Rauner Appoints Stuart King To U Of I Board Of Trustees

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Stuart King of Champaign to serve on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

King is a practicing physician with Christie Clinic in Champaign, and has previously served as Interim Assistant Dean of Clinical and Academic Affairs at the U of I’s College of Medicine.

King received his BA, MD, and MBA degrees from the University of Illinois.

State Senator Chapin Rose of Mahomet praised the appointment in a statement, thanking the governor for appointing “an unabashed supporter of the U-C campus” to the board.

"I am so glad Governor Rauner responded favorably to my request that he be the first governor in almost twenty years to make a local trustee appointment and I want to thank him for that," Rose said.

Champaign Mayor Deb Frank Feinen also issued a statement of support for King's appointment.

"It has been years since Champaign-Urbana was represented on the Board, and our community more than any other in the State is impacted by the University and the decisions of the Board of Trustees," Feinen said. "Dr. King is a thoughtful and hard-working individual who cares passionately about the University and its students."

Ghosh Named Interim CFO

In other U of I news, president Tim Killeen has named longtime administrator Ajivit Ghosh as the interim Chief Financial Officer for the university system.

Ghosh will take over for the retiring Walter Knorr on September 1st.  He has been serving as chief executive officer of the U of I Hospital in Chicago for the last three years. Ghosh served as the first dean of the College of Business on the Urbana campus when he came to the U of I in 2001.

He had been scheduled to return to the Urbana campus to serve as the new head of the Department of Business Administration. Professor of Business Administration Cele Otnes will serve in that role until a permanent university CFO is found.  That nationwide search will start immediately.