On April 27, The Board of Regents announced that they unanimously voted to approve Todd Saliman as the next president of the University of Colorado.

“We are honored to announce that the Board of Regents has elected Todd Saliman as the University of Colorado’s 24th president. The board voted unanimously on this decision,” the email read.

President Saliman has been serving as the university’s interim president since July 2021 after Mark Kennedy’s departure and will assume the position immediately.

Kennedy’s departure came after CU Student Government and Boulder Faculty Assembly voted to censure Kennedy for failed leadership with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Saliman is a CU Boulder alumnus with over 30 years of experience in public policy and higher education. He has previously served in the state legislature and oversaw CU’s budget operations for more than a decade. 

“I said I wasn’t going to apply but when I started doing the work, I saw that I could do this very well and I could move the university forward,” Saliman said in an interview with Colorado Public Radio. “So I threw my hat in the ring and I went through the same process as everyone else, and I am very grateful to the regents that I have emerged to this point in the process.”

The presidential search committee, which consists of members representing faculty, staff, students, and community members reviewed a pool of candidates that were “highly qualified and diverse,” the Regents said in an email sent on April 12. 

“39 candidates: 13 women and 26 men – 13 candidates from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) groups – from 20 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and international candidates,” the regents wrote in the email. “Then, the committee narrowed the group of candidates down to 10 candidates which they interviewed. “Seven women and three men – two BIPOC candidates – from seven states.” 

Regent Sue Sharkey, vice chair of the search committee, said Saliman stood out due to his “tremendous experience and proven leadership,” the email read. 

On April 20, Saliman, who was joined by the chair of the board of Regents, Jack Kroll and Regent Lesley Smith, chair of the Presidential Search Committee, attended an open forum at CU Boulder where community members had the opportunity to ask questions. 

As CU president, Saliman will oversee all four campuses, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs and Anshutz in Aurora, totalling in overseeing 67,000 students.