Chancellor Janet L. Gooch shared her vision for the future of the University of Illinois Springfield during a Ceremony of Investiture on Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Sangamon Auditorium on the UIS campus.
The Investiture was hosted by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and University of Illinois System President Timothy L. Killeen as a ceremonial acknowledgment of her appointment to the top UIS post.
In her speech, Chancellor Gooch focused on six future goals for UIS:
- Extend the university’s reach to attract a diverse student body, meet workforce needs and overall contribute as an engine of social mobility in bigger and more meaningful ways
- Build on UIS’ strength in experiential education to provide employers with a highly skilled and well-prepared workforce
- Expand the ways students learn to foster critical thinking, problem solving and interpersonal communication
- Build a more diverse university community to contribute to a culture that values different ways of thinking
- Elevate UIS’ commitment to civic engagement and public service to positively influence the issues that shape and challenge our region, nation and world
- Be known as a university with the power to transform individual lives and communities through an unwavering focus on producing informed and inclusive leaders.
Gooch said she is confident in UIS’ ability to do big things.
“As Chancellor, I will work with focus and deliberation with our collective community of faculty, staff, students and external constituents so that UIS is known as the capital city university with the power to transform – to reimagine possible and lead the way toward meaningful change,” Gooch said.
The Ceremony of Investiture also featured remarks from Killeen, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, U of I Board of Trustees Chairman Don Edwards and Truman State University President Susan L. Thomas.
“Today is a symbolic beginning, but Chancellor Gooch, of course, has already been hard at work here at UIS and with her system colleagues for many months,” Killeen said. “This new era for UIS and for the system as a whole begins with a burst of energy and excitement, but also with the sustaining knowledge that our commitment to Illinois is unwavering, part of our DNA and vital as we face the future.”
Edwards called Gooch “the right leader for UIS,” adding that “UIS is a matchless asset to this state and to the families and students depending on it.”
UIS Associate Professor and Chair of the Campus Senate Celest Weuve and Student Government Association President Kyle Stauder also spoke.
Gooch officially took office as UIS chancellor and vice president for the University of Illinois System on July 1, 2022. She came to UIS from Truman State University, where she served as executive vice president and provost. She is the seventh person to lead the Springfield university.