October 15, 2008
SIUC names interim associate chancellor-diversity
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Interim Southern Illinois University Carbondale Chancellor Samuel Goldman today (Oct. 15) named Linda McCabe Smith as the interim associate chancellor for diversity.
McCabe Smith’s appointment, which is effective Nov. 1, requires ratification by the SIU Board of Trustees. She will serve in the position until June 30, 2009.
The position has been vacant since Sept. 1, when Seymour Bryson retired after 44 years of service to the University.
McCabe Smith has served as interim associate dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts since 2007. She also has been an associate professor of communication disorders and sciences in the Rehabilitation Institute since 2001. She joined the program as an assistant professor in 1995.
She earned her doctoral degree in speech-language and hearing pathology from SIUC in 1995, her master’s in speech-language and hearing pathology from North Carolina Central University in 1985 and her bachelor’s in elementary education K-3, also from North Carolina Central University, in 1981. Since 1993, she has held a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language and Hearing Association.
From 1990 to 1994, McCabe Smith was a Patricia Roberts Harris Graduate Fellow in SIUC’s Communication Disorders and Sciences Program. She won the University Women’s Professional Advancement Award in 1997 and 1999.
McCabe Smith was one of three people recommended for the post by an advisory panel studying the office.
Goldman interviewed the three candidates. He said he selected McCabe Smith because of her “good administrative background” and because she has worked closely with many of the people already working in the associate chancellor’s office.
McCabe Smith said she is looking forward to the challenge of her new position, and plans to “continue the legacy SIUC has of inclusion and maintain our diversity on campus.” She added that she wants to “enhance the present while building upon the past.”
The advisory panel, chaired by Harold Bardo, an associate professor in the MEDPREP program, is examining the structure, functions and future direction of the associate chancellor for diversity office.
“Our hope is that the panel will complete its work by the end of this semester or early in the spring semester,” Goldman said. “Once we agree on the direction for the office, we will start posting the positions that will be needed for the office.”