Chancellor Search

[Big D]

UIC now has a website up and running for its chancellor search. You can check out the whitepaper to see what they're looking for in a candidate.

www.uillinois.edu/ChancellorSearch/

This is a very important hire for UIC for obvious reasons. Undoubtedly, I would love to see further advancement academically and in research until we are the premier urban public research university. I'm confident both of these things will occur. And, this is numero uno in priority for me.

However, what affect will the new chancellor have on athletics, if any? You'll notice not one mention of enhancing our reputation through athletics on the website. I think this is definitelty a mistake. I think that the new chancellor should be able to at least understand the importance of a winning athletics program.

What do you want in a chancellor?

[UICJohn]

I have to admit that I did not know that UIC was in search of a new Chancellor. Why is Sylvia Manning leaving?

Either way, definitely an important hire for UIC as they are really starting to get some national recognition in terms of research and academics. I hope that there are some big names involved and they can really make some noise with this hiring.

However, I do agree that it's incredibly unfortunate that there is no mention of the athletic department. So many people associate with school's athletic teams. Many students want to apply to schools based on athletics alone. People associate "good" schools as the ones with good atletic teams (and that is definitely not always the case).

[soccer fan]

Unfortunately, a lot of academics live in a world where state money flows like water and sports don't really matter because they themselves are not really into them.

But the harsh reality of today's world is that the state IS cutting back its support for higher education, and success in sports IS a way to attract philanthropy and support from alumni.

Despite its many improvements over the years, UIC is still lagging behind other schools in private philanthropy, and it probably won't come close to making its fundraising goals for the "Brilliant Futures" campaign. This is a school that DESPERATELY needs to improve its public image or it is only going to lag further.

And here's the catch: Sports teams provide a huge portion of the public image of a school like UIC.

UIC is generally considered to be mediocre to lousy in sports, and since its not anywhere close to U of C or Northwestern academically, people think it is a half-assed school, period.

If alums constantly hear about their school being half-assed (which EVERY student or alum of UIC hears CONSTANTLY, despite what EVERY ONE our ex-chancellors would like to think), they eventually start believing it themselves. Consequently, they don't give money.

The bottom line is UIC IS going to be judged as an institution by how its teams do, whether you, I, Manning, White, or the next chancellor like it or not. And ignoring that or pretending otherwise costs the school REAL DOLLARS.

Deniall is a luxury the school can not afford, and I hope the next chancellor understands that.