Mitzi Montoya, dean of the Anderson School of Management at The University of New Mexico, has accepted a position as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Montoya will begin her new position on Jan. 3, 2023.
“Dean Montoya has been a change agent at UNM, and I am so very grateful that she has given us her energy and talent over the past few very difficult years,” said UNM Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, James Holloway. “The Anderson School of Management has been moved in positive directions under her leadership, and all of UNM has benefited from her positive energy and her challenging of the status quo. I look forward to working with her as a fellow provost at a school that is as important to Utah as UNM is to New Mexico.”
Holloway will appoint an interim dean for the first half of 2023 and immediately launch a national search for a new dean for the Anderson School of Management, with the goal of having a new dean in place by fall of 2023. Recommendations for members of the search advisory committee can be sent to provost@unm.edu.
As senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, Montoya will carry primary responsibility for setting the academic vision and strategic focus at the University of Utah, and directing and enhancing the academic mission, including teaching and research excellence.
Montoya takes the position at a university on the rise seeking to become, among other things, a national model of an equitable and inclusive university; set a national standard for enterprise-wide safety practices; become a leader in health and well-being; achieve forerunner status in sustainability, and protect open and unfettered intellectual inquiry and the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge.
“In addition to Dr. Montoya’s many and varied academic accomplishments, she brings extensive experience in leading large academic enterprises with an eye toward innovation and engagement across all academic units,” said University of Utah President Taylor Randall.
A thought leader in higher education, Montoya, has throughout her career, supported student and faculty success, enhanced entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems and led collaborative initiatives that advance economic and community prosperity. Her research has focused on virtual teams for the last 10 years and lies at the intersection of marketing, technology and innovation. She studies innovation processes and strategies and the role of technology as an enabler of virtual team collaboration.
Montoya came to UNM in July 2020 from Washington State University. Prior to that, she spent four years at Oregon State University as the Sara Hart Kimball Dean of the Oregon State University College of Business. She also spent five years at Arizona State University where she was the Dean of the College of Technology & Innovation, Vice Provost of the ASU Polytechnic Campus and inaugural Vice President and University Dean of Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Prior to that, Montoya spent 15 years at North Carolina State University where she held the Zelnak Chair in Marketing & Innovation in the Poole College of Management.
Montoya is a former American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow and has served on the board of various startup ventures, nonprofit foundations and economic development organizations. Montoya is widely published and a recipient of numerous grants from federal and state agencies as well as private and corporate foundations.