Chicago State University Picks Alabama College Administrator as New President

Norman Parish | As of Friday, October 9, 2015

Thomas J. Calhoun Jr., vice president for enrollment management at the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence, was selected from two other finalists for the job, Chicago State University officials announced.
Thomas J. Calhoun Jr., vice president for enrollment management at the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence, was selected from two other finalists for the job, Chicago State University officials announced.

An Alabama college administrator with ties to Chicago will replace Dr. Wayne Watson who is retiring as president of Chicago State University.

Thomas J. Calhoun Jr., vice president for enrollment management at the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence, was selected over two other finalists for the job, Chicago State University officials announced Thursday.

Calhoun, who starts his new job Jan. 1, will be paid $300,000 annually under a four year contract, school officials said. Calhoun also will move into the school’s presidential mansion on 10400 Longwood Drive.

“The search committee did a fantastic job of selecting three well-qualified finalists, all with their own strengths,” said Tom Wogan, a Chicago State University spokesman. “Each of the three finalists has made a visit to the campus and had meetings with staff, faculty and students. We also allotted time for community members to meet the candidates. After the three visits, everyone I spoke to agreed that the [Chicago State University] board had a tough decision ahead of them as all three were impressive in their own way.”

Calhoun became a figure locally as the founding principal of North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School, principal at Hales Franciscan High and headmaster of St. Gregory Episcopal School.

He also worked for several years in the Chicago Public Schools’ Department of Research, Evaluation and Planning.

In his college career, Calhoun was associate vice president for affairs at UNA. He previously was assistant dean for student academic services at the University of Washington’s College of Engineering. Calhoun was associate vice president for affairs at UNA.

Calhoun also taught at Morehouse College in Atlanta and directed a science and technology program at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.

Calhoun, an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, holds a master of divinity degree from the Interdenominatinal Theological Center in Atlanta. He also has bachelors’ degrees from Tuskegee University in Alabama, a master’s from Clark Atlanta University in Georgia and a doctorate’s from the University of Washington.

The other two finalists were Dennis J. Shields, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Jerry D. Blakemore, vice president and general counsel at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Blakemore, who received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton, got his law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Blakemore, a former chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and chief executive officer of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, was an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.

In his biographical data for the job, Blakemore says he has more than 25 years of experience in higher education administration, policy development and in legal services. He currently supervises six lawyers for Northern Illinois University.

Shields joined the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2010.

Prior to becoming chancellor at the school, he served as acting vice president of student affairs at the City College of New York City University of New York.

He headed law school admissions and financial aid functions at the University of Iowa, then at the University of Michigan and Duke University in North Carolina. He also was professor of and dean of Phoenix School of Law.

Shields earned his bachelor’s degree from Graceland University in Iowa and his law degree from the University of Iowa.

As Chicago State University’s president, he will have to contend with a shirking staff, school officials acknowledged.

In anticipation of expected budget cuts, school officials said they have cut about 15 percent of their overall staff since January.

The school has less than 800 workers and about 5,000 students.

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