B. Joseph White is inaugurated

By Jason Satek - General Assignment Reporter

In an event unseen in around 50 years, the University of Illinois installed a new president in a grand formal ceremony Thursday afternoon. B. Joseph White, formally hired in November, became officially inaugurated as the head of the three University of Illinois campuses at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana in front of a estimated crowd of 1,500 people.
To underscore the importance of the occasion, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn were in attendance, and major state figures Gov. Rod Blagojevich, United States House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama all offered their congratulations to White via prerecorded video messages.
University of Illinois-Springfield was well represented in the Platform Party by

Students from the University of Illinois joined in a procession to the Krannert center before the inaguaration ceremony of B. Joseph White.

Chancellor Richard Ringeisen, Board of Trustees student representative Carrie Bauer and

Educational Outreach Coordinator Carolyn Shank, who spoke in an official capacity.
The ceremony, preluded by a marching band procession to the Krannert Center , featured a poetry reading, choral performances and greetings from delegates and departments all before the installation of and inauguration speech by White.
The last installation ceremony for the school was done for David Dodds Henry, president from 1955 to 1971, but was discontinued by his replacement, John E. Corbally, and not preformed again until now.
White, a doctorate in business administration, left a position as the Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to become the leader of the largest public university in the state.
With a student body of 70,000 over the three campuses and an alumni base of 555,000, including 18 Pulitzer Prize winners, the University of Illinois system is a formidable institute for instruction and research, a challenge to which White expressed anticipation.
In his address, White spoke of the origins of the original campus, tracing the evolution and expansion of the system to included a Chicago campus and eventually a Springfield one as well. He spoke to the purpose of the school, stating, “For a university, at its best, is an arena in which the best and most carefully researched and argued ideas prevail. This is why we protect freedoms of thought, inquiry and expression so vigorously.”

He lauded the recent achievements of the men's basketball team and reflected back to the schools first football game played at Memorial Stadium in 1924, an upset victory over Michigan highlighted by a six-touchdown performance by Harold “Red” Grange. “Those days are going to return too, by the way,” said White.
Continuing, White praised the intellectual achievements of the university and its alumni, notably the first widely used Web browser Mosaic, PayPal and, “regrettably, Mortal Kombat.”
He spoke of wanting to expand the horizons of the university to perhaps include a fourth, virtual campus for online learning to mirror the successes of the University of Phoenix in that area, and to become a leader in the pursuit of sustainable energy production and consumption.
Though he acknowledged the financial difficulties in raising funds for education, improvements and research, he pledged to maintain the high levels of excellence found in the University of Illinois system and not allow a degradation. “I did not come here to preside over decline.”
In assuming the position, the 58-year-old White becomes the 16th president of the school, succeeding the outgoing James J. Stukel.

UIS enrollment increases this fall

By Heather Gach - General Assignment Reporter

Enrollment at the University of Illinois at Springfield increased by 2.8 percent this fall, bringing the total number of students to 4,517 over last fall's 4,396.

New students enrolled this year numbered 1,327; 673 as undergraduates, 516 as graduate students and 138 as Capital Scholars.

The increase was brought on by the university becoming a full, four-year university, creating a general education curriculum and the Capital Scholars Honors Program, and an increase in the number of students enrolled in online courses.

“We're really excited about the growth and we want to be planful in the growth,” said Marya Leatherwood, associate vice chancellor and director of enrollment management in the division of student affairs, “But we want to be sure we are doing it in a strategic, thoughtful way that makes sure that the students who come get the type of services that they need and deserve as part of the UIS campus.”

Leatherwood said the university benefits in three key ways from increased enrollment.

First, with state appropriations being the way they are, Leatherwood said tuition dollars are an essential element in keeping the university functioning.

“Tuition dollars have become one of primary sources of funding for us as a campus, followed with dollars from donors, private sources of funds and being able to reconfigure resources in the way, and that can sometimes be difficult to do on a campus,” Leatherwood said.

Also, increased enrollment generates more student fee funds. Those students fee funds pay for infrastructure additions and improvements. The recreation center is being totally financed through student fees, for example.

“Increased enrollments provide increased options for infrastructure such as buildings, dormitories and recreation centers,” Leatherwood said.

The community also benefits as the university grows. Leatherwood noted that students come to see the university and seeing a vibrant downtown encourages them to enroll. They will then contribute to the economic base of the community, with their expendable income going to eating out and shopping downtown.

“We contribute the cultural center of the university. We contribute economic development opportunities through the expertise of our faculty and staff,” Leatherwood added, “The university becomes a place, sort of an intellectual hub for the community. There are all kind of great things we do if we grow.”

And, more growth and higher enrollment is projected for next fall. The university is targeting a total of 280 to 300 new students, with approximately 80 to 100 in the Capital Scholars Honors Program and the remainder general freshman.

This fall, complications with housing due to the increased number of freshmen required the university to ask sophomore Capital Scholars to move from the residence halls to on-campus townhouses. But in total, only four students had to make the move.

Roza George, a sophomore biology major, lived in the townhouses during summer session and volunteered to live there this fall rather than back in the resident hall, where she had lived as a freshman.

“I was extremely happy not to live in the dorms. I'm really happy to be able to live in the apartments with the people I'm in with now,” George said. “My situation is ideal. I wish I had opportunity last year.”

Alisha Backus, a sophomore criminal justice major, said if it was not a requirement for freshman and sophomore Capital Scholars to live on campus, she would be living at home in Chatham, so she volunteered to move into the townhouses.

“We jumped on it,” Backus said. “The rent is cheaper. We are not required to get a meal plan, and we all have our own rooms. It's really nice.”

B. Joseph White is inaugurated

UIS enrollment increases this fall