The beginning of fiscal year 1996 brought more to SIU than pay raises and fee increases, it also brought a new SIU chancellor.

Ted Sanders, who has served as Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction, Illinois Superintendent of Education and Deputy Secretary of Education under former President George Bush, became the SIU Chancellor July 1, when former Chancellor James Brown retired.

The chancellor executes and enforces the decisions and regulations of the trustees and recommends policy changes.

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A chancellor is a university representative in the public forum that includes state and federal legislators and political groups.

Sanders said he started his 34-year career in elementary and secondary education, but he spent most of it in systems management at the state and national level.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed dealing with higher education, he said. It was very appealing to come to an institution like SIU.

Jack Dyer, executive director of university relations, said Sanders has been keeping an unbelievable schedule since he took over as chancellor.

He’s been meeting with legislators and campus presidents, Dyer said. He has an enormous amount of energy.

Garrett Deakin, director of government relations, said because of Sanders’ past involvement in Illinois, he does not have to learn the ropes of the system because he already knows all about it.

He knows a lot of the players and how to get things done, he said.

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He is going to be a great asset to SIU.

Sanders said nothing earth-shattering has happened since he took over as chancellor.

It’s been a great experience so far, he said. No real surprises.

Sanders said one of the critical issues he wants to address as chancellor is securing a formal and

permanent voice for SIU in the Board

We lost our seat and now only have one year out of a decade with representation, he said.

That is not satisfactory.

Legislation signed by Gov. Jim Edgar earlier this year eliminated SIU’s representation on the Board of Higher Education.

Sanders said he wants to let a year pass and let the dust settle before making any new changes.

Sanders said keeping undergraduate admissions and retention high at SIU is important, but there is not a single way to do that.

We can not afford to retain students without rigor to excellence, he said.

We need to attract new admissions and retention and improve the quality of educational programming.

Sanders said tuition increases at SIU are necessary because raising tuition will ensure the quality of education that currently exists at SIU is

see SANDERS, page 6