Republican Robert Cramer, former chair of The Family Leader, named regents president

New regent Kurt Tjaden to serve as the board’s president pro tem

Board of Regents member Robert Cramer listens to a series of comments from student body leaders on proposed tuition increases, June 14, 2023, at the University of Iowa Levitt Center for Advancement in Iowa City. (The Gazette)

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

URBANDALE — Robert Cramer — a longtime executive with his family’s bridge-construction and land development company and past chair of The Family Leader board — on Wednesday was elected president of Iowa’s Board of Regents.

Succeeding outgoing board President Sherry Bates, who abruptly resigned this week not just from her leadership post but the board entirely, Cramer’s term officially began Wednesday to run through April 30, 2026.

“I'm a bridge builder, and this might be a good time for a bridge builder to bring all the interested parties who want to make our universities better together,” Cramer said after being unanimously elected board president Wednesday, referencing in his comments headwinds facing higher education — like political push back and an enrollment cliff.

“I think we can flip the narrative on higher education, and that is that here in Iowa, a degree from one of our public universities is a great investment, and it's going to help these students going forward for the rest of their lives.”

Cramer — in taking the reins — laid out three goals as new board president.

First, he said, “I think our universities should be providing an affordable education with a good rate of return on that investment.”

That includes finding efficiencies across the campuses — cutting costs, maximizing resources, and eliminating waste.

His second goal focused on “academic excellence.”

“It comes through merit and through hard work and keeping that always in the forefront of trying to produce better and better students,” Cramer said.

His third goal centered on making Iowa’s public universities “fair and balanced” places to learn and have vigorous debate.

“That's what a lot of our work has been this last year,” he said. “College is a great place to learn, to learn new things, to find out what you believe. But we just want a fair and balanced place where students can do that.”

If the board succeeds at those three goals, Cramer said, “We’ll see our enrollments continue to grow, even though others are declining.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

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