CSU governor Horrell finalist for CU-Denver chancellor

Dorothy Horrell, who has served for the past six years on the Colorado State University Board of Governors, is the finalist for chancellor of the University of Colorado’s Denver campus. CU president Bruce Benson announced Friday.

Horrell will meet with faculty, staff and student groups, as well as with academic and administrative leadership, in a series of open meetings next week. The groups and officials will forward their recommendation to Benson, who told them in an email Friday that “your input informs my decision.”

Horrell is the second finalist for the CU-Denver post to go through the process. Pam Benoit, vice president and provost at the University of Ohio, was selected as a finalist in April but did not garner the necessary “vast support” on the campus, Benson said in May.

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Horrell, who holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from CSU, was appointed to the CSU Board of Governors by Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2009 and chaired the board for two years, yielding that position to William Mosher in May. She had been president of the Colorado Community College System from 1998 to 2000 and was president of Red Rocks Community College from 1989 to 1998. She previously held several positions for the community colleges system, including vice president for educational services and director of the occupational education division.

Most recently, Horrell was president and chief executive of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, which supports the arts and nonprofit leadership.

“Dorothy Horrell is a proven leader with deep knowledge of our community and state,” Benson said in a media statement. “She has the skills, experience and connections to help CU-Denver build on the considerable momentum it has gained in recent years.”

If approved, Horrell would succeed Jerry Wartgow, who is serving his second stint as interim chancellor of the Denver campus and wants to retire after more than 40 years in education posts in Colorado.

“Jerry is looking to be finished by January,” said CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue. “Presuming that Dorothy is successful, there would probably be an overlap period where she would transition in and he would transition out.”

Wartgow was superintendent of Denver Public Schools from 2001 to 2005, president of the Colorado Community College system from 1986 to 1998, and deputy executive director and acting executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education from 1973 to 1978.