The person who recently served as Western Illinois University’s interim president has landed a job at another institution.
SUNY Brockport announced it hired Dr. Martin Abraham to be its Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He begins the job in mid-June.
Abraham came to WIU in July 2019. He was hired to serve as provost, but a few weeks before he arrived on campus Dr. Jack Thomas announced he was stepping down as president. As a result, Abraham instead served as Western’s acting president and later as interim president.
He was a finalist for president but the Board of Trustees instead hired Dr. Guiyou Huang, who took office January 1, 2021.
Abraham then served as provost for sixth months before the new administration reassigned him to faculty as a Professor of Engineering and Technology.
During his time as Western’s acting/interim president, Abraham helped stabilize enrollment, guided the institution through the early days of the pandemic, and helped the community recover from an on-campus shooting in Macomb.
WIU is in the latter stages of a search for a new provost and will be interviewing finalists in the coming weeks. You can read about the finalists here. Billy Clow, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC) is serving as the interim provost.
Meanwhile, an inauguration ceremony for President Huang will be held on Thursday, March 31, at 2:30 p.m. at Western Hall. WIU delayed the ceremony for more than a year because of the pandemic.
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