Branstad: New Regent Will Be Named In “not-too-distant Future”

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad said Friday he expects to fill the vacancy on the state Board of Regents created by Nicole Carroll’s resignation in “the not-too-distant future” but he did not feel the decision had to be made before the panel decides next month whether to freeze or raise tuition for resident students at Iowa’s three state universities. “I don’t want to rush the decision,” Branstad told reporters, noting that Carroll had just tendered her resignation one day earlier effect immediately — citing her family’s recent move out of Iowa. Branstad said he felt Carroll “did a great job” in a post he appointed her to in 2011 to oversee operations at the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, along with the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School. “We just got the resignation so we’re now going to be looking to see what kind of interest there is,” Branstad said. Branstad noted that regent positions usually are highly sought after. “so I expect they’re be a lot of people that will be interested in that position and we’re going to be reaching out and looking at who would make a good regent,” he said. The governor said Carroll’s replacement would be a woman to meet gender-balance requirements.