MADISON — Linda Bunnell, former senior vice president for the College Board and Chancellor Emerita of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has been appointed as the 13th chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Linda Bunnell
The Board of Regents approved the appointment on Friday (April 2), following the recommendation of UW System President Katharine C. Lyall and the Board of Regents’ Special Committee for the UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Search.
“UW-Stevens Point will thrive under the accomplished and capable leadership of Dr. Bunnell,” Lyall said. “She is very experienced and well-versed in the opportunities and challenges that face a comprehensive public university. We are delighted that she is ready to share her strong and positive vision for the future of higher education, and UW-Stevens Point will surely benefit from her experience at the national level.”
Bunnell will be the first woman to serve as chancellor at the Stevens Point campus. She served for eight years as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where she also was a professor of English. She then served the College Board as senior vice president for higher education. Since 2002, Bunnell has developed a broad-based consulting practice serving higher education and nonprofit organizations.
“I am delighted and honored to be joining the UW-Stevens Point community. The university is helping central Wisconsin to grow and thrive and I look forward to being part of that exciting process,” Bunnell said. “I recognize the challenges we face, but I am confident that we can rise to meet those challenges and carry the institution to even greater levels of excellence and service if we work together?our administrative team, faculty, staff, students, alumni and members of the broader regional community.
“I look forward to continuing and expanding the partnerships between the university and those committed to the economic development of the region and the state,” she added.
Before joining the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Bunnell served as vice chancellor of academic affairs for the Minnesota State University System and held various positions at the California State University System and the University of California, Riverside. She earned her B.A. at Baylor University and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Bunnell was one of three finalists for the UWSP chancellor position recommended by a campus search-and-screen committee to a regent selection committee chaired by Regent Roger E. Axtell. Other committee members are Regents Mark J. Bradley, Gregory L. Gracz, Peggy Rosenzweig and Jesus Salas.
“I am delighted with the appointment of Linda Bunnell as our next chancellor at UWSP,” said Virginia Helm, provost and interim chancellor. “She brings a breadth and depth of experience and a personal style that will assure effective leadership on campus, in the region, and with the legislative and university leaders in Madison, and I look forward to working with her.”
Bunnell will start her new position on June 1.
UW-Stevens Point has a total enrollment of nearly 8,700 students, and an operating budget of more than $119 million. UWSP’s four academic colleges offer more than 100 programs within 49 majors, plus 78 minors and 16 graduate programs. The campus has 400 faculty and teaching academic staff, 200 non-teaching academic staff and 350 support staff. Online: http://www.uwsp.edu/