The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse hosted three finalists vying to become the school’s new chancellor during forums this week, more than three months after the previous chancellor was fired. Over three days, the finalists each had their own hour-long Q&A session.
The Board of Regents unanimously fired Joe Gow, the former UW-La Crosse chancellor, for appearing in adult films on pornographic websites. The 11-person search committee for a new chancellor, chaired by Regent Ashok Rai, is made up of members of the Board of Regents, UW-La Crosse administrative staff and professors from the university.
The chancellor’s responsibilities will include reputation building and administrative tasks, like administering degree requirements, academic standards, grading systems, the promotion of faculty and budgetary management.
Here are the three candidates looking to fill the position.
James Beeby
James Beeby is the current provost and vice president of academic affairs at Keene State College, a small liberal arts institution in New Hampshire. Originally from Wales, Beeby worked as a history professor and in administrations across six U.S. higher education institutions over the last 24 years.
Beeby started at Keene State in 2021.
“The university educates students and transforms their lives, and transforms communities that they’re in,” Beeby said during his Monday forum.
Beeby’s accomplishments at Keene State include developing multiple new undergraduate and graduate programs, growing college’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, implementing transfer programs with community colleges and increasing the college’s retention rate by 6.5% in two years. Beeby also led the college’s COVID-19 task force from 2021-2022.
Christopher Olsen
Christopher Olsen is the current provost and vice president of academic affairs at Indiana State University, a university with roughly 8,000 students. He has served as a professor at ISU since 1999.
Olsen spent five years as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and 15 years as the chair of the ISU history department.
As an academic, Olsen focuses on the antebellum United States — he’s studied history and political culture as an undergraduate student at North Dakota State University, a masters student the University of Nebraska and a doctoral student at the University of Florida.
Betsy Morgan
Betsy Morgan, the current UW-La Crosse interim chancellor since December, has worked at UW-La Crosse for 31 years. Morgan taught as a psychology professor for 20 years and has been the provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at UW-La Crosse since 2015.
As provost, Morgan’s main focus was faculty development. In the position, Morgan prioritized mental health initiatives by co-chairing the Minds Matter initiative.
Part of this program was an extended wellness weekend: an extra day off on the calendar meant to give students a break around the same time in the fall semester as their break in the spring semester. However, the program no longer exists, according to UW-La Crosse student newspaper The Racquet Press.
As a professor, Morgan was honored as a fellow of the American Psychological Association and authored two textbooks.
In a recent interview with the Racquet Press, Morgan said adjusting to being an external face of the university as its interim chancellor has held new challenges compared to her largely internal work as its provost.
“I feel like people really want me to be stable and successful in the sense of seeing the campus through,” Morgan told the Racquet Press.
The search committee and a special Board of Regents committee will meet on March 8 to continue deliberations in closed session. The chancellor is expected to be decided by late March.
