In early June, MSU discovered that diplomas printed after Jan. 1 carried the signature of former chairperson Dan Kelly instead of current chairperson Kelly Tebay. The university’s diploma vendor began reprinting corrected diplomas in early July, with graduates expected to receive them within four to eight weeks.

"MSU takes matters related to academic records seriously and worked quickly to resolve the error once it was discovered," Amber McCann, the university’s spokesperson, said. 

Each reprinted diploma includes a letter explaining the mistake.

Errors like this, while rare, aren’t unheard of at large universities, where signature updates or vendor transitions can occasionally lead to misprints.

Matthew Williams, a spring graduate and former State News employee, was among those who received the incorrect version. He said he did not notice the mistake until MSU sent him a letter.

"Honestly, once I got my diploma, I just hung it up and called it a day," he said. "I wasn’t really looking too closely at it."

Williams said MSU apologized and quickly sent him a corrected diploma.

"It seemed like they were trying to remedy it as soon as possible," he said. "For me, it didn’t cause any inconvenience — it just felt like an innocuous mistake."

The Office of the Registrar, responsible for diploma processing and distribution, did not provide a response to the inquiry from The State News seeking clarification on the error.