Washington State University names 12th president, first woman in 135-year history

Washington State University has its next leader.

On Thursday, Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, president of Utah State University, was named the WSU’s 12th president. She will be the first woman to fill the 135-year-old institution’s top role.

The WSU Board of Regents convened on the Pullman campus Thursday and unanimously approved Cantwell’s employment contract following a secretive nine-month search to replace outgoing President Kirk Schulz.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be here, and I’m humbled and I am honored, because I understand what it is we are stepping up to achieve together,” said Cantwell, 69.

Attendees greeted Cantwell with a standing ovation following the vote.

Schulz, who announced his retirement last April, will stay on through the end of the school year, Schauer said. Schulz will take on a role as a senior adviser to assist in Cantwell’s transition. Cantwell said she’s worked with WSU researchers and faculty over the years and thanked the president, who she has considered a mentor, for his service to the university.

“His leadership has been incredible here,” Cantwell said. “He’s built an awesome foundation for me to step up to and move you forward with.”

The incoming president’s ties to Pullman go beyond professional interactions. She noted that her daughter Hannah, the youngest of five children, is currently in her third year of pursuing a doctorate in chemical engineering at WSU.

“I have visited her many, many times; we have walked just about everywhere you can in the town of Pullman,” Cantwell said. “And the opportunity to serve WSU as president is actually, for me, a dream come true.”

Cantwell holds a bachelor’s degree in human behavior from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to joining Utah State University, Cantwell served as the senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of Arizona and as vice president for research development and the CEO of the associated research enterprise at Arizona State University. Cantwell held a variety of national security roles at national laboratories assisting the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA and the National Nuclear Security Administration before her transition to academia.

“Dr. Cantwell’s combination of academic, research and innovation sector leadership make her uniquely qualified to guide WSU’s next chapter,” Jenette Ramos, a Board of Regents member and chair of the presidential search committee, said in a news release.

Cantwell will start at a base salary of $735,000 and will reside in the Ida Lou Anderson House until Dec. 31, when she and the regents will re-evaluate “the location of the WSU system, office and residence,” Schauer said. The elaborate Pullman residence housed the university’s presidents up until 2022, when it became the official residence of the Pullman campus chancellor, a position Schulz recently created.

Cantwell joined Utah State University on Aug. 1, 2023, at a base salary of $581,585 per year, according to the Utah System of Higher Education

She will be considered a tenure-track professor of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering in the Voiland College of Engineering. University administrators typically are associated with a given academic department at the school.

Cantwell joins WSU at a challenging time for the university, as well as higher education institutions across the country. The new Trump presidential administration has left many uncertain how their funding, research and courses may be affected.

Cantwell said it is a unique time in American history, but that it is an important and “incredible moment to be a Coug.” She said she’s committed to working closely and openly with the university community to navigate the uncertain waters ahead.

“The future needs Washington State University,” Cantwell said. “It needs our students. It needs us to deliver them into that moment. And I’m really confident, based on what I’ve seen here and what I have been introduced to, that we are ready for that moment.”

WSU has seen a decline in enrollment since the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend consistent with other universities across the nation. However, WSU has been slower to rebound than other institutions.

The university logged a systemwide total fall enrollment of 31,607 in 2019, one of the largest in its history, but that fell to 27,539 by fall 2022. Systemwide enrollment fell another 3.8% at the start of the 2023-24 academic year, and another 3% at the beginning of this year.

There’s also the ongoing effort to rebuild the university’s storied athletics conference, something Cantwell has some experience with at her former institution, one of six to join WSU and Oregon State University in the Pac-12 Conference in 2026.

“As I said, we face challenges,” Cantwell said. “… But we also have unprecedented opportunities, and I am really confident that together, we can create not just a successful institution, but one that demonstrates how we meet the moment and how we grab opportunities and how we deliver them for the people of Washington and indeed, for the nation.”

Cantwell’s selection follows the announcement last month from Gonzaga University in Spokane that it also chose its first woman president in its 137-year history.

A secretive search

Much of the search has been a closed-doors affair, with few opportunities for public input.

Thursday’s meeting was the first time anyone outside the 21-member committee of regents, faculty representatives and other WSU employees and alumni conducting the search had any inkling of the candidates for the role.

Candidate resumés, applications and names were not released to the public, with the regents citing a belief that confidentiality was needed to attract as many qualified candidates as possible. Some may not have applied had they known their name would be publicly released for their current employer to see, said university spokesman Phil Weiler.

The regents also did not provide public input opportunities past initial surveys and discussions with faculty, students and the general public on what the university’s next leader should look like. The board faced similar complaints over the secretive process through which Schulz was hired in 2016, and drew criticism from university community members, government transparency advocates and state legislators this time around.

A group of bipartisan representatives in Olympia has introduced a bill intended to put a stop to confidential presidential searches, which have been used by Washington’s higher education institutions for years.

The bill would require the governing boards of Washington’s higher education institutions to publicly identify “up to four” finalists for a presidential position at least a month before a scheduled vote to hire a candidate. Resumés, reference letters, school transcripts and the application for employment would be released as part of the public notice, according to the bill’s text.

This article may be updated.

Reporter James Hanlon contributed to this report.