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Michael Garrison is the former president of West Virginia University, succeeded by C. Peter Magrath on August 1, 2008. A graduate of the WVU class of 1992, Garrison was installed as president in October 2007. He earned a J.D. at WVU in 1996 and taught as an adjunct professor in the university's department of Political Science in the years preceding his appointment as president.
Garrison had been managing member of Spilman Thomas & Battle pllc in Morgantown. He served as chief of staff for former governor Bob Wise and as cabinet secretary in the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue. He was also a lobbyist and consultant for Mylan, Inc., a generic pharmaceutical corporation with headquarters in Pittsburgh.
Garrison's selection as president was controversial with the university's faculty; the faculty senate voted no confidence in him in April 2007, before the decision to appoint him. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted concerns about his lack of academic experience and the possibility that his inclusion among the finalists was the result of his political connections. In addition to his former West Virginia government posts, Garrison is a "family friend and former business associate" of Heather Bresch, daughter of current West Virginia governor Joe Manchin, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Mylan, Inc.
In 2008 Garrison became embroiled in a scandal involving the granting of an MBA degree to Bresch, who had failed to complete the required credits. A panel led by WVU faculty members produced a report on the incident described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as criticising the university administration for having made "a 'seriously flawed' decision fraught with favoritism." In May 2008 the faculty senate voted 77-19 to call for Garrison's resignation - a demand repeated by a vote (565-39, with 11 abstentions) open to all WVU faculty at a mass meeting a week later.
On June 6, 2008, Garrison officially announced he would resign as President of the University effective September 1, 2008. In October 2008 a West Virginia grand jury decided not to indict Garrison on criminal charges relating to the degree scandal.