Stanley O. Ikenberry Tapped as Interim President

From the University of Illinois
Saturday, October 3, 2009

URBANA, Ill. — Former University of Illinois President Stanley O. Ikenberry was appointed Saturday as interim president at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Ikenberry, 74, who previously served as U of I president for 16 years, will become interim president effective January 1, 2010. President B. Joseph White last week announced his resignation effective December 31. In the intervening three months, Ikenberry will act as interim president-designate, enabling him to work with White and other senior administrators to better facilitate an orderly transition. As interim president, Ikenberry will serve until a permanent president is named.

“The University of Illinois is precious to our faculty and students and the people of Illinois,” said Ikenberry. “The Board of Trustees has asked me to help at this time of transition and I am delighted to be able to do so. My top priorities will be to support the Board in its search for an outstanding president and to work with faculty and academic leaders on all three campuses as we move forward to address a very challenging agenda. We have abundant energy and many friends and we’ll need both.”

“Stanley Ikenberry is ideally suited for this important transitional role at this time,” said Board Chairman Christopher G. Kennedy. “His experience and strong reputation in Illinois and among higher education leaders nationally means the University of Illinois will have a familiar and steady hand at the helm to guide a great university and its search for the next president in an interim period.”

The Board also approved the structure of a 19-member search committee to select the next president. The committee will have faculty, staff and student representatives from each of the campuses as well as members of university administration and the Board. The composition of the committee will be as follows: three trustees; eight faculty members; three students; one member each from the academic professional and civil service staffs; one administrative officer; and one representative each from the University of Illinois Alumni Association and the U of I Foundation.

The executive search firm of Isaacson, Miller was selected to serve as consultants to the search committee.

The Board’s objective is to have a new president in office by the start of the 2010-11 academic year. The Board at Saturday’s meeting formally accepted White’s resignation and approved his position as professor of business administration in the Urbana’s campus’ College of Business.
Stanley Ikenberry served as the 14th president of the University of Illinois system from 1979 through 1995. After retiring from the University in 1995, he served for five years as the 10th president of the American Council of Education (ACE). He returned to the University in 2001 and is currently U of I Regent Professor and President Emeritus and holds an appointment in the University-wide Institute of Government and Public Affairs. In 2008, the Board of Trustees honored Ikenberry’s contributions by naming a new dining hall and residence halls complex on the Urbana campus after him and his wife, Judy.

Ikenberry earned a bachelor’s degree from Shepherd College in 1956 and master’s and doctoral degrees from Michigan State University in 1957 and 1960 respectively. Before he came to the University of Illinois in 1979, he was a senior vice president for administration at The Pennsylvania State University and a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education.