SIU President Randy Dunn says the departure of Carbondale campus Chancellor Rita Cheng shouldn't mean a big disruption in ongoing projects this summer.
Dunn, who took office in May, says this is the time of year that colleges and universities see new faces and say good-bye to others. He expects operations at SIU Carbondale to continue as normal: "While it may cause some pause on a few initiatives, the things that are important to moving the university forward will continue to take place. No one's going to be taking their eye off the ball in terms of ensuring progress on the things that right now are critical to us such as enrollment, getting the budget done for Fiscal Year '15, and that type of thing."
Cheng's tenure at Northern Arizona starts in August, and Dunn expects an interim Chancellor to be named for SIUC soon.
The SIU Board of Trustees will meet later this month to take up the vacancy, as well as a potential vote on a student fee for the Daily Egyptian newspaper.
