Northwestern University taps ex-president to serve on interim basis after Schill steps down
EVANSTON, Ill. – Days after Northwestern University President Michael Schill announced he would step down from his role, the school said it will tap a former leader to fill the position on an interim basis.
President Emeritus Henry S. Bienen will fill in starting on Sept. 16, the university’s Board of Trustees announced on Tuesday.
Henry Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern University, stands for a photograph next to the molecular model for Pfizer Inc.’s Lyrica on display at the Segal Visitors Center on the university’s campus in Evanston, Illinois, U.S., on Monday, Aug.
What we know:
Bienen served as Northwestern’s 15th president from 1995 until 2009.
“We believe Henry is uniquely suited to follow President Michael Schill’s tenure and continue to support the University,” said Peter Barris, chair of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees, in a statement. “With more than three decades of service to our community, Henry has a deep knowledge of Northwestern and shares our love and passion for the institution.”
Schill announced last week that he would step down after three years at the helm, a tenure marked by a freeze of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding by the Trump administration and heated scrutiny from House Republicans over the university’s response to campus protests against the war in Gaza.
After taking a sabbatical from the university, Schill is expected to return to teach and do research as a faculty member at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.
“I am honored to be asked to serve Northwestern again, and I look forward to helping the University I love so dearly navigate what is a critical and difficult time for research universities,” Bienen said in a statement. “I care a great deal about the Northwestern community, which has been a major part of my life for more than 30 years.”