Miami provost named a candidate for Illinois State University president

Miami University’s provost, Elizabeth Mullenix, has been named as a finalist for president at Illinois State University (ISU).

Before coming to Miami, Mullenix spent 11 years at ISU, where she eventually served as associate dean for the College of Fine Arts, now the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts.

After leaving ISU, she came to Miami as a full professor and became chair of the theatre department in 2006. Seven years later, she became dean of the College of Creative Arts, where she served until she became interim provost in 2022.

Six months later, Mullenix solidified her appointment as provost, where she has 17 direct reports, oversees six colleges, five campuses and an annual budget of $350 million, according to her Curriculum Vitae.

During her time as provost, Mullenix has overseen administrative changes, navigated faculty unionization, led efforts to restructure majors with low enrollment, assisted the university in its plans to fix its budget and helped with the creation of the MiamiRISE strategic plan.

Mullenix is the third of four candidates considered for the president of ISU. Donald Easton-Brooks, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Aondover Tarhule, the interim president of ISU, have already held their forums at the university. The fourth candidate is yet to be announced.

Mullenix did not respond to a request for comment. Kathryn Bohn, the chairperson of ISU’s board of trustees and lead of the presidential search committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

Mullenix’s forum will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 at ISU.

This is a developing story. The Miami Student will update its website as more information becomes available.

momanyaj@miamioh.edu