Dive Brief:
- Montana State University President Waded Cruzado plans to retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year after leading the public institution for 15 years.
- Clayton Christian, Montana’s higher education commissioner, will search for Cruzado’s replacement on behalf of the university’s governing board. Montana State will enlist a recruitment firm to assist with the search.
- In the announcement, university officials praised Cruzado, crediting her with helping boost enrollment, improve student success metrics and raise the institution’s research profile.
Dive Insight:
Since Cruzado took over as president in 2010, the institution “set records in nearly every major university metric,” the announcement said, including enrollment, retention and fundraising.
Montana State enrolled 16,681 students in fall 2022, up 27.5% from fall 2010, per federal data. Today, the institution has about 17,000 students, making it the state’s largest university, according to the announcement.
Its retention rate has also improved. Last fall, 77.9% of first-year students returned for their second year, breaking “modern records” for the institution, Montana State officials said.
Meanwhile, the institution’s research expenditures reached $230 million in 2023. That’s more than double the $98.5 million spent on research in 2009, before Cruzado took office.
Cruzado’s last day will be June 30, 2025. In a message to campus, she said she was grateful to have another year to celebrate the university’s traditions.
“I’m thankful that I’m in good health to enjoy this transition into retirement — a new stage that I long for and dread in equal measure,” Cruzado wrote. “I long for more time with my family, particularly my grandchildren, who will only be young once. As for the dread? I will miss you all so terribly much.”
Before serving as president for Montana State, Cruzado was the executive vice president and provost at New Mexico State University. She also previously served as a dean at New Mexico State and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, her alma mater.
In a statement Monday, Christian said Cruzado has “transformed higher education.”
“She is an exceptional leader and advocate who cares with her whole heart about the students, faculty, staff, fans and alumni who make up a university community,” Christian said. “Exceptional leaders leave an organization better than they found it, and President Cruzado has done that to a historic degree.”
However, Cruzado’s tenure hasn’t been without controversy.
In recent months, the U.S. Department of Education has opened several investigations into civil rights complaints against Montana State. Those include allegations that the university retaliated against one of its students who advocated for the LGBTQ+ community and failed to adequately respond to reports of discrimination, the Daily Montanan reported.
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