After serving a little more than a year as president of Colorado State University Pueblo, Armando Valdez resigned last week. This move came after an independent investigation found Valdez had violated university policy, according to a press release from the CSU System.
The announcement further said that Valdez disagreed with the results of the investigation but had lost the confidence of the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System and CSU System leadership. He resigned to allow the university to move forward.
The board is tapping Rico Munn, a former Aurora Public Schools superintendent, to serve as interim president. He’s a past chair of the CSU Board of Governors, former executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and served as chief of staff for CSU president Amy Parsons. Recently he’s been CSU’s Vice President for Metro Denver Engagement.
More information about the next steps the board will take and the search to fill the position are expected at a future date. But it isn’t an easy time to recruit for the role, according to various sources.
“As the glut of presidential openings suggests, now may be the toughest time ever to be a college or university president,” David Wippman and Glenn C. Altschuler wrote last year in Inside Higher Ed, a trade publication focusing on trends and data in higher education.
“Given the challenges they face, higher education institutions need to recruit strong leaders who can successfully lead them through those challenges over the long term," they wrote. "Institutions cannot afford a failed search or even one that yields a second-rate outcome.”
According to a 2023 study presidents had been in their position an average of 5.9 years. That's 2.6 years less than in 2006.
Valdez stepped into the role of CSU Pueblo president at the end of 2023, to finish out the two and a half years remaining on the term of Timothy Mottet. Mottet resigned after seven years in the position.
Prior to selecting Valdez for the position, the board had conducted a nationwide search resulting in interviews with three individuals. None of them were considered viable candidates, according to a CSU press release from 2023. At that point Valdez resigned his seat on the CSU Board of Governors to apply for the job and went through the same process as the other candidates.
Valdez is a San Luis Valley native and emeritus professor of Adams State University where he served for 15 years as an assistant professor of management in the School of Business. Before that he was a dean at Front Range Community College.
In a statement, Board Chair John Fischer said Munn "knows the mission and role of CSU Pueblo well," and they're confident he can "help steer the campus forward during this interim period."
