Transition team to help facilitate onboarding of next university president

The Board of Regents has announced the formation of a three-person leadership team charged with supporting the upcoming change in university leadership. At the helm of this effort will be Marty Dickinson, past chair of the Board of Regents. She will partner with Mel Netzhammer, chancellor of WSU Vancouver, and Ginger Druffel, chief of staff for the Office of the President, to engage university stakeholders across the state. Together, they aim to ensure an onboarding process that aligns with Washington State University's land-grant mission and reaffirms the university's values.

The team will report to the Board of Regents who will steer and guide the group as they fulfill their charge. From January through the fall of 2025, the group will focus on key priorities to support continuity across the system, including working alongside internal and external community partners, providing information and insight relative to strategic initiatives, and preserving university traditions. The team will frequently engage and collaborate with campus constituents, university leadership, students, faculty, staff, and the Board of Regents as they go about their work.

Once the successful candidate is named, the Office of the President will launch a website to share

updates on the groups' activities and intake requests to meet with the incoming president. Each

request will be reviewed and evaluated by the transition team to determine how it might align with

the broader onboarding strategy. The Board looks forward to the contributions and perspectives each team member will bring throughout this process and is eager to hear from the university community regarding how they might like to engage the next president.