Board of Trustees

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees exercises final authority over the University. For the proper use of funds appropriated by the General Assembly and for the proper administration and governance of the University, the Board of Trustees is responsible to the people of Illinois.

The President of the University is the official adviser and executive agent of the board. He is a non-voting ex officio member of all committees and makes recommendations to the board and its committees on all phases of University policy and administration. The chancellors of the three campuses report to the president and serve as board advisers.

Nine trustees are appointed by the Governor for six-year terms, and three student trustees (one from each campus) are elected for one-year terms. One student trustee is designated by the Governor to have an official vote. The Governor serves as an ex officio member of the board. The trustees all serve on a voluntary, non-remunerated basis.

The current board chairman is Niranjan S. Shah, who was elected in January 2009. Shah, chairman and chief executive of a Chicago-based engineering firm, has been a member of the board since 2003.

In addition to its meetings every two months, the board works on behalf of the University in a number of standing committees. The committees are academic affairs, access, athletics, buildings and grounds, external affairs, finance and investment, governance, human resources, legal affairs, strategic planning, technology and economic development, and University hospital.

Shah chairs the board's three-member Executive Committee, which meets to transact urgent business that cannot be postponed to a regularly scheduled board meeting. At its January meeting, the board elected Frances G. Carroll and Robert F. Vickrey to serve on the Executive Committee with the chairman. Trustees also serve on a number of external boards, including those of the University of Illinois Alumni Association and U of I Foundation; the Illinois Research Park; and IllinoisVENTURES LLC, which provides funding and businessdevelopment support for early-stage companies that commercialize technology, inventions and innovations, largely from University research.