Three finalists named for Minnesota State chancellor

Minnesota State will choose from among three candidates outside Minnesota to be the next chancellor of the state's largest higher-education system.

The finalists, who were announced Monday and are slated for interviews Tuesday and Wednesday, each have ties to the state or region.

Michael Martin, chancellor emeritus of the Colorado State University System, served as a dean at the University of Minnesota during the 1990s. Keith Miller, president emeritus of Lock Haven University in central Pennsylvania, and Cathy Sandeen, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension (UW-Extension), have held top jobs in Wisconsin.

Martin also is in the running to become president of Florida Gulf Coast University. He was invited Monday along with nine other semifinalists for interviews next week, according to an online report by the News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla.

The Minnesota State board of trustees plans to vote Thursday on a new leader to succeed Chancellor Steven Rosenstone, who came to the sprawling system of state universities and four-year colleges from the University of Minnesota in 2011 and endured a rocky relationship with faculty and other unions.

Rosenstone announced last spring that he would retire when his current contract expires in July.

Minnesota State, formerly known as MnSCU, faces challenges, many of them financial. Last year, after officials warned of deficits of $66 million to $475 million a year by 2025, Rosenstone outlined a three-part plan to help steady the system. It called for new strategies to raise revenue as well as cuts in administration and other areas, and a push for new state funding after 20 years of declining support.

Martin, who also is a senior fellow for the Colorado State University System, was its chancellor from 2012 to 2015, after four years as chancellor of Louisiana State University. He earned a doctorate in applied economics from the University of Minnesota and was a dean in the areas of food, agriculture and environmental sciences from 1995 to 1998. Martin left the University of Minnesota for the University of Florida in 1998.

Last year, Miller was a finalist for president of Utah State University. He previously served as president of Virginia State University from 2010 to 2014 and as president of Lock Haven University from 2004 to 2010. Before that he was provost and vice chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Sandeen took over as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and UW-Extension in 2014. She earned a doctorate in the department of communication at the University of Utah and worked in various leadership roles over a 22-year period in the University of California system.

The new chancellor is expected to begin work Aug. 1.

Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109