RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
                                Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b)
                                       File Name: 23a0265p.06

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT



                                                             ┐
BRADLEY M. PETERSON, Ph.D.,
                                                             │
                                   Plaintiff-Appellant,      │
                                                              >        No. 23-3338
                                                             │
       v.                                                    │
                                                             │
KRISTINA M. JOHNSON, Ph.D., in her individual and            │
official capacities; BRUCE A. MCPHERON, Ph.D., in his        │
individual capacity only; MELISSA L. GILLIAM, M.D.,          │
M.P.H., in her official capacity only,                       │
                                  Defendants-Appellees.      │
                                                             ┘

  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
                 No. 2:22-cv-00276—Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge.

                             Decided and Filed: December 5, 2023

             Before: MOORE, McKEAGUE, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

                                      _________________

                                            COUNSEL

ON BRIEF: Tracy L. Turner, ROSENBERG & BALL CO., LPA, Granville, Ohio, for
Appellant. Benjamin M. Flowers, Michael J. Hendershot, OFFICE OF THE OHIO
ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees.
 No. 23-3338                            Peterson v. Johnson, et al.                                   Page 2


                                           _________________

                                                 OPINION
                                           _________________

    KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Bradley Peterson sued Kristina Johnson and
Bruce McPheron1 pursuant to 

 alleging that Johnson and McPheron violated his
procedural-due-process rights. Peterson alleges that he had a property interest in his status as an
emeritus professor at the Ohio State University (“Ohio State”) and that Johnson and McPheron
deprived him of that status without adequate process. The district court dismissed the complaint
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), finding that Peterson’s emeritus status was not a
constitutionally protected property interest. Peterson now appeals. For the reasons explained
below, we AFFIRM the district court.

                                           I. BACKGROUND

        Bradley Peterson joined Ohio State in 1979 and, by 1984, he was promoted to Associate
Professor and granted tenure status. R. 1 (Compl. ¶ 10) (Page ID #4). Following his retirement
on June 30, 2015, Peterson was granted emeritus status. 

 (Page ID #6). Peterson then
began working as a Distinguished Visiting Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute,
developing a study that would be presented to NASA and the National Academy of Sciences,
conducting research, and writing the second edition of an astrophysics textbook. 

 ¶¶ 14–15
(Page ID #6). In October 2018, Peterson returned to Ohio State full-time with his emeritus
status, but he continued much of his work for these other entities. 

 (Page ID #6–7).

        In April 2020, three women filed a sexual-harassment complaint against Peterson. 

 (Page ID #7). Ohio State investigated the complaint by conducting interviews of the
women and any witnesses over the course of a few weeks. 

 (Page ID #11–12). On April
27, 2020, after completing several interviews, Ohio State notified Peterson about the pending
investigation. 

 Peterson denied the allegations in