Central Washington University has become the latest of the state’s regional universities to announce a leadership change.
Thursday the Ellensburg university introduced Dr. James Wohlpart as its new president. Wohlpart comes from the University of Northern Iowa, where he is the provost.He says he will have two major priorities in his new job. One is to continue the work Central has done to diversify its student body and faculty. Central reports that 40% of its students come from traditionally underserved groups. That’s up from 31% four years ago.
“Central Washington is ahead of the game in terms of the diversity of their student body," Wohlpart said. "And the second is the budget. We absolutely must make sure that we are diversifying our resource base. We know that state budgets come and go. They go up and down. We have to develop some kind of resilience in our budget and find ways to create funding from other mechanisms, including through fundraising. That will also be a primary goal of mine.”
Wohlpart will replace James Gaudino, who has been Central’s president for 11 years. He’ll step down at the end of July.
Eastern Washington University also recently changed leadership. Its interim president, David May, assumed his job last August, replacing Mary Cullinan.