An incredible first happened last week.

The Regents voted to make our interim President for the University of Nebraska… a woman.

Not just any woman, our new interim President who will keep the university system moving in the right direction while we work to find a permanent replacement is Dr. Susan Fritz, current Provost and second overall in the administrative hierarchy.

Part of what’s so wonderful about this choice is that she and Dr. Bounds (our outgoing President) are a great team and have worked very well together for four years, which should help to smooth this otherwise unpredictable process.

There is no proven “right” way to choose a new university President – there are a lot of ideas about how to conduct the search, and where, and with whom. We still have quite a journey ahead of us before we’re swearing in a new permanent President to lead the University of Nebraska. But I am both relieved and completely thrilled to know that in the meantime, the school and community I love and adore will be in Dr. Susan Fritz’s capable hands.

She knows the university through and through, having been a student, then a professor, then an Associate Dean and an Associate Provost before she was appointed Provost. She has always met students and faculty where they were, both geographically and relationally, and was one administrator who made sure to frequent other campuses. Her blood runs Husker and she’s certain to be an intelligent, conscientious, and compassionate leader.