Committee starts search process for new president of MSU

The search is on to find a new University president after Waded Cruzado retires in June 2025. A board of 23 individuals will meet on Nov. 4 to receive feedback on what the community and student body want to see in a new president, according to student body President Jacob Zink.

According to the email she sent out on Aug. 12, Cruzado will retire on June 30, 2025 after 15 years as the president of MSU. The search committee for her replacement is composed of deans, professors, directors and other members of the MSU community — including two students, according to the list of members available on the MSU website.

Zink was chosen as one of two students to be on the search committee along with graduate student Madisan Chavez. According to him, Zink received a call from Chair of the Board of Regents (BOR) Todd Buchanan inquiring as to whether he would be interested in being on the committee.

The other members of the committee were chosen by Clayton Christian, commissioner of higher education at MSU, in conjunction with the BOR. According to Galen Hollenbaugh — the deputy commissioner for government relations and communication for the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education — the board strived to “cast the broadest net possible” when choosing the committee.

During the Nov. 4 meeting — which will also serve as a public forum — members of the Bozeman and MSU communities will have the opportunity to provide input on their desired qualities for the new president, Zink said. “That's the golden question that we don't know the answer to yet, [those qualities] will really be informed by the community public listening sessions,” he said.

These listening sessions will define what the job description looks like for the list of candidates, according to Zink. MSU is working withGreenwood Asher & Associates, a higher education executive search firm that will create and distribute advertisements for the job and handle the application process according to Hollenbaugh.

The firm specializes in higher education executive searches and will assist MSU with application confidentiality and recruitment. The committee does not have any specific candidates in mind at the moment, but after the listening sessions and working with their firm, the prospects will become more clear.

Throughout Cruzado’s presidency, multiple enrollment records have been set, many construction and renovation projects have been completed and nearly 230 million dollars of federal grant money has been awarded for research enterprises.

“We’ll never be able to fill the shoes of President Cruzado,” Zink said. The future president will be taking over immediately after Cruzado’s retirement, inheriting the current state of the University but also fulfilling the future needs and handling the growth of the University.

Cruzado is one of the longest-sitting presidents at MSU, which Zink explains as out of the norm. “I think it's fairly uncommon too for presidents to stay at a single university, but also pretty uncommon for a single president to do as much positive growth under one person's tenure.” The future president will be chosen by Christian and the BOR. The committee will guide the process of selection, but as they are an advisory committee, will not make the final decision.

Following the first public forum, Monday, Nov. 4, more logistical information will be available about the search. Committee members will have a better idea of what the community hopes to see in the next president in addition to when more public sessions will take place. The faculty, students and other non-MSU affiliates will help the committee with the process the most.

“Student participation and community participation is super important because that quite literally sets the stage and sets the tone for [what] we're crafting up and we're all in this together,” Zink said.

The first public session will be held in Inspiration Hall located in Norm Asbjornson Hall on Monday, Nov. 4 at 5:15 p.m. To find out more, visit https://www.montana.edu/news/24051.