The Succession of Leadership; ICC’s Future
The future of Illinois Central College and its leadership is in good hands; this is what to expect.
Al Cuizon, Jr.
April 28, 2023
Many groundbreaking events happened as the Board of Trustees(BOT) gathered for another annual meeting to discuss the future of Illinois Central College (ICC).
With those in attendance, many of the individuals on last night’s board discussed subjects ranging from the basis of student success and how leadership will be impacted for the upcoming 2023-24 academic school year.
First of the subjects discussed at the very beginning of the BOT meeting was the discussion and the Student Government Association(SGA) backing the rise of ICC tuition.
The BOT has considered a $5 rise in tuition per credit hour, deeming that it is a considerable financial rise while still being able to be affordable to students and meet the financial goals of the college.
Among other subjects, the BOT focused mainly on topics related to the transition of leadership amongst members, financial stability and changes to the budget, as well as recognizing the achievements of students at ICC.
In the realm of leadership, three Trustee members were reinstated for their reelection, Carl Cannon with 2,600+ votes, Alma Brown with 1,750+ votes and Kelly Daniels with 1,700+ votes from all over the community and District 514.
With Kelly Daniels having been Chair of the BOT from the previous term and now reelected for the next 6 years, she has stepped down from Chair with Trustee Gale Thetford succeeding her.
Along with the Chair succession of Board leadership, Paula Davis and Cassie Keller also transitioned out of office, with Paula Davis retiring from the Board and Cassie Keller passing down her Student Trustee role down to Leon Belmont.
“ICC is an amazing place, and I will miss it very much,” says Davis.
With the recognition of all leadership roles, another individual was recognized as well for being one of the first ICC students to have been elected to the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) in a while. Wes Eggert is a Psychology major looking to transfer to Bradley University whose main focus is on bettering the mental health of students in community colleges across the state of Illinois.
“I think that it is really important for students to gain [mental health] accommodations,” says Eggert, “They can apply to both high school and higher education, no matter the field or major.”
Ending off the night of transitions, recognition, and overall administrative celebration the major focus for the administration on campus is to raise enrollment numbers.
With a plan to increase numbers through an increase of reach from just the Peoria Area schools to 8 high schools within the Tri-County Region, the Board has aspirations to continue increasing those numbers within the next academic year.
With all the talk of leadership and the future of ICC, everyone was served dinner afterwords by the Culinary Arts Department and their culinary students at Dogwood Hall at North Peoria Campus, further displaying the collaboration being done by all fields and majors at ICC.