Jill Tiefenthaler

Early life and career

Tiefenthaler is daughter of a popcorn farmer from Breda, Iowa. In 1987, she earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Duke University in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Tiefenthaler joined the faculty of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York in 1991. Eventually becoming professor of economics and senior adviser to the president, she chaired the economics department from 2000 to 2003, and from 2003 to 2006 she served as associate dean of the faculty. Tiefenthaler is a scholar in the discipline of the economics of higher education. She gave a presentation on this topic at the annual meeting of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers (WACUBO), at The Future of the Liberal Arts College in America conference hosted by Lafayette College and Swarthmore College, and to the Colorado College students in her Block 5 course “The Economics of Higher Education.”

President of Colorado College

During her first year at Colorado College, Tiefenthaler undertook a “Year of Listening” to gather broad community input about the college’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Over the year, she visited Colorado Springs, Boulder, Denver, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Greenwich, and New York and gathered over 2,000 comments about what makes Colorado College a distinct liberal arts college.

Personal life

Tiefenthaler is married to Kevin Rask, who is an economics research professor at Colorado College. They have two children, Olivia, 18, and Owen, 15.