UI President B. Joseph White officially submitted his resignation today. He will step down on December 31, 2009. The following includes excerpts from a news release published today by the University:

University of Illinois President B. Joseph White will resign as the 16th president of the university effective Dec. 31 of this year, but he will remain involved with the University in roles that include fundraising and teaching. The Board of Trustees is expected to consider an interim appointment to lead the University during a search for a new president.

White submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday to Board of Trustees Chair Christopher G. Kennedy, who accepted it for consideration by the full Board. White, 62, has served since January 2005 as president of the University, which educates 70,000 students at campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.

Kennedy said the Board is expected to act on White’s resignation and the appointment of an interim president at a special meeting to be scheduled within weeks. The Board’s next regular scheduled meeting is Nov. 12 in Springfield. Kennedy said a search committee of trustees, faculty, students, alumni and others will be named soon to recruit the next permanent president of the University of Illinois, with the intention of having a new president in place by the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

“The University of Illinois is a nationally ranked, world-class university. Because of its outstanding reputation and renowned faculty, we anticipate a great deal of interest in the position of president by highly qualified candidates,” Kennedy said.

…

Kennedy responded to White as chair of the Board to accept the resignation. He commended White for acting in the best interests of the University and for providing “exemplary” service as a leader of the $2.25 billion “Brilliant Futures” fundraising campaign the University and its foundation launched in 2007. White said he will continue to play a role in the capital campaign.

Read the entire release here: http://www.uillinois.edu/our/news/2009/Sept23.Announcement.cfm

According to the News-Gazette, “former UI President Stanley Ikenberry said today he’s been approached about serving as interim University of Illinois president after President B. Joseph White steps down.” The decision for interim president is expected to be made during the November 12th Board of Trustees meeting.

Ikenberry has been approached on interim presidency – News-Gazette

For more information on the issue, check out the following links:

President White’s letter to Board of Trustees Chairman Christopher G. Kennedy, Sept. 23 [PDF]

Chairman Kennedy’s response to President White, Sept. 23 [PDF]

President White’s September 14, 2009, statement to the Urbana Faculty Senate, Sept. 14 [PDF]

University of Illinois Trustee Niranjan Shah has resigned as of Monday in response to the U of I admissions scandal.

In a letter Monday to Gov. Pat Quinn, Shah said he is “not in public service for self-aggrandizement and therefore have no interest in a protracted process regarding my role” in the admissions scandal that has plagued the university.

The governor issued a statement Monday afternoon accepting the resignation.

News-Gazette: UI trustees Chairman Niranjan Shah resigns from board

University of Illinois trustee Lawrence Eppley has resigned today in response to the UIUC admissions scandal. Eppley was chair of the board of trustees from 2003 through 2008.

“As the ultimate body of governance and leadership of this University, the trustees must help maintain the confidence of our shareholders, who in this case are the people of Illinois,” Eppley wrote. “Just as in the corporate world, shareholders’ lack of confidence in an organization justifies effecting changes.”

Eppley, criticized for pushing candidates recommended by ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, also called for unnamed administrators to accept responsibility for the admissions uproar at the university.

News-Gazette: UI trustee Eppley resigns, urges others to do the same

Lawrence Eppley has been the Chairman of the UI Board of Trustees for the last six years. Today, he stepped down and is being replaced by fellow trustee Niranjan Shah.

Shah is a 64-year-old chief executive of the Chicago-based engineering firm Globetrotters Engineering Corp. He has been a board member since 2003 and is the first Asian-American to chair the board.

Shah says a top priority will be helping the university navigate difficult economic times.

Eppley resigns as UI chairman, successor picked – Chicago Tribune

Paula Allen-Meares has been named the new chancellor for the University of Illinois’ Chicago campus, pending approval by the UI Board of Trustees.

Allen-Meares said she was “deeply honored” to become the next chancellor of the Chicago campus and hopes “to build on and strengthen bonds” with the UI campuses in Urbana-Champaign and Springfield.

She succeeds Sylvia Manning, who retired last December after eight years as Chicago chancellor. That campus has about 25,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students and a total annual budget of about $1.7 billion.

Since Manning’s retirement, the campus has been overseen by interim chancellor Eric “Rick” Gislason, the vice chancellor for research in Chicago. Gislason plans to retire next January, when Allen-Meares is scheduled to take office.

Allen-Meares, 60, has been dean of the University of Michigan’s top-ranked School of Social Work since 1993. Before that, she was a professor and dean of the School of Social Work at the UI’s Urbana-Champaign campus.

Read the rest of the story from the News-Gazette

To those incoming freshman… sorry. The Board of Trustees has passed the proposed tuition rate increase and you will be paying over $20,034 next fall. The good news is that your rate will never increase.

According to the University’s Guaranteed Tuition Policy, a student’s tuition rate is frozen for four years. While this seems great, it is cause for alarm to some. Those students partaking in a study-abroad program, CO-OP or other activity that will leave them at UI for more than four years, may see a huge tuition rate hike their last year. The Policy does account for many exceptions including military services, CO-OP’s and those enrolled in degree programs requiring more than four years.

If you are on track to make your college experience last with an additional year or so, check out the official University of Illinois Guaranteed Tuition Policy Guidelines to see if you’ll be paying more or have a case for exception.

Check out the Guaranteed Tuition Policy website!

The cost of tuition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is about to sky-rocket. With an eight percent increase over last year’s rate, the proposed amount, $20,034, is the highest in school history. The rate, if accepted by the Board of Trustees, will affect incoming students for the 2008-2009 school year. Current students are safe, however, thanks to a rate freeze, mandated by the state, that charges students the same rate for all four years of their education.

“This rate of increase is lower than the rate of increase that students experience at many other institutions competing with the University of Illinois,” officials said in the document proposing the increase.

Fees at UIC will likely be slightly higher because the school is waiting to find out how much a mandatory CTA pass will cost next year. Students have to approve a referendum on those costs next month. It currently costs $95 for a semester pass that allows students unlimited CTA rides. Journalism students will pay an extra $750. That puts their tuition increase at 17 percent.

Stay tuned to The Quad to see if the proposal is passed…

$20,034 a year to be an Illini? – Chicago Sun-Times