William Tietz

William John Tietz Jr. (pronounced TEE-tz; March 6, 1927 – June 10, 2020) was an American veterinarian who was Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University from 1971 to 1977 and president of Montana State University from 1977 to 1990. A group of historians named Tietz one of Montana State's four most important presidents in 2011.

Early life and education William Tietz was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irma Helen (Neuman) and William John Tietz. He grew up in nearby Hinsdale, and graduated from Hinsdale Central High School in 1945.

After 6 years in the United States Navy, he enrolled at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he ran track and was on the social committee. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1950. He immediately pursued a doctorate in physiology and pathology at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Science and Medicine, graduating in 1961.

Academic career After receiving his doctorate, Tietz was appointed assistant professor of veterinary physiology at Purdue. On September 1, 1971, he was appointed Dean of the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. While dean, he helped found a program whereby Montana State University students could begin their veterinary medical education at Bozeman, and then transfer to Colorado State. This decision-making style was eagerly embraced by MSU administrators, faculty, and staff, who saw it as the kind of aggressive leadership lacking under the more soft-spoken, behind-the-scenes leadership of the previous president, Carl W. McIntosh.

Tietz believed that Montana State University (MSU) should be far more research-oriented. He encouraged faculty to engage in research, encouraged them to apply for federal research grant money, and required university administrators to seek out federal research funds to expand, renovate, and build new research buildings on campus. Research funding during his tenure rose to $18 million in 1990 from $7 million in 1977.

Tietz arrived at MSU just as a severe, seven-year recession in the state was ending. When Tietz arrived at MSU, faculty salaries had declined 23 percent over the past decade and were in the bottom 10 percent nationally. Tietz also greatly expanded Native American programs at MSU (which he believes was one of his most important achievements). By the end of his tenure, however, planning for a new engineering building had begun. (This structure, the Engineering and Physical Science Building, would not be completed until 1999.) Despite the lack of building, enrollment continued to rise. It hit a then-historic high of 11,311 in 1982. (During the same period, the University of Montana lost 2,000 students in enrollment, despite seeing the number of out-of-state students rise to more than 30 percent of its student body.)

During his tenure at Montana State, Teitz also established the Advanced Technology Park. The goal was for MSU to act as a high technology development incubator, and then transfer the discoveries made to the private sector. Not only would MSU benefit from licensing and royalty income, but the state economy would grow and jobs would be created. Tietz won a six-month sabbatical in 1984 that allowed him to travel the nation to learn about these tech incubators. (Stanford University, for example, used its tech incubator to spark the creation of Silicon Valley.) In 1987, the US West telecommunications company asked seven Western states to submit proposals for the location of its new technology development center (which would bring 1,500 jobs and a critical high technology company to whichever area was chosen). Tietz offered of Advanced Technology Park land and buildings to the company. But a new recession hit the state the same year, leading to deep cut-backs at MSU. Tietz worked hard to reverse the cuts, and failed. Schwinden, meanwhile, accused Tietz of "duplicity" in telling US West that Montana offered a superb location for the new technology center while telling the legislature that MSU was suffering from the budget cuts. Tietz was outraged, calling it an incredible accusation and later saying he had never been so mad in his entire life. Architecture was saved only because students in the program agreed to tax themselves an extra $190 a semester to pay for faculty salaries.

Personal life Tietz was married twice. He and his first wife, Patricia Lane Wells Tietz, were married in 1953 and divorced in 1983. They had three children: Karyn, William John Tietz III (known as John), and Julia. Tietz died on June 10, 2020.

Legacy In 2011, three historians who wrote a history of MSU were asked to name Montana State University's most important presidents. Pierce Mullen, Robert Rydell, and Jeffrey Safford named Tietz one of the four top presidents in the university's history. The others were James M. Hamilton, Roland Renne, and Leon H. Johnson. (Safford said Tietz was even more important than Renne.) Tietz "set MSU on the path it still follows today", and the group agreed that presidents Michael P. Malone, Geoffrey Gamble, and Waded Cruzado have only built on what Tietz accomplished.

William Tietz has won numerous honors throughout his life. Among the more important are the Distinguished Service Award bestowed by the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association in 1976, and the Distinguished Alumni Award bestowed by the Colorado State University School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in 1977.

Upon his retirement in 1990, Tietz endowed MSU with funds to create the President's Native American Excellence Scholarships for American Indian Students. This scholarship goes to a Native American student who has been accepted into the Master of Arts program in Native American Studies.

On November 2, 2007, MSU renamed its Animal Resources Center the William J. Tietz Hall in honor of Tietz.