William Tietz was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irma Helen and William John Tietz.
32 Facts About William Tietz
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William Tietz grew up in nearby Hinsdale, and graduated from Hinsdale Central High School in 1945.
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William Tietz graduated with a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1950.
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William Tietz immediately enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a master's degree in zoology in 1952.
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William Tietz briefly studied the metabolism of small animals in arctic conditions in Alaska, and was employed for a short time by Baxter Laboratories in Illinois.
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William Tietz then entered the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University, and earned his doctor of veterinary medicine in 1957.
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William Tietz immediately pursued a doctorate in physiology and pathology at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Science and Medicine, graduating in 1961.
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William Tietz left in 1964 to take a position as an associate professor of radiobiology and physiology at Colorado State University.
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William Tietz was appointed Chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics on March 15,1967.
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William Tietz later was named the associate director of the CSU Agricultural Experiment Station.
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William Tietz was appointed CSU's Vice President for Student-University Relations in 1970.
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William Tietz served in the position for a year, during which time he acted as liaison between students and the university in an attempt to keep student unrest low.
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William Tietz was appointed the ninth president of Montana State University by unanimous vote of the Board of Regents on August 1,1977.
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William Tietz had an "aggressive, cocky, out-spoken, and dynamic" personal style.
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William Tietz believed that Montana State University should be far more research-oriented.
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William Tietz encouraged faculty to engage in research, encouraged them to apply for federal research grant money, and required university administrators to seek out federal research funds to expand, renovate, and build new research buildings on campus.
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William Tietz arrived at MSU just as a severe, seven-year recession in the state was ending.
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When William Tietz arrived at MSU, faculty salaries had declined 23 percent over the past decade and were in the bottom 10 percent nationally.
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In 1981, under the new formula, William Tietz won a 16 percent university-wide budget increase and faculty received a 15 percent pay hike.
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Under William Tietz, MSU expanded its international studies and university honors programs, started the Writing Center, rapidly expanded financial aid, founded the Shakespeare in the Parks program, and founded an Office of Academic Affairs, an Alumni Association, and the Bobcat Boosters alumni network to support sports.
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William Tietz greatly expanded Native American programs at MSU.
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William Tietz won a six-month sabbatical in 1984 that allowed him to travel the nation to learn about these tech incubators.
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William Tietz offered 45 acres of Advanced Technology Park land and buildings to the company.
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William Tietz was outraged, calling it an incredible accusation and later saying he had never been so mad in his entire life.
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The final three years of William Tietz's presidency were marked by budgetary retrenchment.
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William Tietz said he and his administrators spent 18 hours a day for two weeks to try to meet the cuts required by the legislature.
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In March 1989, William Tietz decided to resign, worn out by the legislative cutbacks and lack of support from the governor.
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An auditor's report, released in April 1989, showed that researchers had overspent their federal grants by hundreds of thousands of dollars and William Tietz had done nothing to rein in costs or stop the spending.
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William Tietz was a member of the board of directors of the Montana Energy Research and Development Institute from 1977 to 1985, and served as its chair for two years.
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William Tietz served on the Council of Presidents of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges from 1977 to 1990, on the board of directors of the Greater Montana Foundation from 1977 to 2004, and on the board of trustees of the Yellowstone Association from 1981 to 1993.
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William Tietz dated Montana politician Dorothy Bradley for a time until her run for governor in 1992.
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For many years after his retirement, William Tietz got together every few weeks with his MSU VP Stu Knapp, and Carl McIntosh, to discuss current events, Montana State University, the state of Montana, Bozeman, and other topics.