The Board of Trustees of Illinois State University has appointed Larry Dietz, vice president for Student Affairs, as the University’s 19th president, effective Saturday, March 22.
Dietz replaces Timothy Flanagan, who resigned after serving seven months as Illinois State’s 18th president.
“I want to thank Chairman Michael McCuskey and each of the board members for their vote of confidence in me,” Dietz said. “I also want to thank my vice president colleagues, deans, faculty members, staff—particularly those in the Division of Student Affairs—and our students for teaching, supporting and encouraging me since I came to Illinois State. I will continue to rely on my colleagues in this new role to do the work outlined in Educating Illinois, our strategic plan.”
Dietz was a finalist in a 2013 national search for the position of Illinois State president. He has served as vice president for Student Affairs since June 2011.
“The Board is impressed and fully confident in Dr. Dietz’s leadership, character and engagement with the University community,” McCuskey said. “Those qualities were evidenced in the feedback we received from the campus community and search team during last year’s presidential search process and remain in evidence today through his outstanding level of performance at Illinois State.”
As vice president, Dietz led the Division of Student Affairs, which includes the Dean of Students Office, Student Health Services, Student Counseling Center, University Housing Services, Disability Concerns, Career Center, Campus Dining Services, Campus Recreation, Bone Student Center and Braden Auditorium, Student Affairs Information Technology, Health Promotion and Wellness, and the University Police, as well as other units responsible for co-curricular learning opportunities and programs. He is also a tenured associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations.
Before coming to Illinois State, Dietz was vice chancellor for Student Affairs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) for 10 years. Dietz also served as special assistant to the chancellor at SIUC and as a tenured associate professor in educational administration and higher education. Prior to his tenure at SIUC, Dietz served as vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, among other leadership positions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for 15 years, and in leadership positions at Iowa State University for 13 years.
Dietz earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration and his master’s degree in higher education and student personnel from Iowa State University and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Southern Illinois University. He attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University, a Fulbright International Education Seminar for Administrators in Germany and the Harvard Management Development Program.
Dietz was selected to represent the American Universities Iraq Consortium on a panel with Prime Minister Al-Malaki and represented SIUC at the Iraq Education Initiative in Baghdad. He has had responsibility for SIUC’s campus in Japan and has negotiated agreements with institutions in China, Malaysia, Kuwait, Germany and the Czech Republic.
