Tuesday, January 24, 2012

After six months, UIS chief getting to know her way around

University of Illinois Springfield student Dan Garcia gave Susan Koch her first tour of the UIS campus last April.

“She was very interested and personable, and she kept asking me what do the students do, where do they hang out?” said Garcia, a UIS junior from Joliet who works in the admissions office and gives tours to new students. “She’s from the Midwest, so all the cornfields around didn’t seem to bother her. She’s getting a lot of exposure.”

Koch, who was named chancellor of UIS last spring and assumed her duties July 1, has been learning all she can about UIS and Springfield during her first six months on the job.

“My goal for the first semester was to sink my roots as deeply as I could in the academic community and the larger community,” said Koch, a South Dakota native who had spent her academic career in Iowa and northern Michigan. “I’m moderately satisfied that I’ve done that. I’ve met many employees, but not all. And I’ve had wonderful interaction with students.”

Koch was profiled in an January 24, 2012, article in The State Journal-Register.

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