Mark Kennedy Named New President of the University of Colorado
UND president Mark Kennedy answers questions during a meeting with the Grand Forks Herald Editorial Board Thursday. photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
It was a close, but the outcome wasn’t unexpected.
On a party line vote, the Board of Regents voted to appoint current University of North Dakota President Mark Kennedy as the new President of the University of Colorado.
If you want to watch the whole, long-winded meeting you can do so here:
This solves a major problem for North Dakota. If Colorado hadn’t hired Kennedy, the North Dakota University System was almost certainly going to can him. And probably pay him some sort of settlement to buy out his contract along the way.
Now none of that has to happen, and North Dakota can move ahead with finding a new leader for UND.
Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s name has been thrown around as a possible candidate, though I don’t think she really wants the job. She isn’t saying no to it, but that’s more about Heitkamp keeping her name in the headlines than an actual desire to lead the campus.
We’ll see.
It’s worth noting that current Minot State University President Steve Shirley was a finalist for the UND job back when Kennedy was hired. Many involved in that process preferred Shirley to Kennedy. It will be interesting to see if he gets the job this time. Assuming he still wants it.
