The 2026 Rev. Robert F. Griffin, C.S.C., Award: Michael T. Benson ’11 MNA

In recognition of his leadership in higher education and his impact on historical scholarship through his written works, Michael T. Benson ’11 MNA was presented with the 2026 Rev. Robert F. Griffin, C.S.C., Award.

Benson serves as 27th president and professor of history at West Virginia University. During his nearly 25-year tenure as a university/college president, Benson has earned two master’s degrees, written countless articles, published one book, and co-authored another.

Benson began his academic and professional career studying, volunteering, and working in Italy, England, and Israel for more than six years. He has taught at each of the five institutions where he has served as president, as well as holding adjunct faculty appointments at Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins University.

Alongside his leadership and teaching, Benson has always loved writing. An accomplished historian, his most recent work, Daniel Coit Gilman and the Birth of the American Research University (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022), was named by Forbes magazine as one of the best higher education books of 2023. He earned his bachelor’s from Brigham Young, master’s degrees from Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins, and doctorate in modern history from the University of Oxford.

Michael and his wife, Debi, have three children: Truman, a college soccer player in Utah; Tatum, a freshman-to-be at Auburn University; and Talmage, a standout golfer and sophomore at Myrtle Beach High School. Benson also has two older children from a previous marriage: Emma, a medical reporter for KSL TV in Utah; and Samuel, a writer for Politico in Washington, D.C., whose wife, Keylla, is a first-year law student at Georgetown University.

“My sincere thanks to the Alumni Association for this singular honor. From the first time I stepped foot on the Notre Dame campus when I was seven years old, I immediately recognized what a special and unique place this is. To now be recognized by a university I love for contributions in writing means more than I can express.”