Music, speeches, and applause – lots of applause – filled the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall for the inauguration of Western Illinois University President Kristi Mindrup.
She is the 13th president in WIU’s 126-year history, and the first woman to lead the university.
The hour-long ceremony on Thursday afternoon drew representatives from Monmouth College, Spoon River College, Carl Sandburg College, Northern Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, and other institutions across Illinois. WIU students, faculty, staff, and others also attended the celebration.
Mindrup told the audience that while the world is focused on artificial intelligence, technology, manufacturing, and energy, she believes the greatest need for innovation is in educating students, communities, and the country.
“To reclaim ownership of our national narrative about higher education, and to find ways to bridge division and learn once again to work together cohesively, even among the perception and reality of difference,” she said.
Mindrup believes regional public universities such as WIU can be engines of innovation, upward mobility, and community vitality.
Mindrup has worked at WIU for nearly three decades, starting out as a clerk who answered phones at nights and on weekends. She worked her way up through the ranks, and became interim president on April 1, 2024.
“I believe my trajectory illustrates the type of transformation that happens at WIU whether you are a student, faculty, or a staff member,” Mindrup said.
The WIU Board of Trustees removed “interim” from her title on December 6, 2024. Her contract runs through June 30, 2027.
Polly Radosh, Chair of the WIU board, officially installed Mindrup as WIU president during the inauguration ceremony.
“It may be a sidebar to many of you that she is the first woman president, but to many others, it is a quintessential moment and one that deserves recognition,” Radosh said.
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