25 Facts About Waded Cruzado

Waded Cruzado served as Interim President of New Mexico State University from 2008 to 2009, and since 2010 has served as the 12th President of Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.

Waded Cruzado was born in 1960 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, to parents Morgan and Daisy.

Waded Cruzado's grandparents were farmers, but her stepfather worked for a coffee as a trader for a company and her mother was a homemaker.

Waded Cruzado immediately enrolled at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Waded Cruzado was the first person in her family to leave Puerto Rico and move to the mainland United States.

Waded Cruzado earned her master's degree in Spanish language and literature in 1984.

Waded Cruzado worked as a graduate teaching assistant in the school's Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics from 1983 to 1986, and was appointed an Instructor there.

Waded Cruzado next entered the doctoral program in the humanities from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Waded Cruzado was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Humanities at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 1990, and in 1999, became a full professor.

In 1993, just prior to her promotion to associate professor, Waded Cruzado was named assistant dean for student affairs in the UPRM College of Arts and Sciences, a position she held until 1995.

Waded Cruzado left UPRM in 2003 to become dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University, where her fundraising secured donations to endow three professorships.

On September 1,2007, Waded Cruzado was named executive vice president and provost of NMSU.

Waded Cruzado was the first woman and the second Hispanic president of the school.

Waded Cruzado was offered the presidency of MSU on October 14,2009.

Waded Cruzado became the 12th President of Montana State University, and her first day in office was January 4,2010.

In May 2013, Waded Cruzado's salary was reported to be $289,466 a year.

One of Waded Cruzado's earliest announced goals was to more closely integrate the units of the MSU System of campuses in Billings, Havre, and Great Falls.

In 2010, Waded Cruzado began a push to create a full two-year community college at MSU.

On January 17,2013, Waded Cruzado met face-to-face with three faculty members who facilitated the off-campus meeting Taking the concerns "very seriously".

Several months later, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities announced that Waded Cruzado would become its next president in July 2025.

Waded Cruzado served on the board until 2020, and while she was a member, she chaired the selection committee for the BIFAD Award for Scientific Excellence in a Feed the Future Innovation Lab and engaged with higher education partners in West Africa.

In 2015, Waded Cruzado hosted the board at Montana State University and brought tribal college leaders into dialogue with BIFAD about their role in addressing poverty, nutrition, and food security.

Waded Cruzado was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International and, in November 2012, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities awarded her the Seaman A Knapp Memorial Lectureship, in honor of the founder of the Cooperative Extension Service.

Dr Waded Cruzado has published a number of professional articles and reports.

Waded Cruzado was married to Rodolfo Mazo, but the marriage ended in divorce.