Brock F. Tessman inaugurated as 13th president of Montana State

BOZEMAN - Hundreds of people gathered at Montana State University on Thursday to celebrate the inauguration of the university's 13th president, Brock F. Tessman.

The official investiture ceremony, held in MSU's Strand Union Building ballrooms, included music, remarks, the bestowal of the presidential medallion, the presidential oath of office and an inaugural address by President Tessman. A community reception followed.

After processionals of the faculty and the platform party and welcome remarks by Cody Stone, executive director of MSU Extension who served as emcee, Staff Senate Chair Kayla Lee delivered remarks on behalf of MSU staff.

"As staff we are genuinely hopeful and excited about the future we are building together with President Tessman," she said. "We see this as a shared effort, one where leadership and staff move forward side by side, guided by a common commitment to making MSU the very best it can be."

Faculty Senate Chair Rob Maher said the faculty looks forward to Tessman's guidance of the institution.

"Like the captain of a sailing vessel, we lift up your ability to recognize storms and icebergs ahead, guiding this ship on an adventuresome and scenic passage, finding calm seas for respite yet also bringing challenging opportunities into focus," Maher said. "… President Tessman, we are ready to share in the grand journey of your presidency. Call upon us, rely upon us and challenge us."

Lenny Triem, president of the Associated Students of Montana State University, said that the decisions made by a university president about budgets, priorities and how the institution serves its students shape student experiences every day.

"From our earlier interactions, you have shown a sincere respect for students and for the role they play in this community," Triem said. "In your first months here, you've led with listening, meeting with students and seeking to understand the institution you have been entrusted to lead. That has meant a great deal to us, and it gives us confidence as you begin your presidency."

Todd Buchanan, chair of the Montana Board of Regents, said that the day was a celebration not only of a chapter in university leadership but also of the "enduring promise of higher education to transform lives, communities and our state.

"Montana is a place of wide-open landscapes and close-knit communities," Buchanan said. "We are a state built by people who value hard work, practical solutions and caring for one another. Those same values are at the heart of MSU's mission: educating students, discovering knowledge and serving the public good.

"As president you inherit a great university and a great responsibility, to lead in ways that are bold, accountable and deeply rooted in Montana's spirit," Buchanan continued. "We look to MSU to prepare the next generation of leaders, to advance research that strengthens our economy and environment, and to be a partner to Montana's ranches, towns and industries. We expect leadership that will expand opportunity for all students, embrace innovation in teaching and research, and deepen the university's connections across the state from our tribal nations to our rural communities and urban centers."

Tessman was then presented with the presidential medallion, which is worn by the university president at all commencements, convocations and other ceremonial events. The tradition dates back to the inauguration of the university's 10th president, Michael P. Malone. When not in use, the medallion - which has the name of each MSU president engraved on the back - is displayed in the president's office.

With Tessman's family - his wife, Kristin, and their daughters, Frances and Leona - surrounding him, Tessman took the oath of office, administered by Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian.

After the oath, Jeff Korpi, Tessman's friend and associate vice president of student experience at Northern Michigan University, where Tessman served as president before coming to MSU, introduced him.

Korpi noted that at Northern Michigan University, he observed Tessman making students "feel seen, important and like they mattered. In short time, our students started calling him the 'Brockstar.'"

Tessman "sees students as people," Korpi added. "He doesn't just take them at face value. He appreciates their depth and values their stories, their vulnerabilities and their authenticity. He understands that this work - our work - is about creating opportunity and bringing people along."

Tessman's inaugural address focused on themes of the history, strength and momentum of MSU; the "American Experiment" and MSU's land-grant calling. He spoke of the transformations being brought on by artificial intelligence and why and how MSU will lead during this time of change.

"For 133 years, Montana State University has been the place where Montana's brightest young minds come to be challenged and expanded," Tessman said. "Where ranchers' kids become scientists. Where first-generation college students become nurses, engineers, teachers and leaders. Where curiosity gets cultivated, and where knowledge gets put to work. Today, that mission is more alive than ever."

Tessman noted that MSU's enrollment is growing, with retention rates at record highs and graduation rates that are among the finest the university has ever recorded. He expressed gratitude and confidence in the university's faculty, staff and students, and pride in its "breathtaking" campus.

Tessman went on to discuss what he calls the American Experiment, which he said is based on "deceptively simple" questions: "Can a self-governing people actually thrive? Can ordinary people - not aristocrats, not an enlightened ruling class, but ranchers and shopkeepers, miners and teachers, nurses and entrepreneurs - can they govern themselves wisely, build communities worth living in and pass something better on to the next generation?"

Tessman said those questions are not settled, and the American Experiment is not over.

"And I believe, I believe with conviction, that its future depends, in no small part, on institutions like this one," he said.

At its core, Tessman said, land-grant universities like Montana State, are a democratic wager.

"It is our society saying: We will not keep the highest knowledge in the hands of a few," he said. "We will not build great universities only for the sons and daughters of privilege. … We will create institutions that serve people, all the people, and make them more capable, more informed and more empowered to shape their lives and their communities.

"If the American Experiment is about whether self-governing people can thrive, then land-grant universities are the engines designed to make the answer 'yes.'"

Of the current artificial intelligence transformation, Tessman said MSU must be ready to lead in finding solutions for the educational, economic, cultural, ethical and humanistic consequences of AI at a time when "leadership is hard to find because there is no roadmap to follow."

"If Montana State University, or the state of Montana, disengages, or drags our feet, then we are making a decision to let this transformation happen to us," he said. "Make no mistake. It will happen. It will just be driven by someone else's priorities, with someone else's innovations, someone else's values and ethics at the wheel.

"Do we want kids growing up in Bozeman and Belgrade, in Shelby and Frenchtown and every town in between, to inherit an economy and a society shaped entirely by decisions made outside our state? Or do we want agency? Do we want to step up, to engage with industry and government leaders, and shape an AI transformation that is connected to our Treasure State values, grounded in our land-grant mission and governed by the conviction that we are using this technology for exactly what it is: A tool to enhance our future rather than dismantle it?"

Tessman said that MSU's choice to lead during this transformative time is "made both out of our natural instinct to meet our biggest challenges head-on and out of our deep sense of responsibility to serve our students and our state in this moment in ways that no one else can."

While private industry, government and others have a role to play, too, it is the university that is called to "step into this moment," Tessman said.

"We are the institution that exists, by design and by tradition, to pursue knowledge without fear. To ask the inconvenient questions. To train the next generation not merely for the economy that exists today but to shape the economy that is coming. To ensure that the benefits of this transformation reach every corner of Montana, reservations, the Hi-Line, the ranches, our Class AA cities and all Class C towns."

Tessman concluded he is confident that MSU will lead successfully, and that his confidence comes from the university's faculty, staff and, especially, its students.

MSU's students "are why we are here, and they are why any of this matters," he said. "And the coming generations of Bobcats, growing in number every year, are defined by intellectual horsepower and personal integrity, by the kind of street sensibility and farm-earned grit that you cannot manufacture in a curriculum, and by an ambition that genuinely takes my breath away when I encounter it up close.

"The optimism we feel about Montana State's next chapter and our confidence that we can lead through this transformative moment is fueled above all by the faith we have in our students."

The investiture ceremony - including Tessman's full address - is available to watch online at https://www.youtube.com/live/O58plFdqm7g.