Rosenstone wins MnSCU chancellor job

Steven Rosenstone, vice president for scholarly and cultural affairs at the University of Minnesota, has been named chancellor by trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.

He will succeed Chancellor James McCormick, who is stepping down this summer after a decade on the job.

Trustees appointed him on a vote of 14-1, with trustee Philip Krinkie voting against.

Rosenstone was competing with William Sederburg, Utah’s commissioner of higher education.

Several trustees said they were willing to pass up the more experienced Sederburg for someone who'd impressed them with his  "vision" and "passion" for education.

Rosenstone has been vice president for scholarly and cultural affairs at the University of Minnesota since 2007. He came to the university in 1996 to serve as dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

During his tenure, the college revamped elements of undergraduate life at the U, built state-of-the-art facilities and made partnerships with businesses, communities, cultural and civic organizations. Over the years, Rosenstone led numerous system-wide initiatives, including the national conference on Keeping our Faculties of Color and task forces on scholarships, private fund-raising and long-term financial strategy. He was awarded the McKnight Presidential Leadership Chair for his service to the university.

Before coming to the university, he was a full professor of political science at Yale University until 1986, when he taught at the University of Michigan and became program director in the Center for Political Studies.

He is the author of four books and numerous scholarly articles on elections, political participation, and the challenges facing higher education. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Rosenstone graduated summa cum laude from Washington University,  and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Here's a link to his interviews today.

He comes at a time when MnSCU faces big challenges. The 32-school system has seen huge enrollment increases in recent years, declining funding from the state, and some of the highest tuition lev, ls in the country.

MnSCU receives about the same in state funding as the University of Minnesota; last year that was around $600 million. While the U of M has 70,000 students statewide, MnSCU has more than 200,000.

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