By AP/KWMU
Edwardsville, Ill. – Southern Illinois University officials named Vaughn Vandegrift to be the Edwardsville campus's new chancellor on Thursday.
He's been provost at Georgia Southern University for the past four years, and calls SIUE a vibrant metropolitan university.
The 57-year old New Jersey native will replace David Werner, who is retiring July First after seven years as chancellor.
Vandegraft started his career in Illinois, as a chemistry professor at Illinois State University in 1974. At Georgia Southern, with its 16,000 students and more than 650 full-time faculty, Vandegrift dealt with major budget cuts and oversaw the creation of a new College of Information Technology.
SIU-Edwardsville has about 13,000 students and 520 full-time faculty.
Two other candidates were finalists for the chancellor's job, including SIUE provost Sharon Hahs.