John Edward McGilvrey (8 January 1867 – 3 October 1945) was an American academic who was the first president of what is now Kent State University.

McGilvrey was educated at the Indiana State Normal School, receiving his bachelor of arts and sciences degree in 1895.

Other positions held included professor of education at Illinois University, principal at the Cleveland Normal School from 1899 to 1908, and headmaster of a boys' home in Hudson, Ohio.

[1] McGilvrey had only recently begun his tenure at Western Illinois when he accepted the position as first president at the Kent State Normal School.

Part of his work during this time was the establishment of extension centers at both Western Illinois and Kent, an early form of regional campuses.