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No problems arose in SIUC's national search

BY CALEB HALE AND SCOTT FITZGERALD

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:42 AM CDT

CARBONDALE - Fernando Treviño was the top choice among four finalists vying for the chancellor's job at Southern Illinois University Carbondale when he started in July 2007.

Treviño came from the School of Public Health at the University of North Texas' Health Science Center in Fort Worth, where he was a founding dean of the program.

SIU spent more than $100,000 conducting a national search, including hiring a professional search firm skilled at placing higher education administrators and sending members of the search committee to candidates' home campuses.

Current SIUC Faculty Senate President Peggy Stockdale was a member of the search committee and said there were no red flags about Treviño.

"He was thoroughly vetted," she said. "I wasn't personally part of the group that visited his campus, but everything we got there was positive," Stockdale said.

There was nothing wrong with the search process, Stockdale said, noting it was done in a manner comparable to other higher education institutions.

Whether SIUC will soon be searching for a new chancellor remains to be seen.

Treviño is still chancellor of the campus. Administrative leave doesn't change the job status, SIUC spokesman Rod Sievers said.

The provisions of Treviño's three-year contract with the board of trustees state the university president, Glenn Poshard, must review all issues surrounding the chancellor's performance and then discuss it with him.

"This deals with his performance duties. If, after the due process hearing, the president finds his (Trevino's) responses to the concerns are unsatisfactory, he (Poshard) can terminate the contract with just cause," said SIU spokesman David Gross.

The president has the option also of reassigning Trevino as a full-tenured professor in his respective area of study that includes positions at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. According to the contract, if Poshard and Trevino can't come to a settlement, the matter will be settled through arbitration.

- Caleb Hale and Scott Fitzgerald