PEOPLE

Edited by Rodd Whelpley

SHIFTS AT THE TOP Dennis Culloton is Gov. George Ryan's new deputy press secretary. Culloton, a former radio journalist and public affairs officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, was most recently communications director for the Chicago Department of Aviation. He has been assigned to the governor's Chicago office. Vickie Moseley has signed on as a managerial assistant in the index department of the secretary of state's office. Moseley, a Democrat, represented a Springfield district in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. Whitney Rosen has accepted a position as legislative counsel for the comptroller's office. She has left the staff of the Illinois House to make the move. Cathy Ritter joins the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs as the new head of the tourism and film bureaus. Ritter has worked as a press secretary for George Ryan on his secretary of state's and governor's staffs. Jeffrey Berry of Springfield is the new deputy director of operations for the Illinois lottery. Berry worked for the secretary of state's office under George Ryan. Joyce Jackson is the new communications chief at the Department of Public Aid. She had held a similar position with the Department of Corrections since 1997. She lives in Springfield.

New tollway chair comes out of the gate calling for fee hikes

Arthur Philip was named chairman of the State Toll Highway Authority by Gov. George Ryan in July. Philip, whose brother is Illinois Senate President James "Pate" Philip, has served on the board for 12 years.

The new chairman wasted no time in calling for a fee increase that he says is needed to pay for a 20-year, $2 billion rebuilding project for 274 miles of the tollway A study commissioned by the authority in 1997 recommended such a project. Philip also wants to rebuild the tollway's seven food and fuel oases and extend the system farther into Will and Lake counties.

APPOINTMENTS.

Former legislator Robert Churchill has landed the governor's appointment to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Churchill represented a Lake County district in the Illinois House from 1983 to 1998. Churchill was deputy Republican leader when he left his seat in the legislature to seek his party's nomination as secretary of state, a bid he lost to Al Salvi. Churchill takes the $65,204-a-yearjob pending Senate approval.

Gov. George Ryan has appointed James T. Hadley to the Lottery Control Board. Hadley, who lives in Chicago, is vice president of the Highland Community Bank. The appointment requires Senate confirmation. The governor named four new members to the Illinois Development Finance Authority this July The authority issues state of Illinois industrial bonds, nonprofit revenue bonds and local govern- ment bonds. The appointees are: Howard Feldman of Springfield, John Koliopoulos of Palos Park, George William Beck of Mt. Vernon and Ruth Vrdolyak of Chicago. The appointments require Senate confirmation.

Robert Churchill

40 September 1999 Illinois Issues

BIG PEOPLE ON CAMPUS

The new faces on Illinois college campuses don't always belong to the freshman class. As the school year begins, new trustees and top administrators are set to take on their duties, while others find themselves at the crossroads of their careers.

Board of Higher Education
Thomas R. Lamont of Springfield and James L. Kaplan of Lincolnshire are Gov. George Ryan's picks for new members of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

Lamont, a member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees since 1990, takes the spot on the higher ed board that is reserved for a trustee of one of the state's public universities. His appointment does not require Senate confirmation.

Kaplan is an attorney at Kaplan and Sorosky Ltd. His appointment does require confirmation by the Senate.

SlU-Carbondale
Former congressman and gubernatorial hopeful Glenn Poshard is the new vice chancellor for administration at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Poshard, who has a doctorate in education, was a teacher and served as the director of the Area Service Center for Educators of the Gifted before his stints in the General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an SIUC alumnus.

Governors State
In July, Paula Wolff announced that this will be her final semester as president of Governors State University at University Park. Her contract runs out in December. She has been president of the university since 1992.

Paul Green, a popular political analyst and director of the school's Public Policy Institute, has already left to become a professor of public policy at Roosevelt University, where he is set to begin his duties this month. Green had been with Governors State for 26 years.

Eastern Illinois University
Joining the EIU Board of Trustees is dentist Roger Dettro of Mattoon. His appointment requires Senate confirmation.

Chicago State University
The governor has appointed Betsy Perkins Hill of Wilmette to the Chicago State Board of Trustees. She is the managing director for product and services marketing at Illinova Energy Partners. Her appointment requires Senate confirmation.

Northern Illinois University
Three new members have been appointed to the NIU Board of Trustees. Gary J. Skoien of Inverness is an executive of Horizon Group Properties Inc. and Prime Group Inc. Rockford attorney Barbara Giorgi Vella and former state Sen. Jeremiah Joyce of Chicago will also be new board members, pending Senate approval.

Western Illinois University
Pending Senate confirmation, George Joseph Guzzardo and Zack Stamp will take seats on Western's Board of Trustees. Guzzardo, of Macomb, is president of Guzzardo Enterprises Inc. Stamp, of New Berlin, is president of Zack Stamp Ltd.

Northeastern Illinois University
The governor appointed Niranjan Shah and Robert Hartman as new trustees for Northeastern Illinois University. Shah, of Oak Brook, is chair and CEO of Globetrotters Engineering Corp. Hartman is the chair of NuCare Services Corp. He lives in Chicago. The appointments require Senate confirmation.

Lincoln Land Community College
Springfield's public junior college starts the school year with a vacancy in the president's office.

In what has been called a partisan decision, last month the heavily Republican board of trustees voted to reassign President Norm Stephens. Board chairman Jim Berger cited philosophical differences as a reason for the board's action. Stephens, who had been president since 1993, is planning to sue for breech of contract. James Howard has been named interim president.

The top spot is open at many Illinois colleges Within the year, five of Illinois' four- year public universities will have lost a campus head because of retirement or dismissal. And the number of newcomers who will hold office at one time appears to be unprecedented. Among those departing is the most senior of Illinois' public university presidents, John La Tourette, who has been at the helm of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb since 1986. When he retires on June 1,2000, his 14-year tenure will have far exceeded the national average for a president at a doctorate degree-awarding public institution, which is 4.6 years, according to the American Council on Education. Several of the departing presidents are beyond traditional retirement age. La Tourette is 66. Naomi Lynn, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Springfield, will be 67 when she steps down in May of 2000. Meanwhile, David Strand, who retired from Illinois State University in Normal in June, took on the presidency as a fixed three-year assignment in 1996. He had already planned to retire from his job as Illinois State's vice president for business and finance when he was asked to take over the presidency Paula Wolff is stepping down from the presidency of Governors State University after seven years. The July announcement of her departure came at a rough time for Wolff. Her husband has been ill and the university recently has been plagued by charges of improperly administered programs. Meanwhile, Jo Ann Argersinger was forced out of the chancellor's office of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale after SIU President Ted Sanders complained about her performance. Argersinger is disputing the dismissal. Most of those who remain at the helm have not been in office long, none before 1993. Vic Boschini took over at Illinois State University in July. Carol Surles took over the presidency of Eastern Illinois University in March. "These are high pressure jobs," says Ross Hodel of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. "It is unusual to have a long-term tenure."

Illinois Issues September 1999 41

PEOPLE

U of I prof gels grant to beat the beetle
Larry Hanks, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor, has received funding from Chicago's WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation for his research on the Asian long-horned beetle. Hanks is studying whether the beetle is attracted to trees that are generally healthy or to those that are stressed due to lack of water or presence of environmental pollutants. The grant was one of three totaling $227,399 given to university professors studying the beetle. "We have a special interest in Chicago and in problems unique to Chicago that may have broader implications," says Channel 50 Foundation Executive Director Marcia Lipetz.

HONORS

Four added to legislative intern Hall of Fame
Four more lllinoisans have been selected to the Samuel K. Gove Legislative Internship Hall of Fame. They are Kurt Granberg, John Headrick, Robert Newtson and Marcia Thompson.

Granberg has been a state representative from Carlyle since 1987. Headrick is director of governmental affairs for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. Newtson is chief of staff for Gov. George Ryan. Thompson is chief financial officer for the Illinois State Scholarship Commission.

The inductees will be honored October 18 in a ceremony at the Governor's Mansion. Illinois Issues magazine sponsors this hall of fame for former legislative interns. The award is named in honor of Sam Gove, University of Illinois political science professor emeritus and founder of the internship program.

QUOTABLE

"I guess it's a little like a parent who lives to see the kids spend the inheritance "

Former Gov. Jim Edgar reflecting on this year's state budget during a visit last summer at Richland Community College, as quoted in the Decatur Herald & Review. Reporter Tony Reid noted that when Edgar was first elected governor in 1990, the state faced a budget shortfall. His two terms were marked by belt tightening, but he left office with a $1 billion cash balance. Now, he can only watch as his successor, Gov. George Ryan, and lawmakers enjoy the state's largest-ever spending program. Edgar, now a distinguished fellow at the University of Illinois, used the moment to urge creation of a state rainy day fund for future financial emergencies.

Governor gives gaming board a make-over Gov. George Ryan placed three new members onto the five-person Illinois Gaming Board. This summer, he announced the appointments of Chicago lawyers Gregory C. Jones and Joseph Lamendella when he signed the bill that legalizes dockside gambling and allows owners of a dormant license to move a boat to Cook County. Stuart Levine of Highland Park was appointed earlier in the year. Jones, Lamendella and Levine replace outgoing board members William Browder, whose term expired at the end of June; Gayl Pyatt, who left a year before her term was to expire; and Terry Scrogum, who resigned to take a job in the Ryan Administration. Robert Vickrey, a seven-year board member, is the new chair. He replaces J. Thomas Johnson, who is leaving because his new employer, a Chicago accounting firm, has done work for some of the riverboats the board regulates. Sergio Acosta, an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, is the new administrator. He replaced Robert Casey, who was named to the job in April. Casey will still do legal work for the board.

42 September 1999 Illinois Issues