By Sofia Beers MSU EXPONENT
Two years ago, Brock Tessman sat with his wife in the front seat of a moving truck headed for Michigan, wondering if they would ever find their way back to Montana. The couple decided that they would only return to Big Sky Country if the president position at MSU became available — and then it did.
After months of deliberation, Tessman was chosen to be MSU’s 13th president. Before serving two years as the president of Northern Michigan University (NMU), Tessman spent nine years in the Treasure State serving as the Dean of the University of Montana (UM) Honors College from 2015 to 2018 and the Montana Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education from 2018 to 2023.
Despite his time spent at UM, Tessman said his loyalty to MSU has been longstanding, even before his professional career in Montana.
“I will be on the record as saying the first thing that we bought as a commemorative remembrance of Montana was a pair of fuzzy blue and gold socks that my wife wore for many, many, many years,” Tessman said. “We’ve been blue and gold from the beginning.”
For Tessman, it is essential that a campus provides students with diverse opportunities to discover their passions and find a sense of belonging.
“We’ve got to establish that sense of purpose as quickly as possible and we need to recognize that — even for students that have all sorts of tailwinds and supports — the going is going to get rough at some point in time,” he said.
Though the first semester of his presidency started in late August, Tessman has been working since early July. He said he has been familiarizing himself with the campus and meeting with faculty and leadership teams to gain a better understanding of the institution he now leads.
“My primary goal this first year is to — in a very open and intentional way — get across this entire campus in both structured ways and unstructured ways, to find out what’s made MSU an institution with so much positive momentum,” he said. “So, listen and learn about what some of the priorities are — not from this office — but from our students, from our faculty who are teaching in the classroom and in the labs and certainly from our staff who make this place run every single day.”
Now that the semester is underway, Tessman has been carving time out of every week to interact with students by going on regular walks through the Strand Union Building and across campus. He said he likes to grab lunch and catch students between classes to introduce himself and ask how their semesters are going.
“That is one of the things — if I can’t do that, then this job quickly becomes untenable for me. I am refueled by that time with students,” Tessman said. “Frankly, you learn a lot through those conversations that you’ll never learn in an executive team meeting or a Board of Regents meeting.”
Tessman said going into his presidency, he is focusing on the importance of student voices. He intends to refresh the University’s Strategic Plan — a roadmap for the institution — which hasn’t been updated in seven years. Tessman said he has plans on offering ample opportunity for students to submit their feedback during that process.
“Every leader has strengths and weaknesses, and a strength I have is a genuine desire to get all voices to the table,” he said. “The students at [MSU] are the reason we exist, so if we do not hear from our students, we will not write a strategic plan that makes sense for the University.”
In addition to acquainting himself with the University and its students, Tessman views maintaining MSU’s involvement across the state as a critical part of his job. Before his time at NMU, Tessman served as the Montana Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education. In that role, he expanded college access for rural communities and helped to establish the Montana10 Student Success Initiative, which works to improve college completion rates among underserved students.
Tessman said that his work as deputy commissioner is part of why he believes that MSU has a responsibility to look beyond Bozeman and stay connected to the state as a whole. He said that he intends to strengthen relationships with state legislators, the governor’s office and state agency leaders while improving the public’s trust in higher education.
“We have Bobcats all over the state. It’s not lost on me that we graduate more [students] than any other institution — Yellow Jackets, Lights, Grizzlies,” he said. “Our imprint across the state is unparalleled, and I’m not doing my job if we’re only focused on items that are relevant to this piece of Bozeman, or even Bozeman as a community, or the Gallatin Valley community as a statewide operation.”
Tessman spoke about the importance of the University serving community members directly and staying aware of current events and what Montanans need.
“About a third of our budget comes from the taxpayers in the state of Montana. We can never lose track of that,” Tessman said. “And that’s a real responsibility then: to be aware of and responsive to the workforce needs, economic development needs, civic engagement needs of the state. It’s part and parcel with what it means to be the land grant [university].”
With Homecoming around the corner, Tessman said he is excited for the University to engage directly with community members. Although presidents in the past have ridden in a car or golf cart, Tessman said he plans to walk this year and place candy directly in the hands of those lining the streets.
“I am a sucker for parades,” he said. “I think it’s a great intersection of our campus and our community. I know we’ve got lots of student organizations and students involved, and a lot of our staff and faculty join. It’s a chance for us to have our whole blue and gold crew walking down Main Street and engaging with the Bozeman community.”
Tessman said that he takes pride in the opportunity to be MSU’s president and impact students during such an influential part of their lives.
“This is how I’m spending my life,” he said. “It’s a commitment to the students who are here now, the students who are coming in years down the road. I am all in on this place and I’m all in on the students.”
“I couldn’t feel more deeply honored and just so lucky to be able to spend my life doing this kind of work as the president of [MSU] — it is the best thing that I could imagine doing,” he said.
