Lynn Pardie named Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

University of Illinois Springfield Acting Chancellor Harry Berman has appointed Dr. Lynn Pardie to serve as Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, effective January 1, 2011, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees at its November meeting. Pardie will replace Berman in his position as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, which he will continue to fill until the end of this year.

“Her administrative experience, her scholarship, and the respect she has earned as a UIS faculty member and administrator since 1989 make her a great choice to lead Academic Affairs through this important period of transition,” said Berman.

Since 2006, Dr. Pardie has served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education and Research, providing broad oversight and advocacy for graduate education, research administration, and advancing faculty and student scholarship. She had prior administrative experience as Interim Associate Dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and as Chair of the Psychology Department.

Dr. Pardie received her Ph.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She came to UIS in 1989 as an assistant professor of psychology, then was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and to full professor in 2005.

She is highly regarded by her colleagues. Dr. Pardie received the Faculty Excellence Award in 2005 in recognition of accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and service. She has published work on stress-illness relationships, sex bias in psychological research, and sexual orientation issues. She supervised many students’ theses and has been a strong contributor to important campus endeavors, including strategic planning, curriculum and policy development, academic program review, faculty and staff mentoring and development, and institutional research. She has been a long-time member of the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB) and has chaired that committee for the past six years.

Several faculty and staff will pick up Dr. Pardie’s current responsibilities during her service as interim VCAA. The duties of Dr. Cecilia Cornell, associate professor of history and director of the Whitney M. Young fellowship program, will be expanded to include broad oversight of graduate education. Dr. John Barker, currently a member of the IRB, will take on administrative tasks associated with the IRB. Leslie Defrates, assistant to Dr. Pardie, will assume a broader range of administrative tasks associated with oversight of the graduate assistantship program.

“I am well aware of Dr. Pardie’s reputation as a collaborative administrator, and I am confident that she will lead the division energetically in ways that continue the progress that UIS has been making in teaching, scholarship, and service,” said Berman.

For more information contact Derek Schnapp, director of Public Relations at 217/206-6716 or email dschn3@uis.edu.