Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing breaking news story. Updates will be provided as they become available. 

On Oct. 28, Colorado State University President Amy Parsons announced her resignation via email and CSU Source press release at 11:11 a.m. Parsons’ statement clarified she will remain in the position until the end of this year, but did not specify a reason for her resignation.

“On Dec. 31, I will step down as president of Colorado State University,” Parson’s statement reads. “Serving as CSU’s 16th president has been the honor of a lifetime. I am deeply grateful for the trust you have placed in me and extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together.”

Parsons began her tenure as the university’s president in 2023. Prior to this, she worked in the CSU System for 17 years in senior executive leadership roles at the Fort Collins campus and throughout the university’s system as a whole.

In 2022, Parsons was announced as the sole finalist for the Fort Collins campus presidential position. She succeeded Joyce McConnell, the university’s 15th president.

In her statement, Parsons highlighted accomplishments under her tenure, such as setting records for enrollment, the beginning of Spur Start and the Ram Transfer Academy and joining the Pac-12 conference.

At 11:23 a.m., Chancellor Tony Frank released a statement naming Rick Miranda as Parsons’ interim replacement; Miranda will assume the role beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

“Rick knows and loves this university deeply,” Frank’s email reads. “He has spent decades at CSU as a faculty member and as our long-serving provost, and he has stepped into the interim president role before. He will work closely with Provost and Executive Vice President Lise Youngblade and CSU’s talented leadership team to ensure a smooth transition and to keep its major initiatives moving forward.”

In Feb. 2026, Frank announced that he would be retiring from the chancellor position of the CSU System on July 1, 2027 and that Rico Munn would serve as his replacement as CSU Chancellor, which he reiterated in his email Oct. 28. Frank said Munn will be heavily involved in the search for the university’s next president.

“Because CSU’s next president will work most closely with Rico, he will lead the search for the University’s 17th president,” Frank’s statement reads. “That process will begin this spring and be built around a campus engagement effort. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the University will all have meaningful opportunities to provide input that will shape who leads CSU next.”