The Iowa Board of Regents Thursday chose William N. Ruud as the new president of the University of Northern Iowa.
The board made the announcement after interviewing the final two candidates during a meeting in West Des Moines.
The Regents chose Ruud, president of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, over Michael Wartell, the former chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue Fort Wayne.
A committee began a search for a new president August. The new president will replace Benjamin Allen, who has led the Cedar Falls university since 2006. Allen announced he would retire last year after making tough budget cuts that eliminated 58 majors, minors and graduate programs and the Malcolm Price Laboratory school, a popular teaching program.
