After a six-month, nationwide search, during which as many as 30 candidates were interviewed, Northern Arizona University chose Rita Cheng as the finalist to replace current NAU President John Haeger.
She's held leadership roles at Southern Illinois University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Arizona Board of Regents still has to vote officially to approve Cheng as the new leader of NAU, which is expected to happen sometime next week.
Today she met with faculty and the community on the NAU campus and addressed concerns about the increasing problems of student-loan debt.
"We're almost at a point where we're not going to be able to, as a collective higher education across the United States, [increase] tuition that much because of the impact it has on families," she said.
Cheng was selected through a closed presidential search, which means the public didn't know who was in the running until the finalist was announced.
