Frank Kedzie was selected to become the eighth president after the retirement of Jonathan LeMoyne Snyder. He was a previous resident of the campus itself, having lived there from age six while his father, Robert Kedzie, taught chemistry at the college. Following in those footsteps, Kedzie, after graduating from M.A.C. in 1877, became a chemistry professor. His later education involved earning a master's degree at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, Germany. He served as president of M.A.C. from 1915 to 1921.