Michael S. McPherson is an American economist who was the 15th president of Macalester College between 1996 and 2003.
[4] After leaving Macalester, he led the Spencer Foundation for fourteen years before retiring in 2017, where he is president emeritus.
He continued at the University of Chicago for his graduate studies, and received a PhD in economics in 1974.
[4][6] Before joining Macalester, taught at Williams College for twenty-two years as a professor of economics.
[6] McPherson's academic work mainly focuses on the relationship between economics and higher education.