civic dialogue. Through his co-curation work, “I Profess: The Graphic Design Manifesto — 20th Anniversary (2024–2025),” he unites international design educators to explore ethics and activism in design through exhibitions and publications.
The faculty members recognized this year have demonstrated exceptional impact in their respective fields. Their scholarship, creative activity and leadership contribute meaningfully to MSU’s reputation and to our mission of advancing knowledge and transforming lives.
The Office of the Provost congratulates the following individuals on their well-earned accomplishments and looks forward to celebrating them together in the fall.
Promotions to associate professor with tenure
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Erin Burns
- David Carter
- Anders Huseth
- Jongkyoo Kim
- Euihark Lee
- Eric Patterson
- Elizabeth “Bess” Perry
- Debalina Saha
- Zheng Zhou
College of Arts and Letters
- Alejandra Márquez Guajardo
- Casey McArdle
- Betsy Sneller
- Koen Van Gorp
Eli Broad College of Business
College of Communication Arts and Sciences
- Luke Capizzo
- Chuqing Dong
- Jacob Fisher
- Jean Hardy
- Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice
- Maria Molina
College of Education
- Shireen Al-Adeimi
- Matthew Harkey
- Charis Wahman
College of Engineering
- Bahare Kiumarsi
- Debajit Saha
- Joshua Siegel
College of Human Medicine
- A. Emiko Blalock
- Daniel Campbell
- Ariel Cascio
- Michael Williams
James Madison College
- Jordan Cash
- Omowumi Elemo-Kaka
Lyman Briggs College
College of Natural Science
- Wolfgang Kerzendorf
- Benjamin Orlando
- Ekaterina Rapinchuk
- Matthew Stoffregen
- Lauren Sullivan
- Olga Turanova
- Josh Vermaas
- Joseph Waldron
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
College of Social Science
- Amanda Chuan
- Ethan Theuerkauf
College of Veterinary Medicine
Associate professors acquiring tenure with reappointment
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
College of Law
College of Music
College of Natural Science
College of Social Science
College of Veterinary Medicine
Promotions to full professor
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Teresa Bergholz
- Gregory Bonito
- Nicole Mason-Wardell
- Lisa Tiemann
- Dong Zhao
College of Arts and Letters
- Christopher Corneal
- Debra Hardison
- Tamura Lomax
- Deogratias Ngonyani
- Camelia Suleiman
- Divya Victor
- Ann Folino White
Eli Broad College of Business
- Ahmet Kirca
- Richard Saouma
College of Communication Arts and Sciences
College of Education
- Rajiv Ranganathan
- Spyridoula Vazou
- Sara Witmer
College of Engineering
College of Human Medicine
College of Music
- David Biedenbender
- Michael Callahan
- Karen Salvador
College of Osteopathic Medicine
College of Natural Science
- Jun Kitagawa
- Liangliang Sun
- Weiwei Xie
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
- John Aerni-Flessner
- Terese Monberg
College of Social Science
- Hyunkag Cho
- Kyunghee Lee Choi
- LaShawn Harris
- Elizabeth Drexler
- Joseph Hamm
- Alexander Johnson
- Chenwei Liao
- Stephanie Nawyn
- Christopher Nye
- Maite Tapia
- Helen Veit
Reappointments as assistant professor
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Angela Burrow
- Si Chen
- Sonja Christensen
- Kwangwook Kim
- J. Alejandro Rojas
- Molly Sears
- Joshua Vander Weide
- Armin Yeganeh
College of Arts and Letters
- Sara Doan
- Chamara Kwakye
- Sheri Lewis
- Blaire Morseau
- Suban Nur Cooley
- Leonora Souza Paula
- Gianina Strother
- Renée Wilmot
- Adam Yankowy
Eli Broad College of Business
- Jordan Barker
- Li Cheng
- Xiuyi “Sherry” He
- Chandu Manchiraju
- Stanislav Sokolinski
College of Communication Arts and Sciences
- Christina Myers
- Edward Timke
College of Education
- Sara Bano
- Yazmin Castruita Rios
- Sarah Cox
- Kylie Gorney
- Justin Gutzwa
- Jaeyoung Kim
College of Engineering
- Ryan LaRose
- Kaisen Lin
- Shaoting Lin
- Xinyue Liu
- Nicholas Miller
College of Human Medicine
- Ban Al-Sahab
- Carolina de Aguiar Ferreira
- Maji Debena
- Xiaoyu Liang
- Tommy Vo
James Madison College
Lyman Briggs College
College of Music
College of Natural Science
- Melanie Balbach
- Christopher Baldwin
- Sophie Berkman
- March Boedihardjo
- Demetre Kazaras
- Anthony Kendall
- Seokhyoung Kim
- Konstantin Matetski
- Mehr Nisa
- Alisha Shah
- Avery St. Dizier
- Lu Xia
- Yue Xing
- Mengsen Zhang
- Shuo Zhang
College of Social Science
- Blair Burnette
- Lekie Dwanyen
- Kevin Hoff
- Carolyn Isaac
- Paul Kim
- John Kuk
- Rachel McNealey
- Stephen Przybylinski
- Shayan Rajani
- Nura Sediqe
- Ted Schwaba
- Brandon Turchan
- Kalah Villagrana
College of Veterinary Medicine
- Valerie Johnson
- Scott Sherrill-Mix