Vest, who served as provost at the University in the late 1980s is the National Academy of Engineering’s president and is president emeritus for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Courtesy of University of Michigan

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J. Bernard Machen, who served as the University’s provost from 1995 to 1997 currently serves as the University of Florida’s president and is president emeritus at the University of Utah.

Nancy Cantor, who became the University’s provost in 1997, currently serves as president of Syracuse University.

Though now University president emeritus, James Duderstadt followed a similar pattern.

“The provost position at Michigan has produces some of the great presidents in this country. That’s what people look to it for,” Duderstadt told the Daily when Sullivan was named UVA’s next president. “That’s what Michigan presidents look for. We look for provosts who have the capability to provide that kind of leadership at the national level.”