Michael Taft Benson (born February 28, 1965) is an American academic administrator serving as the president and professor of history at Coastal Carolina University.
Benson earned a doctorate in modern history from St Antony's College, Oxford in 1995, where he was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar.
[2] Benson also earned a master's degree cum laude in non-profit administration in 2011 from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, and a master’s in liberal arts in 2021 from Johns Hopkins University where he was elected to the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs (AGLSP) National Honor Society.
Two years after completing his degree from Notre Dame, the Mendoza College of Business recognized Benson with its Recent Alumni Service Award.
During his tenure, Benson raised the private funds to construct the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts,[9] made Snow an All-Steinway school,[10] and brought Elie Wiesel to campus for a lecture and to receive an honorary degree.
[16] In March 2014, Benson returned to Cedar City to help celebrate the conclusion of "The Future is Rising" campaign which brought in a record $105 million in seven years for Southern Utah University.
He was subsequently named President Emeritus of EKU and spent 2020 researching and writing his latest book on Daniel Coit Gilman for Johns Hopkins University Press.
[21] In May 2023, Benson was inducted into the EKU Society of Foundation Professors as an honorary member in recognition of his teaching and scholarship during his service as president.
[26] In September 2021, former head football coach and CEO of TD Ameritrade, Joe Moglia, made a substantial gift to Coastal Carolina University to complete funding for a new soccer facility as well as a multi-purpose building that will constructed in the south endzone of Brooks Stadium.
[27] In May 2022, Coastal Carolina announced the largest gift in its history: $10 million from Conway Medical Center to name and endow a new College of Health and Human Performance.
Funds from the gift will provide scholarships for students and also help construct an indoor practice facility on the south side of Brooks Stadium.
[36] On February 21, 2025 local Myrtle Beach news outlets published a story stating the Benson would be leaving CCU to become president of West Virginia University.
[37] In 2009, Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. named Benson to a four-year term as member of the seven-person Utah Appellate Courts Nominating Commission.
[39][40] In October 2021, Benson was appointed to the NCAA Board of Governors Committee to Promote Cultural Diversity and Equity as the FBS presidential representative.
[45] Benson is the author of Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel[46] and, with co-author Hal Boyd, published College for the Commonwealth: A Case for Higher Education in American Democracy[47] with the University Press of Kentucky (2018).
[49][50] Benson delivered the keynote address at the annual Johns Hopkins Master of Liberal Arts Colloquium in May 2021, focusing on his Gilman research and writing, and was invited back to campus for Alumni weekend in 2023 and interviewed by Hopkins president Ron Daniels as part of the JHU Press “Meet the Author” series.