Westfield State University has announced that Roy H. Saigo will begin his term as interim president in late July.
Saigo will serve as president for the 2020-21 academic year. A search committee will be formed this summer to choose a permanent president.
Saigo, 79, will not be a candidate for the permanent job. He will serve as a one-year replacement for Ramon Torrecilha, who is retiring as university president this summer.
“I would like to thank (Board of Trustees chairman Kevin) Queenin and members of the WSU Board for their trust and the support they have given me,'' said Saigo, who as a young child was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp with his family during World War II.
“Prior to my appointment as interim president, I studied the history of WSU and the guiding philosophy of founder Horace Mann. I studied information on every faculty member, noting that most are in the prime of their careers, a very positive factor,” Saigo said.
"The campus, community, and region are beautiful. I am enthusiastic about this appointment and am looking forward to working collaboratively with the leadership team, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees to respond to the challenges facing the institution.”
Saigo has spent more than 50 years in higher education, most recently as president of Southern Oregon University, his third presidential position. He retired from that position in 2016, and has developed a reputation for taking on challenging situations — even as an interim leader — and producing positive results.
At Westfield State, Saigo takes over a school that’s been rising on many college ratings lists, particularly when judged on the basis of educational quality at affordable cost. His biggest challenges will reflect college life in a pandemic-affected world: how to manage campus activity at a school that has declared its intent to resume in-person education, while also developing contingency plans.
He replaces a president whose tenure has been successful but also, at times, controversial. Torrecilha is widely credited for expanding the university’s reach within the community, encouraging diversity and broadening its programs.
Trustees’ support of Torrecilha was unwavering, but the president’s frayed relationship with faculty marked his final year.
Saigo has served as professor, dean, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, chancellor and president during his academic career.
“Given his vast experience in public higher education and proven leadership style with all levels of faculty, staff, and students at a wide variety of campuses, Dr. Saigo was the ideal choice for Westfield State University’s interim president,” Queenin said.
Prior to leading Southern Oregon University, Saigo spent seven years as president of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. While at St. Cloud, he increased enrollment, earned accreditation for all programs, increased diversity, and gained national recognition for addressing the racism issue in the use of nicknames, logos and mascots for NCAA athletics.
He developed agreements with universities in Chile, China, Japan, Korea and South Africa. At Southern Oregon, he reversed declining enrollment, brought the university out of a period where it was reducing offerings, and worked to improve communication on campus, in the community, and with other universities and community colleges.
Saigo taught biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for 17 years, with nine years as either assistant to the dean or assistant dean of arts and sciences. He later served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Southeastern Louisiana University, and chancellor at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama.
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