April 03, 2017
SIU Carbondale chancellor finalists named
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Four candidates for the position of chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale will visit campus for multi-day interviews beginning next week. Each candidate will participate in a public forum for students, faculty, staff and community members. The interviews will also include meetings with student government representatives, multiple faculty and staff groups, campus leaders and System President Randy Dunn.
Interview dates and details on public forums for each candidate follow.
J.S. (Jeff) Elwell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will interview April 10-12. His public forum will be at 8:45 a.m., April 11, in John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.
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George W. Hynd, president of Oakland University in Michigan, will interview April 18-20. His public forum takes place at 8:45 a.m., April 19, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.
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William Bradley Colwell, interim chancellor of SIU Carbondale, will interview April 24-26. His public forum will be at 8:45 a.m., April 25, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.
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Carl A. Pinkert, vice president for research and economic development at the University of Alabama, interviews April 26-28. His public forum is at 8:45 a.m., April 27, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.
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Media Advisory
Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the public forums for the chancellor finalists.
The finalists were identified following a national search that attracted 31 applicants and nominees. A 20-member search committee, chaired by College of Science Dean Laurie Achenbach and made up of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members, recommended the finalists to Dunn.
“All of the finalists bring significant academic and administrative experience to the table,” Dunn said. “They also understand the challenges as well as the opportunities we face at SIU Carbondale.
“We are looking for a strong leader and effective manager who is not afraid to tackle tough issues and who can work collaboratively on and off campus to shape a shared vision for the university’s future,” Dunn added.
Brief background on each of the candidates follows. The position description and additional information about the candidates are available at chancellor.siu.edu/search.
An SIU alumnus, Elwell is a professor of theater and speech in addition to serving as dean at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, since 2012. Previously, he was provost and special assistant to the chancellor for strategic initiatives at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama, founding dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at East Carolina University in North Carolina, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Nebraska, chair of the Department of Theatre at Marshall University in West Virginia, and director of theater at Mississippi State University.
Productions of his plays have been featured in numerous New York and regional venues, and he has been active in professional organizations and as a producer and director. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from California State University, Bakersfield; a master’s degree in communication/theatre from the University of Southwestern Louisiana; and a doctoral degree in speech communication/theater from SIU Carbondale.
Hynd has been president of Oakland University, where he also serves as a professor of psychology, since 2014. His previous roles include serving as provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, senior vice provost and dean and director of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education at Arizona State University, dean of the College of Education at Purdue University in Indiana, and associate dean for research and external affairs in the College of Education, director of the School of Professional Studies and chair of the Division for the Education of Exceptional Children at the University of Georgia.
Working in the field of clinical child neuropsychology, Hynd has written, co-authored and edited 11 books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Pepperdine University in California and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado.
In addition to serving as interim chancellor since 2015, Colwell is a professor in the university’s Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education. Before coming to SIU, he served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He was also associate dean for academic and student affairs in the College of Education and Human Services and chairman and director of graduate studies for the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at SIU. He has also worked as an attorney at Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson, Ltd., in Monticello, Ill.
Colwell’s academic focus is on legal, policy and school management issues, and he has published more than 50 papers and nearly 60 articles, book chapters and monographs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Anderson University in Indiana and a law degree as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
An SIU alumnus, Pinkert has been a vice president and professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama since 2013. Previously, he was associate vice president for research, interim head of the Department of Pathobiology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University in Alabama. He has also held academic roles and directed research units at the University of Rochester, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Missouri.
Pinkert has been principal or co-investigator on grant-funded projects that received more than $31 million in external support. He holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Colorado State University, a master’s degree in animal science from SIU, and a doctoral degree in animal science/reproductive physiology from the University of Georgia.
(More information: Contact Rae Goldsmith, chief marketing and communications officer, at 618/453-6732 or rae.goldsmith@siu.edu.)