BEMIDJI — Faith Hensrud will be the next president of BSU and Northwest Technical College after receiving unanimous support Wednesday from members of the MnSCU Board of Trustees, who praised her ability to lead both a university and technical college, and her loyalty to this part of the country.

“Normally a candidate says she wants to be a president,” Trustee Duane Benson said at Wednesday’s board meeting in St. Paul. “This candidate said she wanted to be president at Bemidji. I had never seen that before.”

Hensrud is the current provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She has spent the past 21 years at UWS, and for a few of those years taught classes at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, the two-year school there.

“When you’re in a position like mine … you get a lot of inquiries from search firms,” Hensrud said Wednesday over the phone. “Each one I’ve looked at and rejected. I really want to stay in the Midwest. I’m not a big-city person. I want to work at an institution that has an impact on the community. I see that with both Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College.”

Link here to list of past BSU presidents

MnSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone recommended the board select Hensrud before the vote, saying she is a skilled communicator who will be able to reach Native American students and first-generation college students — groups the university often loses before graduation.

Rosenstone also credited the president-elect with “streamlining” programs at Wisconsin-Superior, despite cuts to higher education in Wisconsin.

“She’s considered by colleagues to be on of the best minds in the state,” he said.

Hensrud will be the 11th president in BSU history — the second woman — and will succeed Richard Hanson, who is retiring after six years in office. His accomplishments include strengthening ties between the two campuses, leading a $35 million fundraising campaign for scholarships and academic programs, and helping NTC recently earn reaccreditation.

“He had a wonderful run at Bemidji,” Benson said. “We’re thankful he could serve us.”

Hensrud was in St. Paul for the vote, and said she met in the afternoon with state legislators representing the Bemidji area. She’ll visit BSU and NTC for two more public forums Monday, before finishing her last several weeks in Superior and officially taking office July 1.

“I still have some things to do at my current institution,” she said.

The search for a new president started last fall, and the vacancy attracted about 40 applications. Last month, the three finalists visited Bemidji to tour the campuses and meet with community members. Hensrud was considered alongside Rodney Hanley, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University in Nashville, and Al Thompson, vice chancellor for student affairs and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Hensrud spent 14 years in the military — three in active duty and 11 in the Army Reserve. She has also worked in the private sector, as a driver supervisor at Schneider National trucking company in Green Bay.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a master’s degree from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

The Bemidji job is both the right fit and a challenging one, she said. BSU and NTC have an arrangement perhaps unlike any other in the country: two student bodies with interests that are distinct but intertwined.

“One of the major challenges in higher education is enrollment,” Hensrud said. “Making sure we can recruit students we need and want, and retain them. Figuring out how to attract more students, and how to graduate them.”