Edinboro U. president finalist for W. Illinois job

Edinboro University President Guiyou Huang, appointed to the job in May 2019, is one of six finalists in a presi-dential search at Western Illinois Univer-sity, according to offi-cials from the institution in Macomb, Ill.

The candidates are be-ing considered to be-come the school’s 12th president. Open inter-view sessions are to beheld via Zoom with vari-ous university and com-munity constituents.

According to a presi-dential search update on Western Illinois’ web-site Friday, faculty, staff, students and com-munity members can participate in an open session provided they register.

Angela Burrows, an Edinboro spokes woman, said Friday that the uni-versity had no comment regarding Mr. Huang’s involvement in the Western Illinois search.

On Wednesday, the State System of Higher Education, to which Edinboro belongs, ad-vanced a plan to recast the campus of 4,300 stu-dents along with Califor-nia and Clarion univer-sities into a single entity with one leadership team and unified faculty, staff and enrollment op-erations.

It and the other 13state-owned universities are in the midst of a rede-sign, hoping to reverse fi-nancial and enrollment woes. Mr. Huang was among the presidents of those universities who cited potential benefits to the integration as thesystem’s board met via Zoom on Wednesday.

The State System has nearly 94,000 students on14 campuses, and its board could vote on the integration plan in July2021 after a 60-day public process including hear-ings. Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities could alsobe blended into a single institution.