IWU has named its new president search committee. (WJBC file photo)
By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – A 19-member search committee will be in charge of finding Illinois Wesleyan University's next president.
Current President Dick Wilson announced in December 2014 his plans to retire at the end of the academic year.
Bloomington resident and longtime senior executive with State Farm, Jean Baird will chair the committee. Baird is a 1980 IWU graduate and is the secretary of the board of trustees.
In addition to Baird, nine other trustees were appointed to the search committee, including:
- Thomas L. Brown, vice president and CFO of RLI, a specialty insurance company in Peoria
- Ceasar Douglas, Jr., chair and Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University
- Herbert A. Getz, president of Aspen Creek Partners real estate development, Naperville
- Marsha A. Guenzler-Stevens, director of the Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland
- Thomas C. McKinney, Jr., pediatrician with St. Louis Pediatric Associates, Chesterfield, Mo.
- Sundeep V. Mullangi, senior managing director of PPM America investment management, Chicago
- Laura C. Randolph, a Bloomington plastic surgeon
- J. William Roberts, managing partner of Hinshaw & Culbertson attorneys at law, Chicago and Springfield
- Steven J. Wannemacher, vice chair of Heritage Enterprises, Bloomington
The committee will include five members of the IWU faculty:
- Wes Chapman, chair and professor of English
- Vickie Folse, director and the Caroline F. Rupert Chair of Nursing
- James Matthews, chair and associate professor of French
- Rebecca Roesner, chair and professor of chemistry
- Michael Young, the Robert W. Harrington Professor of History.
Patti Henderson, senior administrative assistant to the provost and dean of the faculty and Michael Thompson, assistant vice president for institutional research, planning and evaluation will represent staff and administration on the committee.
Yolanda Juarez, vice president of the Spanish and Latino Students Association from Chicago and Jake Thaker, president of the Student Senate, from West Des Moines, Iowa will be student representatives.
Supporting the search committee’s work will be Carl Teichman, director of government and community relations, and a yet-to-be-named outside search consultant.
Board of trustees chair George Vinyard said the search committee will begin its work immediately with the objective of finding the best possible successor to Wilson.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
