(Radio Iowa) – A former biology professor who’s been a college administrator for over two decades will become president of Briar Cliff University in Sioux City in July. Matthew Draud has been the vice president of academic affairs at McMurray University in Abilene, Texas, since 2020.

“With the advent and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence…what our students are going to be doing in the very near future is really transforming, at a pace that’s actually kind of spectacular,” Draud said. “And what that’s going to call all of us to do (at) every institution is sort of re-imagine what we’re doing to prepare our students for that future.”

Draud, one of four finalists for the job, says his interview was capped off by a dinner with students — and that’s what convinced him to take the job. “And then, they said: ‘Hey, this has been nice, but we have some questions,'” Draud said, laughing. “I didn’t expect that, but let me tell you, I got the best questions that I had gotten all day – absolutely no doubt about it — the most probing, honest questions I had gotten the whole day.”

Briar Cliff’s website shows 941 students were enrolled at the school last fall. Draud says Briar Cliff, like every college and university in the country, is heading into the next academic year behind the eight ball due to the revamped and delayed federal financial aid application process. “Financial value transparency coming up is something every institution is going to have to deal with,” Draud says. Federal rules that go into effect later this year require colleges to show students and parents how much they’ll be paying for college and the financial outcomes they can expect to achieve after graduation.

Briar Cliff was founded by the Sisters of Saint Francis and started as a women’s college in 1934. Men were admitted in 1965. Draud will be Briar Cliff’s 13th president when he takes over July 1st. The university’s 12th president resigned in January to become the chief financial officer at a small Catholic college in Kansas City, Kansas.