Mun Choi, president of the University of Missouri System, will assume the MU chancellor's role on an interim basis, the system announced Thursday in a campus email.
Chancellor Alexander Cartwright is leaving to become president of the University of Central Florida and will start there April 13. He resigned effective Wednesday. Choi's appointment takes effect immediately.
"At this time, the board is not supporting a search for a new chancellor and plans to evaluate and discuss the organizational structure of the university in the coming months," according to a later system news release.
The appointment is effective immediately. Choi’s annual salary of $550,000 will not change as a result.
Julia Brncic, chair of the UM System Board of Curators, said in the news release the action is being taken "to maintain critical leadership at Mizzou and its continued excellence among the nation’s leading research institutions.
“During this time of unprecedented challenges, it is important that our continuity of proven leadership is enabled for swift and efficient actions that benefit our students, faculty, staff and communities,” Brncic said.
The announcement comes more than a week after the curators' Executive Committee granted Choi special overarching authority in the system's response to COVID-19.
Choi will continue his duties as system president. A vote by the full board to put Choi in the dual role was unanimous at a meeting late Wednesday afternoon, according to the campus email from Brncic.
Choi was hired in late 2016 as president of the four-campus system and started in the role in early 2017. The previous president, Tim Wolfe, resigned in November 2015 in a season of campus protests largely around the university's handling of race issues. Michael Middleton served as interim president between the two.
For more on this story and for any updates, visit the original article at the Columbia Missourian's website.