Former Montana resident chosen as higher ed commissioner

HELENA - The Board of Regents voted unanimously on Tuesday to appoint Sheila Stearns as Montana's next commissioner of higher education.

Stearns, 56, is currently president of 3,500-student Wayne State College in Nebraska. She was chancellor of the University of Montana-Western at Dillon from 1993 to 1999.

The board chose Stearns at a special meeting following a closed-door session

where regents dis-

cussed the final two candidates, pared down from an initial list of 32 applicants.

The other finalist was Warren Fox, executive director of California's post-secondary education commission from 19...