March 17, 2025

Open forums set for Library Affairs dean

Two candidates for dean of Library Affairs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will meet with faculty, staff and students during a series of open forums on campus, beginning Tuesday, March 18.

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

  • Brian Hickam, recently director of the Indiana Institute of Technology’s McMillen Library.
  • William Walters, executive director of the Mary Alice and Tom O’Malley Library at Manhattan University.

Meet the candidates

During their respective open forums, each candidate will discuss their vision for Library Affairs, followed by a Q&A. The open forums are in conjunction with each of the candidates’ interviews.

Dean has numerous responsibilities 

The dean is the chief academic and administrative officer for Library Affairs and reports to the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Library Affairs’ main units are Information Services (circulation, geospatial resources, government information, periodicals and special formats, reference and instructional services), Support Services (information resources management, library systems), the Special Collections Research Center (manuscripts archives, political papers archives, rare books, records management, university archives), Sharp Museum and SIU Press.

The dean works with the faculty and staff in the development and maintenance of Library Affairs programs and policies, and is responsible for its academic programs, fiscal management, personnel, external relations, recruitment and retention, among other areas. Each candidate must have an outstanding record as a teacher and scholar and a strong record of academic leadership and administrative experience.

Open forum schedules 

The presentation and open forums for each candidate will be in Morris Library’s John C. Guyon Auditorium. The open forum schedule, with each candidate’s CV, is:

The deadline to submit feedback for each candidate is midnight on the date of each candidate’s open forum: