The chancellor position at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is not the only position Barbara Couture is vying for.
Couture, one of two finalists in the university’s chancellor search, is also one of five candidates in line to become the next president at New Mexico State University.
Tom Britton, co-chairman of the chancellor search committee, said Couture was up front about her candidacy for another administrative position from the beginning of her entry at SIUC.
“At the time she raised the issue, she was sworn to secrecy about the institution itself,” Britton said. “But she let us know that she was in a search, and then we learned that it was New Mexico State University once it was announced publicly there.”
Britton said he was not surprised that a candidate as highly qualified as Couture, who is currently the senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, drew the interest of another university.
Couture is making a visit to campus today and will give a presentation to the university community from 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. at the John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.
Couture said she would be honored and proud to be named to either position.
“I think that what the situation has done is make me focus a great deal on what I can offer a university,” Couture said. “I think, at this point, both universities are a great match and should I have the fortune of being chosen by both I will need to make good decisions about where to go next.”
Couture said SIUC contacted her first, and she would have her full focus on SIU this week when she makes her visit to its campus.
Peggy Stockdale, co-chairwoman of the search committee, said it would make sense to guess the search committee would recommend Rita Cheng, provost at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the other finalist for the chancellor position, to President Glenn Poshard if Couture were to accept the presidency at NMSU.
“I think it’s a reasonable assumption that if we find (Cheng) to be an acceptable, and not just acceptable but enthusiastically acceptable, candidate and Dr. Couture does accept an offer from New Mexico, it would make sense that we would recommend to the president to make the offer to Dr. Cheng,” Stockdale said.
But Stockdale said the search committee has not discussed what they would do in the event that Couture would take another job.
Stockdale said Couture has seemed genuinely excited about the possibility of becoming the next chancellor.
“When we met her in our previous interviews, she showed genuine appreciation and enthusiasm for the opportunity at SIU,” Stockdale said. “There’s nothing that leads me to think that she is not very seriously considering SIU.”
Stockdale said Couture has not shown any signs of preferring one university to the other.
Britton said the university must now prove to Couture that it is in her best interest to accept the job at SIUC.
“I think we need to show institutional self-confidence that we can compete with other institutions and bring top leadership here,” Britton said.
Stile Smith can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 259 or sts34@siu.edu.
