During his two years as Chancellor, Mike was instrumental in bringing MSU-Northern through a difficult time of transition and growth. He produced a team that opened the lines of communication, gave the campus a balanced budget, exceeded the goals for fund-raising and grants, improved the campus image, introduced several new programs and advanced the plans for a new Applied Technology Center.

Dr. Terry Roark, President of Montana State University, has appointed Dr. Roger Barber, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor of MSU-Northern as the Chief Operating Officer for MSU-Northern until an interim CEO can be appointed for the Havre campus.

On Thursday, June 29, Commissioner of Higher Education, Richard Crofts and a team of MSU-Bozeman administrators spent the day on the campus of MSU-Northern talking with groups from the administration, faculty, staff and community to get their input on the Chancellor search process. Dr Roark has appointed a committee to review the comments made during their visit and make a recommendation for the selection of an interim and new Chancellor of MSU-Northern.

Dr. Terry Roark said, "I am pleased that Roger has agreed to accept the responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer. His past performance and history with the campus makes him the natural person to provide direction and leadership during this time of transition. I am confident in Roger's abilities and I will give him my complete support." Roark also commented that he thought that the review committee would recommend that we select an outside interim as a one to two year appointment and that the search for the new chancellor would likely occur after the President of MSU has been chosen.