Cecilia Cornell
Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Education

Email Cecilia Cornell
217-206-7230

Areas of Responsibility

In addition to Graduate Education, the Vice Provost's portfolio includes the Center for Lincoln Studies, Center for State Policy and Leadership, and the Sangamon Experience.

Biography

Dr. Cecilia Cornell is the Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Education at the University of Illinois Springfield, a position she has held since 2024. In this capacity, she provides strategic leadership for graduate education, working collaboratively with academic leadership and faculty to ensure excellence in graduate programs. She advises the Provost, deans, and faculty on graduate education policy, oversees curriculum development and program review, and serves as an ex-officio member of the Graduate Council. Dr. Cornell also leads the Graduate Recruitment Task Force and works across campus to support graduate student recruitment and retention. Her portfolio includes oversight of the Office of Graduate Education, the Graduate Assistantship Office, the Sangamon Experience, the Center for Lincoln Studies, the Center for State Policy and Leadership, and the Campus Senate Office.

Dr. Cornell has been affiliated with the Office of Graduate Education since 2011 and was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education in 2013. She has played a key role in institutional accreditation efforts, including leadership in the university’s 10-year and 4-year reaccreditation processes.

A member of the UIS faculty since 1990, Dr. Cornell is a historian specializing in 20th-century U.S. foreign relations, with a focus on the early Cold War and periods of policy transition. She has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses and was an inaugural faculty member in the Capital Scholars Honors Program.

Dr. Cornell earned her Ph.D. in History from Vanderbilt University and completed her undergraduate studies at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University).

last updated 2025-6-10