URBANA, Ill. (WMBD) — The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has hired a new chancellor to oversee its flagship campus, as well as the vice president for the entire system.
On Monday, the board announced they hired Charles Lee Isbell Jr. as the next chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois System vice president.
The move came during a special University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting.
Isbell, 56, will become the university’s 11th chancellor when he starts his job on Aug. 1. He will serve in a designate capacity beginning July 16 as current chancellor Robert Jones completes his term, according to the board.
Isbell is currently a computer scientist, academic innovator and provost at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the board said in a news release.
“We are fortunate to welcome a leader of Charles Isbell’s stature to build upon the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s tradition of excellence and innovation,” said board Chairman Jesse Ruiz. “Not only does he have amazing credentials as a scientist, he also has invested his energies into the human side of making science available and accessible to everyone.
“I am excited to see him succeed, uplift others and flourish at my alma mater,” he said.
As chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Isbell is heading a university with more than 56,000 students and nearly 13,000 faculty members and staff.
“Leading the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an incredible privilege, and I’m deeply honored to assume this role,” he said. “I’m excited to begin my work with President Killeen and the Board of Trustees — as well as all the students, faculty and staff — to continue to expand the university’s excellence and impact.”
Hailing from Atlanta, Isbell earned his undergraduate degree in information and computer science from Georgia Tech and completed his master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is married and has two children.
The university system has more than 97,700 students, about 28,000 full-time equivalent faculty and staff, and universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.
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