Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell is stepping down as the president of Utah State University — after she spent only a year and a half at the helm of the Logan school, which still is dogged by allegations of a toxic culture within its football program.

Utah State University President Elizabeth Cantwell, pictured here on the Pullman campus of Washington State University, was named the university's 12th president Thursday in Pullman. She is the first woman in the role since the university's creation in 1890. (Robert Hubner)

As of Feb. 6, it was announced that the 17th president of Utah State University Elizabeth R. Cantwell was hired as the new university president at Washington State University. Cantwell has been at USU since August 2023, making her run at USU one of the shortest of all university presidents in university history.

Cantwell will wrap up her time at Utah State over the next few months and become the 12th president of Washington State University on April 1. Cantwell, who has a background in ae