Colorado woman chosen to lead St. Cloud State University
Robbyn Wacker of the University of Northern Colorado has been chosen as the new president of St. Cloud State University.
The Minnesota State board of trustees selected Wacker from among four finalists for the presidency at the board's Wednesday meeting.
Wacker has been at the University of Northern Colorado since 1990. She served as provost and senior vice president from 2011 to 2017. Recently she has been in a fundraising position.
Wacker holds a doctorate in sociology from Iowa State University and bachelor's and master's degrees in gerontology from the University of Northern Colorado.
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She will start at St. Cloud State on July 1.
In a news release, Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra said Wacker has had an impressive career in higher education.
"She is a strategic thinker, a visionary leader, and an organizational innovator who understands both the challenges and the opportunities for a public, regional, comprehensive university like St. Cloud State University," Malhotra said.
St. Cloud State has been without a permanent leader since the death of university President Earl H. Potter III, who was killed in a car crash in June 2016.
Ashish Vaidya has been serving as interim president since Potter's death. He is leaving this summer to become president of Northern Kentucky University.
The other finalists for St. Cloud's top post were Brian Johnson, former president of Tuskegee University; Daniel Shipp of the University of Nebraska Omaha; and Dione Somerville from Bloomsburg University.