Microsoft executive named president of Utah Valley University

Microsoft executive named president of Utah Valley University

(August Miller, UVU Marketing)


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OREM — Astrid S. Tuminez, regional director for corporate, external and legal affairs in Southeast Asia for Microsoft, has been selected the next president of Utah Valley University.

The Utah State Board of Regents voted unanimously Friday to select Tuminez as the university's seventh president of UVU.

Tuminez was previously vice dean of research and assistant dean of executive education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. While in those roles she trained more than 2,000 government officials and private-sector professionals in leadership and organizational change.

Her previous positions include senior consultant to the U.S. Institute of Peace, director of research at AIG Global Investment, and program officer at Carnegie Corp. of New York. She previously ran the Moscow office of the Harvard Project on Strengthening Democratic Institutions.

Tuminez holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, a master’s degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Among the eight colleges and universities that comprise the Utah System of Higher Education, three others are led by women: University of Utah President Ruth Watkins, who was appointed in January; Noelle E. Cockett, president of Utah State University; and Deneece G. Huftalin, president of Salt Lake Community College.

Tuminez's selection culminates a nationwide search for a successor to Matthew S, Holland, the first president of the institution after it achieved university status in 2008.

The four finalists — one woman and three men — met with faculty, staff, students, administrators and other parts of the university community on Thursday. Each had ties to Utah, either as students, faculty or administrators.

On Friday, the finalists met behind closed doors for interviews with the board of regents.

Holland is stepping down because he has been called as a mission president by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission starting in July.

He was appointed UVU president in 2009, the first leader to hold that position after the institution attained university status in 2008.

Utah Valley University serves more than 37,200 students and is the largest public university in Utah. It is one of the few in the nation that offers a dual-mission model that combines the rigor of a teaching university with the accessible vocational programs of a community college.

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