WSU names new provost, executive vice president

Washington State University on Tuesday named Mitzi Montoya as its new provost and executive vice president.

Montoya, an administrator at Oregon State University, will start at WSU on Aug. 1, according to a news release. She will replace Dan Bernardo, who is stepping down after nearly 15 years in top leadership roles at WSU, including a year as interim president.

Montoya will work closely with WSU President Kirk Schulz and oversee the university’s academic functions.

One of her first priorities will be to assist Schulz in creating the university’s next five-year strategic plan, according to the news release. She will also advance the “Drive to 25” campaign, which aims to make WSU one of the top 25 public research universities in the country by 2030.

Montoya oversaw the design of a 40,000-square-foot OSU facility that opened last fall in downtown Portland. WSU’s announcement also credited her with boosting enrollment in OSU’s College of Business and, in a first, enrolling more women than men in the college’s MBA program.

A native of Texas, Montoya holds a bachelor’s degree in applied engineering science and a doctorate in marketing and statistics from Michigan State University. Before starting at OSU in 2015, she spent 15 years at North Carolina State University and five years at Arizona State University in a variety of faculty and administrative roles.