Illinois Wesleyan Launches Presidential Search

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University has begun the process of looking for its 18th president by naming a 16-member search committee comprising trustees, faculty, staff, and students.
Craig Hart, president of the university’s board of trustees, said that the committee will begin its work immediately with a goal of selecting Illinois Wesleyan’s next president by the spring of 2004.

Minor Myers jr., who had served as president since 1989, died on July 22, 2003.

"I am confident that the committee that is now in place will be as effective in doing its job as the committee that brought Minor Myers to Illinois Wesleyan 14 years ago," said Hart. "Although we all would rather not be in the position of seeking a replacement for Minor Myers, he left the university in a position of strength which will serve us well in finding a new president."

The search committee will be chaired by Gilbert Dorsey of Bloomington. Dorsey is retired vice chairman of The Eureka Company and a 1962 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan. He has been a member of the university’s board of trustees since 1992 and was selected as first vice president in 2002.

The other trustee members of the committee are: Herbert Getz of Naperville, Ill.; John E. Jordan of Urbana, Ill.; Rebie R. Kingston of West Bloomfield, Mich.; Thomas C. McKinney, Jr. of Chesterfield, Mo.; George A. Vinyard of Oak Park, Ill.; Steven J. Wannemacher of Bloomington, Ill.; and Susan D. Waring of Bloomington, Ill.

There will be five faculty members on the committee: Brian Hatcher, professor of religion and humanities and chair of religion; Nancy Loitz, professor of theatre arts and director of the School of Theatre Arts; Carolyn Nadeau, associate professor of Spanish; Alison Sainsbury, associate professor of English; and Mike Young, professor of history.

Representing the staff and administration will be Cathy Spitz, director of human resources, and the two student representatives will be J.R. Glenn, a junior from New Holland, Ill., and current student senate president, and an additional student selected by the student senate.