Chicago State University has announced three finalists for the position of university president. The university enrolls about 3,900 undergraduate students and 1,300 graduate students. Blacks make up 74 percent of the undergraduate student body. Two of the three finalists for president are African Americans.
Dennis J. Shields is fourteenth chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He has served in that role since 2010. Previously, he was the acting vice president of student affairs at City College of New York. Earlier he was a professor and dean of the Phoenix Law School. Chancellor Shields is a graduate of Graceland University, where he majored in business administration. He earned a juris doctorate at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Jerry D. Blakemore is vice president and general counsel at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He is the former chair of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Blakemore is a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in political science. He earned a juris doctorate at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
Update: The third finalist, Thomas Calhoun, vice president of enrollment management at the University of North Alabama, was selected as the next president of Chicago State University on October 8.
