Pam Benoit, Ohio University's executive vice president and provost, is in the running for a new job.
Ohio University's executive vice president and provost is a finalist for a chancellor position in Illinois.
Pam Benoit is one of four finalists to be considered for the chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The chancellor position is the chief academic and operating officer and reports to the university’s president and Board of Trustees.
"I am looking for a position that aligns with my administrative skills, resonates with the mission and values I feel are important in higher education, and presents interesting opportunities and stimulating challenges," Benoit said in her application to the university.
The university hopes to have someone in the position by the beginning of Fall Semester, said SIU President Randy Dunn, in a news release.
“I am confident that we will find our next chancellor within this group of finalists,” Dunn said in the release.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale began a search for a new chancellor in Nov. 2014 after its interim chancellor, Paul Sarvela, died.
Southern Illinois University is about 100 miles from St. Louis, Missouri. There were 17,989 students enrolled at the university in Fall 2014. Its ethnic minority enrollment was 22.8 percent, according to Fall 2014 statistics.
Benoit, who has worked at OU since 2009, has already interviewed with the university's search committee.
This isn’t the first time Benoit was named as a finalist for a chancellor position.
She was named one of five finalists for the job at the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire in 2013.
“One of the concerns that I have with the state of higher education is that women are significantly underrepresented in the ranks of public university presidents,” Benoit said in a statement, at that time. “That will not change unless women are willing to put themselves forward for these roles. Given my personal convictions about the role of women in academia, I want to explore the possibility of becoming a university president.”
Representatives in Benoit’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
She earned $287,466 in the 2014-15 academic year.
Benoit has also served as the vice provost of Advanced Studies and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri. Benoit holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and English from Ball State University, a master’s degree in communication from Central Michigan University and a doctoral degree in communication from Wayne State University.
The other finalists for the chancellor position are also provosts at various universities.
Susan Ford is the acting provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at SIU Carbondale; Sabah Randhawa is the executive vice president and provost at Oregon State University; Lawrence Schovanec is the provost and senior vice president at Texas Tech University.
“I genuinely enjoy my work and colleagues at Ohio University and would not leave unless the right opportunity presented itself,” Benoit said in 2013.
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