Waded Cruzado, MSU president, to retire next year (2024)

Waded Cruzado, who has served as president of Montana State University for nearly 15 years, announced on Monday that she will retire in June 2025.

In a letter sent to the entire student body, Cruzado called her time at MSU “an incomparable honor, the memory of which I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.”

Cruzado took the job at the flagship university in 2010, making her the 12th president to sit at its helm.

Since then, MSU has surpassed previous highs in nearly every major university metric including enrollment numbers, research, fundraising and student retention rates.

There were a total of 11,162 students enrolled in MSU undergraduate programs for the fall 2010 semester, the first of Cruzado’s tenure. As of the fall 2023 semester, that number had reached 14,885 undergraduate students, making it the largest university in the state.

With Cruzado as its leader, MSU transformed its physical presence in Bozeman due to more than $850 million in philanthropic giving. Gifts included the $101 million donation from Mark and Robyn Jones to fund construction of five new nursing education buildings across the state; $50 million from the Gianforte Family Foundation for a new home for computer science, cybersecurity and creative industries; $50 million from Norm Asbjornson for an engineering and honors building; and $25 million from Jake Jabs for the business college buildings.

The campus also expanded with the completion of a new athletic complex, renovations to the football stadium, expansion of the Montana PBS facilities and the groundbreaking of an almost $27 million indoor athletic center.

“President Cruzado was the first in her family to go to college. She speaks of how higher education has transformed her life, but I can attest to how she has transformed higher education,” said Clayton Christian, the Montana Commissioner of Higher Education, in a statement. “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. Exceptional leaders leave an organization better than they found it, and President Cruzado has done that to a historic degree. Thanks to her, Montana State University sits strong and well prepared to embark on its next chapter.”

Cruzado’s impact goes beyond numbers and statistics. It was foretold in the 2009 press release announcing the hiring of Cruzado to sit at the helm of MSU.

“As she assumes her post early next year, she will immediately change the profile of MSU’s leaders,” it said. “She is the first woman to join the group, the first with Hispanic roots, and, at the age of 49, she is among the youngest.”

Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Cruzado was the first in her family to go to college. She served as vice president and provost at New Mexico State University before arriving at MSU. She was selected from a pool of more than 60 candidates who applied for the position.

“She was our first choice,” Sheila Stearns, who served as the commissioner of higher education at the time of Cruzado’s hiring, said in the announcement. “She will bring great leadership to MSU and Montana. This is a very good day.”

University of Montana President Seth Bodnar spoke highly of his MSU counterpart on Monday.

“President Cruzado is a champion for higher education,” Bodnar wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. Her impactful tenure has transformed the lives of so many in our state and across the country. I will forever value her partnership and wish Waded the very best as she enters her next chapter."

According to MSU, Christian, the higher education commissioner, will conduct a search for Cruzado’s successor on behalf of the Montana Board of Regents. An executive recruitment firm will be used to assist with the search.

"I'm grateful I still have this year to enjoy your company, our conversations, and to celebrate our traditions one more time. 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 in her letter. "Yes, 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."