Since January of 2010, Dr. Waded Cruzado has served as the 12th President of Montana State University (MSU), Montana’s largest institution recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as one of 108 universities for its “Very High Research Activity” and one of 66 institutions recognized by Carnegie as a “Community Engaged University.” As President of MSU, Cruzado has significantly reshaped the face and future of the state’s first land-grant institution. An articulate and inspirational speaker on the role of land-grant universities, she has become a well-known champion of the land-grant’s tripartite mission of education, research and public outreach.
In 2012, APLU awarded President Cruzado the Seaman A. Knapp Memorial Lectureship. In that same year, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Cruzado to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), a seven-member advisory council to USAID, whose primary role is to advise on agriculture, rural development and nutrition issues related to global food insecurity and the eradication of hunger in the world. She has also been recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. In 2015, President Cruzado received the Chief Executive HR Champion Award from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.
MSU has undertaken and completed numerous major construction and renovation projects since President Cruzado took office. MSU raised $10 million for a renovation of the end-zone of Bobcat Stadium, completing the fund-raising, design and construction phases of the project in under 10 months. MSU also established the new Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship and is constructing Jabs Hall, thanks to a $25 million donation. Most recently, MSU received a $50 million donation – the largest private gift in the history of the state. From this donation, MSU will be opening the Norm Asbjornson Innovation Center, an innovative laboratory and classroom facility for the College of Engineering, in the Spring of 2019.
President Cruzado serves on the boards of the American Council of Education (ACE), International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), TIAA Hispanic Advisory Council, US Bank, as well as the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). She chairs APLU’s Commission on International Initiatives (CII).
Dr. Waded Cruzado