University of Illinois

President Stanley O. Ikenberry

Biography


Stanley O. Ikenberry was appointed University of Illinois president, effective January 1, 2010, by the Board of Trustees at a special meeting in October 2009 and will serve until the appointment and arrival of a successor.

Ikenberry served as the 14th president of the University of Illinois for 16 years, from 1979 through 1995. As president, he led the consolidation of the University’s Medical Center and Chicago Circle campuses to become the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is today the largest and most comprehensive university in the city.

During his presidency Ikenberry oversaw significant facilities growth on the Urbana and Chicago campuses, and federal funds for research nearly quadrupled. He launched the first University-wide capital campaign as well as a second campaign that lead to increases in private gifts, grants and contracts. He has a key fundraising function in the current $2.25 billion Brilliant Futures capital campaign.

After leaving the presidency in 1995, Ikenberry served as the 10th president of the Washington-based American Council of Education for five years. He has been chairman of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and president of the Board of Overseers of TIAA-CREF.

Ikenberry returned to the University of Illinois in 2001 to teach higher education policy and leadership in the College of Education on the Urbana campus as Regent Professor and president emeritus. He also holds an appointment in the University-wide Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

Born in Colorado and reared in West Virginia, Stanley Ikenberry earned a bachelor’s degree from Shepherd College (now Shepherd University) in Shepherdstown, W.Va. in 1956 and master’s and doctoral degrees from Michigan State University in 1957 and 1960, respectively. Before he came to the University of Illinois in 1979, he was a senior vice president for administration at Pennsylvania State University and a professor in its Center for the Study of Higher Education. Ikenberry is the recipient of 16 honorary degrees and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Updated: January 2010



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