Brehm tenure nearly up

Beginning Jan. 1, IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm will step down from her position to make way for former IUB Chancellor Ken Gros Louis to serve as her interim replacement.\nGros Louis has already begun taking the necessary steps toward filling the interim chancellor position by meeting with Brehm and other future colleagues.\n"Chancellor Brehm and I have already met and she filled me in on some of the things to know," Gros Louis said. "I met with the Bloomington Faculty Council and they filled me in on what was going on with them. I also will be meeting individually with the deans of the different schools."\nGros Louis will not have much time to settle in as several important issues will quickly be thrown on the interim chancellor's plate. Gros Louis will be in charge of addressing issues raised in the Commission on Higher Education's blueprint for higher education, heading various position searches and dealing with merger discussions between the School of Library and Information Sciences and the School of Informatics.\nPerhaps the biggest issues Gros Louis will face involve dealing with the budget for next year and working with Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Judith Palmer on developing an annual report to track the Commitment to Excellence funds. Commitment to Excellence funds are made up of money from the $1,000 "freshman fee."\n"We have to go through a determination process with the additional tuition and figure out the distribution of those funds," Gros Louis said.\nDespite the looming workload, Gros Louis said there are definitely bright spots to his upcoming position. \n"I am looking forward to getting to know some of the student leaders, I really enjoy working with the students," Gros Louis said. "I also look forward to working with the president. I like him very much."\nGros Louis served as chancellor at IU for 21 years before retiring in 2001, allowing Brehm to take over the role. With only two years having passed since Gros Louis last worked on the campus, several IU officials have had plenty of experience with him in the past.\n"I worked with (Gros Louis) in the past and it will be wonderful to work with him again," Dean of Students Richard McKaig said. "I know he will be very good in the role."\nAs for Brehm, she will start researching women in higher education for her role as senior adviser to Herbert. In the new role, she will work with Donna Shavlik, a founding member of the National Council for Research on Women. Brehm described her as someone who may be "the single most knowledgeable person in the field of women in higher education." Shavlik will come in mid-January and work with Brehm on researching other institutions around the country, finding areas that need more attention and looking into the interests of IU faculty and students, Brehm said.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.