The University of Colorado’s Board of Regents on Tuesday deliberated in a closed meeting and then voted unanimously to pick interim president Todd Saliman as the sole finalist to be CU’s next president after the controversial tenure of a former congressman who resigned under pressure.
Saliman now will meet with community groups, students, staff and faculty ahead of a final vote expected before school’s out for the summer.
Regents cited Saliman’s background in higher education finance, familiarity with CU’s strategic plan, and a demonstrated ability to work well with the elected regents who govern CU’s four-campus system on a budget around $5 billion.
No other finalist was nominated. Deliberations since September of a 19-member search team and among the regents took place mostly behind-the-scenes and CU officials defended this secrecy as necessary to protect candidates from retribution in their current jobs.
Hundreds of candidates applied for the job – which is seen in part as being the chief advocate for higher education in Colorado. Search team members conducted reviews and picked pools of 39 candidates, and then 10, before sending five names of “highly qualified” candidates to the regents for interviews.
The regents voted in a 10-minute public meeting following their closed session.
Each of those final five candidates presented “a compelling vision” for the future of CU, regent board chairman Jack Kroll said in an interview after the vote.
Major challenges include navigating potentially falling enrollment on some campuses as demographic changes lead to fewer high school graduates around the nation, and melding online “virtual” education with the on-campus in-person experience that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students and families said they see as superior.
“The board pushed all of the candidates on these issues. And, we don’t see the issue of declining enrollment and diversity, equity and inclusion as separate issues. They are one and the same,” Kroll said in a later interview.
There’s only one segment of the Colorado population where college enrollment could increase substantially, “and that is the Latino population,” he said. “It is imperative for the board and the next president to focus on those issues.”
Mark Leffingwell, Daily Camera
Former University of Colorado President Bruce Benson (right) and Todd Saliman go over paperwork at the CU Systems Services office in Denver on Feb. 27, 2014.
The next president will replace former president Mark Kennedy, a former Minnesota congressman who came to CU from the University of North Dakota, who resigned last June and received a $1.3 million settlement payment from CU after a two-year tenure marred by controversy over his conservative political record. CU’s faculty censured Kennedy for “failure to lead” on matters of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The five candidates included two men and three women, one of Indian descent.
“One candidate stood out,” said regents board vice-chair Sue Sharkey, who helped lead CU’s search. Saliman “demonstrated his ability to work well with the board and bridge the gap between the elected officials and the broader university community.”
Saliman has been running the CU system since Kennedy’s resignation. His initial interim presidency contract with the regents stipulated that he wouldn’t apply for the permanent position, and CU officials last year issued a statement saying “Saliman has said he will not apply for the permanent position.” The regents in September changed the contract to allow Saliman to seek the job. And Saliman in December confirmed in a Denver Post interview that he would apply for the permanent position after notifying CU’s governing regents.
The regents hired the Pennsylvania-based firm Storbeck Search to identify a broad pool of candidates.
Saliman, 55, previously served for eight years as a state lawmaker. He served on the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee from 1998 until 2002. He also served under Gov. Bill Ritter as director of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which required working with lawmakers to set spending levels. At CU, Saliman has worked as a student, and as the senior vice president for strategy and government relations and as CU’s chief financial officer.
“I’m just honored, and humbled by the board’s decision,” Saliman said in an interview.
“I look forward to conversations with the CU community and other communities. I love CU. I love Colorado. It is an extraordinary honor to get to the next part of the process,” he said, noting that the four-campus system ranks 10th in the nation among public universities for research and development funding.
“In terms of vision, the vision for CU doesn’t come from one person. It will come from an inclusive process. The president is really the champion and chief for that collaboratively-formed vision,” he said.
“I want CU to be the best. I want students to choose our campuses. I want CU to reflect the diversity of people and ideas in our state. I want us to be the best employer in the state. And I want CU to be the best choice for health care in the state.”
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