The University’s Board of Trustees has narrowed its search for an interim president to a pair of candidates, Jane Milley, Ph.D. and Roy Saigo, Ph.D.
Candidates were interviewed remotely via a Zoom meeting and streamed live on YouTube during the week of April 13-17. The selected candidate will replace on an interim basis the retiring President Ramon Torrecilha, Ph.D., whose last day as president is August 31, 2020. In the meantime, the search for a permanent president will start this summer.
Dr. Milley has spent most of her career in higher education, including time as a professor, dean, provost, vice president, consultant, chancellor and president. She most recently served as interim president at West Virginia University – Parkersburg, where she served as a model of collaboration, professionalism and data-driven decision making to prepare for an accreditation visit and establish a platform of success for the next permanent president.
Dr. Milley also spent five years as a consultant to the Center for Law and Social Policy, the American Association of Community Colleges, and the American Council on Education.
She began her career as a faculty member at Elmira College, before becoming a dean at Sacramento City College and California State University–Long Beach, chancellor at the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts, and provost at SUNY–Oswego. She later held top administrative positions at Simmons College, the University of Alabama, and Bunker Hill Community College, among other non-profit positions within the field of education.
Dr. Milley holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Boston University, a master of arts degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in higher/post-secondary education administration from Syracuse University.
Dr. Saigo has spent nearly 50 years in higher education, starting as a professor to progressing to college president. He most recently served as president/CEO of Southern Oregon University, where he inherited and successfully navigated the campus through retrenchment, boosted enrollment, and on-boarded the University’s first board of trustees.
Dr. Saigo previously spent seven years as president of Saint Cloud (Minn.) State University. He taught in the Biology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for 17 years, which included nine years as either assistant to the dean or assistant dean in the School of Arts and Sciences. He later served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa, provost at Southeastern Louisiana University, and chancellor at Auburn University, prior to his appointment at St. Cloud University.
Dr. Saigo holds a bachelor’s degree from University of California at Davis and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Oregon State University.