Beck to chair search for new UI chancellor

Douglas H. Beck, a professor of physics, has been chosen by UI President Michael Hogan to chair the search committee for the new chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana campus. 

“We are looking for a strong leader who shares our passion for the academic life of our campus,” said Beck. "The search has already started. The same core values that we hold in the College of Engineering will drive the proces."

Other members of the committee, comprised of eight other faculty members, three students, one dean or director, one academic professional, and one staff member, are being selected now.  Beck added, “My role as chair of course is to take the best advantage of the tremendous talent and experience represented by the committee members.”

Interim Chancellor Robert Easter, who has held the position since October 2009, plans to retire next year.  Beck says the University hopes to have Easter’s replacement installed by the beginning of the 2011/12 academic year. A national search is planned.

Beck, a distinguished nuclear physicist, was named a University Scholar in 2001. The University Scholars Program is the premier recognition accorded to UI faculty for outstanding achievements in teaching, scholarship, and research. Beck’s research seeks to elucidate the physical properties of particles comprising the nuclei of atoms. He is the creator, spokesperson, and intellectual leader of the G0 experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a collaboration of more than 80 senior physicists from 18 institutions.  He is also a leader of the new effort to measure the electric dipole moment of the neutron at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, aimed at understanding the matter/anti-matter asymmetry in the universe.

A committed teacher, Beck has contributed substantially to curriculum reform in the introductory physics courses and calculus courses for engineering students at Illinois. In 2007, he received the Arnold T. Norsieck Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Department of Physics.
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Contact: Doug Beck, Department of Physics, 217/244-7994.

Writer: Celia M. Elliott, Department of Physics, 217/244-7725.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, writer/editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.