LANSING, MI - The MSU Board of Trustees is expected to appoint former Michigan Gov. John Engler to lead the university as its interim president at a meeting Wednesday, MLive has confirmed.

A source speaking on background said Engler would be appointed as interim president while the university searches for a permanent replacement.

Engler, a Republican, served as Michigan governor from 1991-2003. He has long focused on education, leading the Proposal A school funding effort in the 1990s and seeing the Governor John Engler Center for Charter Schools at Central Michigan University dedicated in his name in 2012.

U.S. Education Secretary and Michigan native Betsey DeVos recently appointed him to lead the National Assessment Governing Board.

MSU's former President, Lou Anna K. Simon, left amid a public outcry surrounding the case of ex-Dr. Larry Nassar, who worked at the university for close to two decades and pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting women during that time.

The Board of Trustees meets at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.