Finalists for director of Paul Simon Institute named

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By Joe McLaughlin
September 12, 2017

Six finalists for director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute were announced Monday and will spend the next month visiting campus for presentations and interviews.

The candidates were announced by John Jackson, the chair of the search committee and a visiting professor at the institute. Campus visits will go from Sept. 21 to Oct. 3 and will include public forums for the candidates to detail their plans for the institute, according to the university news release.

The person chosen will replace David Yepsen, the former director of the institute who retired in October 2016. Yepsen served as the institute’s director for seven years.

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The search committee was comprised of members of the university’s faculty, staff, students and members of the institute’s Executive Board of Counselors, according to the release.

The finalists and their presentation schedules are:

Jeffrey Gedmin, senior fellow at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Masters Program, will present from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.
Christopher Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, will present from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sept. 22 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.
James Coyle, director of the Center for Global Education at Chapman University in Orange, California, will present from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 28 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.
John Shaw, a congressional reporter for Market News International, will present from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 29 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.
Stacy McDermott, a consulting historian at the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield, will present from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.
Jak Tichenor, the interim director at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, will present from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Oct. 3 in the Illinois Room of the Student Center.