CHICAGO, Ill.—The University of Illinois Board of Trustees today re-elected attorney Lawrence C. Eppley as Board chair and retained the incumbent University comptroller, secretary and counsel in their respective offices.

Members of the trustees’ Executive Committee also were elected. The actions took place at the Board’s regular meeting on the U. of I.’s Chicago campus today.

U. of I. President B. Joseph White said the Board of Trustees does vital work that is essential to the University’s success.

“The University of Illinois is extremely fortunate to have strong leadership from our trustees,” White said. “All the members of the Board of Trustees are accomplished individuals who volunteer their time, experience and vision for the good of the University.”

Eppley, 48, of Palatine, was re-elected to his sixth consecutive term as Board chair.

“My fellow board members and I take our duties as trustees very seriously,” Eppley said. “The University of Illinois is a world-class teaching and research institution that proudly serves the state and its citizens and drives the Illinois economy.”

An attorney in the corporate practice of Bell, Boyd and Lloyd LLC of Chicago, Eppley was first appointed to the Board in 2001 for a six-year term and was reappointed last year for another six years. He earned three degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: a B.S. with high honors in 1982, an M.A.S. in accountancy in 1982 and a law degree in 1985 magna cum laude. In law school, he was a member of the Order of the Coif.

The Board of Trustees, which governs the University and its three campuses, has nine statewide members, who each serve staggered six-year terms. The governor, who is an ex officio member of the Board with a vote, appoints all Board members who must be confirmed by the Illinois Senate. The Board also has three student members, one elected from each campus by students. One student trustee has an official vote, and the other two have advisory votes. Trustees serve without pay.

In addition to Eppley as the chair, three other officers of the Board of Trustees were re-elected Thursday to their posts: Walter K. Knorr, vice president and chief financial officer. The vice president/CFO also serves as comptroller of the Board of Trustees, treasurer of the University of Illinois Foundation and as an ex officio member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association Board of Directors. Michele M. Thompson was re-elected board secretary, and Thomas R. Bearrows was elected to another term as University counsel. These officers are not members of the Board; each was re-elected for a single year.

In addition, membership of the Executive Committee, which functions as an instrument of the Board, was set. The three trustees serving on the Executive Committee are Eppley as chair, Niranjan S. Shah of Oak Brook and Kenneth D. Schmidt of Riverwoods.

Two university faculty members were appointed to interim positions. Larry H. Danziger, UIC associate vice chancellor for research, was named interim vice chancellor for research. Lawrence M. DeBrock, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Business at the Urbana campus, was named interim dean of the College of Business.

In other action, the trustees authorized Chancellor Richard Herman and Walter Knorr, vice president and chief financial officer, to negotiate and execute the sale of 150 acres of endowment land in Piatt County to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which owns adjacent property. The land is located along the Sangamon River east of Allerton Park. Only about nine acres of the land are tillable.

Because of the agreement put into place when Robert Allerton donated his estate to the U. of I. in 1946, the sale is subject to approval by the president of the university’s alumni association and the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The land has been appraised at $750,000. Proceeds from its sale would go into the Allerton Park endowment, and annual earnings would go toward the park’s operating budget and to maintain the main house and grounds.

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