Elizabeth Hoffman (professor)

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Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Hoffman is executive vice president and provost at Iowa State University in Ames. Hoffman was named to this position in September 2006.

Hoffman is best known as the former president of the three-campus University of Colorado System, a position to which she was appointed on September 1, 2000. Hoffman holds doctorate degrees in economics and history and had an accomplished career as a faculty member and researcher prior to moving into academic administration. Several months after assuming the CU presidency, Hoffman helped to obtain one of the largest gifts ever to an American public university, a $250 million grant to establish the CU Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.

In May 2001, Hoffman launched "CU Vision 2010", a strategic road map for the university. She since has become known for her efforts to create a "University Without Walls" at CU and for the rapid growth of the University's medical education and biotech research center in Aurora, Colo.

Regarded as a tireless fundraiser and charismatic leader, Hoffman's otherwise stellar presidency was marred by a football recruiting scandal that erupted in early 2004 on the Boulder campus. The highly publicized controversy revealed lurid allegations of sex and alcohol use as recruiting tools by the university's football team, along with accusations of rape and sexual misconduct among players and coaching staff. Hoffman became synonymous with the lingering scandal, even though she was not directly in charge of the campus where it occurred. Many observers felt she was used as a scapegoat by a timid and incompetent board of regents who were eager to shift blame for the scandal away from the athletic department and coach Gary Barnett.

On March 7, 2005, Hoffman announced her resignation, effective June 30, as president of the University of Colorado to return to the classroom at the Denver campus as an economics professor.