SIU Board chooses Glenn Poshard for President

The Board of Trustees (BOT) of Southern Illinois University announced Nov. 18 that former U.S. Congressman Glenn Poshard has been unanimously chosen to serve as the next President of Southern Illinois University. Mr. Roger Tedrick, Chair of the SIU Board of Trustees, called Poshard's selection a watershed decision in the University's proud history.

Glenn Poshard

"Today I am pleased to bring the news that Southern Illinois University's future will be led by an individual that has meant so much to its past," Tedrick commented. "Glenn Poshard's honorable public service career and his forty-year relationship with this institution presented the Board with the rare opportunity to select a uniquely qualified individual, who not only knows where SIU has been, but where it would like to go." Tedrick concluded.

Poshard's selection culminated a five-month national search conducted by Atlanta based Baker-Parker and Associates, a nationally recognized executive search firm. Poshard's name was one of four finalists forwarded to the Board by the twenty-two member SIU Presidential Search Advisory Committee (PSAC).

The PSAC, whose membership was drawn from the various university interest and constituency groups of each campus in the SIU system, was established earlier this year to assist the Board in screening and recommending qualified applicants for the position. SIU professor Harold Bardo served as chair of the PSAC. Bardo is the Director of SIU School of Medicine's MED-PREP program, a nationally recognized pre-medicine/pre-dental program for disadvantaged students.

"The search process was deliberate and thoughtful. The search firm solicited more than 400 names for the position, the PSAC reviewed more than forty individual candidate profiles, held in- person interviews with eight finalists and recommended four highly qualified finalists to the Board," Bardo explained. " In my personal view, the internal candidate had the strongest combined set of credentials, experience, and leadership skills that the SIU community was looking for in its next President," Bardo continued

Poshard, 60, resigned as SIU Board Chair in June of this year to become a candidate for President when current SIU President James Walker announced his intentions to retire. Walker, currently on sick leave battling prostate cancer, praised the decision. "Glenn has a devotion to Southern Illinois University that is unsurpassed," Walker commented. "Having worked with him for the past several years, I am absolutely convinced that he has the knowledge and leadership skills, combined with a desire to serve, that will make him an outstanding university president. SIU has a bright future that will only intensify with Glenn at the helm," Walker concluded.

Poshard, a former Congressman and state legislator from southern Illinois, has a 40-year relationship with SIU as a student, adjunct professor, administrator, and Board of Trustee member. He holds three degrees from the University.

"I have often said that whatever I've been able to do with my life, I owe to this university," Poshard stated. " The opportunity to advocate for and advance the interests of my alma mater is deeply appreciated. I am humbled by the confidence that the Board and the search committee have placed in me, " Poshard continued.

Poshard brings to the post a passion for education and a strongly held belief that a quality education is the key to an individual's success in life. As an elected official, Poshard long advocated for a more equitable funding system for K-12 education in Illinois. He began his professional life as a high school teacher and coach in southern Illinois. He later served for a decade as assistant director of the Southern Illinois Educational Service Center and as director of the Area Service Center for Educators of the Gifted in Benton, Illinois.

Poshard, and his wife Jo, reside in rural Carbondale and together co-founded the Poshard Foundation, a not-for profit organization that shelters and provides assistance to abused women and children in the lower third of Illinois. Poshard has been a respected public official in Illinois politics and government for two decades. He began his political career in 1984 when he was appointed, then elected to the Illinois State Senate. In 1988 Poshard was elected to the United States Congress and served there until 1998. In 1998 he ran unsuccessfully for Governor.

Poshard will assume the duties of President on January 1, 2006. He will be paid a base salary of $292,000, identical to the current base salary of SIU President James Walker. Effective January 1 Interim President Duane Stucky will return to his former position as Vice President of Financial and Administrative Affairs for the SIU system.