President-elect Stukel outlines priorities

James J. Stukel spent 23 years on the UI's Urbana-Champaign
campus, as a graduate student, faculty member and
administrator. He followed that with 10 years on the
university's Chicago campus, most recently as chancellor.

On March 2, at news conferences on both campuses, Stukel was
introduced as the new president of the university, with
responsibility over both campuses.

What are his priorities as president? At the news conference
in Urbana, Stukel cited three areas "you'll be hearing a lot
about":

  * Re-establishing the university's link with the people of
Illinois.
A public institution like the UI, "one of quality, one that
has so many rich resources to offer," cannot "stand on the
sidelines when dealing with the societal issues of our day,"
Stukel said.
  * Containing costs and maintaining productivity.
"We've been very lucky at the UI," Stukel said.  Higher
education in Illinois "has been spared the enormous cuts
that have occurred in many other states."

But higher education is in competition with Medicaid and
other needs for state dollars, he said, and the prospect of
fewer federal dollars threatens research and medical
programs.

"So I don't think we can look to the state of Illinois for a
lot of new money for higher education, and we cannot
continue to raise tuition without bounds without closing off
access to qualified young people."
  * Undergraduate education.
"Large universities always run the risk of not paying enough
attention to undergraduate education," Stukel said.  He
praised the new freshman Discovery Program on the UIUC
campus as an example of what can be done, and noted the need
to focus attention on student retention at UIC.