Morey 1954-1955

After a year as acting president from 1953-54, Lloyd Morey became president from 1954-55. He had worked as the University's comptroller for 37 years and implemented accounting procedures that would be used as models for colleges and universities nationwide. He became the first CPA to serve as the president of a major university. Morey also served concurrently as comptroller of the University Retirement System of Illinois from 1941-53 and as treasurer of the University of Illinois Foundation from 1935-53. In 1911 he received two bachelor's degrees with honors from the University of Illinois. He was certified as a CPA in 1916, earning the second highest grade on the Illinois State CPA examination. He served as both an educator and administrator at the University.

During his brief administration as president, one of the first educational television stations, WILL-TV, went on the air from makeshift studios with a transmitter that had a radius of just 25 miles. The first broadcast was a film called "The Finder" although viewers missed the first fifteen minutes due to seven blown fuses. Morey participated with university faculty and staff in a broadcast called "Your University" that aired on the first night.

The Coordinating Placement Network at the University of Illinois was created during Morey's administration in an effort to create a coordinated, collegial service that helped students and alumni find jobs. From this initiative, the Coordinating Placement Office was established.

Morey later came out of retirement at the invitation of the governor of Illinois in order to serve as the twenty-second Auditor of Public Accounts for the State of Illinois from 1956-1957. He was in office for only six months to fill out the expired term of Orville Hodge, who was imprisoned for embezzlement of state funds and for misappropriation of bank funds. Morey's administration subsequently focused on developing the first complete reform accountancy program.