Arkansas State University System President Brendan Kelly is leaving to return to his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, to be its 24th president.
EMU’s Board of Regents selected Kelly on Wednesday, and he will join EMU on March 1, 2026, as president-elect before beginning official duties as president May 4, 2026, upon the retirement of President James Smith. Kelly’s five-year contract will pay an annual salary of $520,000, according to EMU.
Kelly’s wife, Tressa, also earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree — in communications and theatre arts, respectively — from EMU.
A son of entrepreneurs and raised in Flint, Mich., Kelly excelled in speech communication competitions so much that he was recruited by EMU for its consistently excellent program, as was his wife, he explained previously to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Kelly has a Bachelor of Science in public relations and a Master of Arts in communication from EMU — as well as a doctorate in rhetoric and political communication from Wayne State University — and started his teaching career at his alma mater in 2000 as assistant director of forensics and a lecturer in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts.
The ASU System Board of Trustees conducted a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss Kelly’s impending departure, moving immediately into executive session where it took no action. The board also has a regularly scheduled meeting Friday in Little Rock.
Kelly’s resignation is effective Feb. 12, 2026. In a message to his ASU System colleagues Wednesday, Kelly called the EMU opportunity “a remarkable and unexpected invitation to ‘come home,’” noting EMU is where he and his wife began their life together “and a university to which we have been richly connected for decades.”
He called his time as ASU System president “an enormous privilege” and said he didn’t expect it to be so brief, but leading EMU is “a very special, unique, and important mission” for him and his wife.
He is “optimistic about the future of the ASU System and the myriad ways it will continue to impact higher education in Arkansas,” he added. Until he departs next year, “I will be fully invested in advancing current initiatives and ensuring a warm handoff and smooth transition of leadership for the system as directed by the board of trustees.”
Chuck Welch’s final day as ASU System president was in January 2024, when he departed to become president and chief executive officer of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities — a higher education association of 350 public colleges, universities and systems — after more than a dozen years as the system president. Robin Myers, who had recently retired from his role as chancellor of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home, served as interim president between the end of Welch’s tenure and start of Kelly’s.
“We appreciate Dr. Kelly’s service and respect his decision to return to his alma mater and home state,” Steve Eddington, chairman of the ASU System Board of Trustees, said in a statement Wednesday. “The board of trustees will outline a plan to prepare for a smooth transition for future leadership. We have a strong team of campus and system leaders to carry on the work of service to our students in the interim.”
Kelly spent 13 years teaching in Florida and Michigan, and he was president of UWF Foundation Inc. at the University of West Florida in Pensacola from 2013-17, where he led a successful $50 million capital campaign, according to the ASU System. He served as chancellor at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg and Greenville from 2017-2020 and at the University of West Georgia from 2020-2024.
“In my three decades in higher education, I’ve served through multiple system president transitions. Continuity of purpose is of utmost importance, and we are fortunate to have the leadership provided by our board of trustees and the hard work of the system staff as we navigate this transition,” Todd Shields, chancellor of Arkansas State University, said Wednesday in a statement. “As the trustees identify a new system president, our job is to stay the course and stick to the vital mission of educating tomorrow’s leaders and bridging our four-year and two-year colleges, industry, and workforce needs for the ultimate good of Northeast Arkansas and the entire state. Together, A-State will continue to be one of the country’s best universities.”
The ASU System Board of Trustees selected Kelly as president in the summer of 2024, and his five-year contract offer included an annual salary of $450,000. Following his first year as president of the system, Kelly received a 2% raise, approved by the board earlier this fall.
