Martin named lone finalist to oversee Colorado State University System

The Colorado State University’s governing board is beginning negotiations with LSU Chancellor Mike Martin after naming him as the lone finalist for a job overseeing the Colorado State University System. In an email to LSU staff, faculty and students, Martin notes he has not been made a formal offer but will carefully consider one to be chancellor of the three-campus system. “My single criteria for deciding what to do at this stage of my professional life is this: Where do I have the best chance of making a positive difference?” he says in the statement, which you can read in its entirety here. In a news release announcing Martin as their finalist choice, Colorado State University governing board members called him a visionary and proven leader who can build strong relationships with civic leaders, lawmakers and businessmen. Martin was recommended to the board by an 11-member committee after an eight-month search. See the board’s complete comments on Martin at the CSU website here. The current chancellor of the Colorado State University system, Joe Blake, is retiring from the position to which he was named in May 2009. If Martin is on his way out, it would be LSU’s second high-profile departure within a month. The LSU Board of Supervisors fired system President John Lombardi in April after criticism that he didn’t work well with campus leaders or state lawmakers. Martin, 65, a former president of New Mexico State University, has a year remaining on his LSU contract. Since he was hired in 2008, he has been charged with leading a university that has faced repeated budget cuts in recent years—with more slashing on the horizon.