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Bill Perry of Texas A&M University will succeed President Lou Hencken as Eastern’s 10th sitting president.

The Board of Trustees introduced Perry Tuesday afternoon at a special board meeting as Eastern’s next president, pending the signing of an employment agreement. Perry’s five-year-contract includes a $260,000 yearly salary and a $32,289 housing allowance.

Perry followed President Hencken into the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union and approached the podium following his introduction.

“Thank you to the board and to the committee for a wonderful search process that has led me to this place to be with you,” Perry said. “The opportunity to serve Eastern Illinois University is one I look forward to with the utmost enthusiasm and energy.”

The Board of Trustees chose Perry from three candidates recommended by the presidential search advisory committee. The other two candidates were Blair Lord, Eastern’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Sue Kiefer Hammersmith, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay.

“He’s the right man for this time,” said Julie Nimmons, Board of Trustees member. “We had three excellent candidates, but he’s the right man for this time.”

Board Chair Leo Welch said there was an immediate connection between Perry and the board. His eagerness to be involved with Eastern attracted the board to him.

“When you interview a candidate and he knows more than you do (about the campus), it gives you pause,” joked Robert Webb, chair of the search committee and vice chair of the board. “We felt he was the best match for the university at this particular time. He can provide the kind of leadership that would help us meet the challenges that the university faces.”

Also at the meeting, Perry, 61, was approved as a professor with tenure in the mathematics and computer sciences department at Eastern.

Charles Delman, a mathematics professor and president of Eastern’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois, said he got to meet Perry Tuesday morning before the board meeting when Perry met with his department to discuss the possibility of teaching at Eastern.

Delman said he appreciated Perry’s respect for the mathematics department and its faculty. “I think he’s superb,” Delman said. “I think he has a tremendous record behind him of accomplishment.”

Perry also taught mathematics at Texas A&M in addition to his position as provost and vice president for academic affairs.

He said he wasn’t shopping for a new job, but was contacted by search consultant Elaine Hairston and invited to add his resume to the 57 other applications for the position at Eastern.

“I finally said, ‘all right, I’ll participate in the process. Let’s see what happens,'” Perry said. “Everything fit together. I was approached, then I was impressed and now I’m excited.”

Hairston said Perry is an exceptionally strong candidate and she was pleased with the search committee’s work.

From the beginning, she said the committee was thoughtful and specific in deciding which characteristics would be best for Eastern’s next president.

“There’s a lot of interest in Eastern Illinois University because you are a very well known and highly respected university,” Hairston said.

Campus and community members filled the University Ballroom to hear the board’s announcement, and later filtered into the Grand Ballroom and adjoining hallway as everyone lined up to shake Perry’s hand during a reception.

Mayor John Inyart said he was impressed with Perry during his last visit to campus, and he wanted to meet him in person at the reception.

“The campus and the community overlap in so many ways that it’s important that we’re all on the same page,” Inyart said. He and Hencken have an “excellent relationship” and he hopes the same will be true with Perry.

Faculty Senate Chair Assege Hailemariam was there to welcome Perry to Eastern on behalf of the faculty. She was also a member of the search committee and has been heavily involved with the search process since the beginning.

“During his brief acceptance speech, Dr. Perry said that he will work with the campus community ‘side by side and shoulder to shoulder,’ and I appreciate that,” Hailemariam said.

Perry’s speech encouraged Hailemariam to think Perry and Lord will be able to work well together even though Lord was also a finalist for the position.

“Knowing the provost, and from the glimpse I have had of the new president, it is my impression that they can work very well together,” Hailemariam said. “This is a time of transition and opportunity. We must come together to make Eastern a first-choice comprehensive regional institution and to benefit our students.”

Lord was at the board meeting and also attended the reception that followed.

“I look forward to working with Dr. Perry as our next president,” Lord said. “I will work as provost for Dr. Perry just as I have for President Hencken.”

Perry said he is meeting with the president’s council today to begin learning more about the university and the people who run it.

“I want to move quickly to do that so people know from the beginning how impressed I am with Eastern Illinois,” Perry said.

He wants to continue pursuing Eastern’s goal as previously set by Lord, to be a first-choice university in the region.

Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, was a member of the search committee and will continue to work closely with Perry as part of the president’s council.

“I think that the campus is ready to look at how we might advance to that next level,” Nilsen said. “We’re looking forward to working with him.”

Perry plans on visiting Eastern a few times before taking up permanent residence in Charleston July 1. His wife, Linda, will join him after the first week in August at the conclusion of Texas A&M’s summer session, Perry said. She is an accounting professor but is unsure if she’ll continue her career here at Eastern.

Perry said it will be sad to leave Texas A&M after 36 years of service, but he’s ready for his next opportunity.

“We have to look forward,” Perry said.

Perry double majored in history and mathematics at Park College, Parkville, Mo.

He later earned his doctorate and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He began working at Texas A&M as an assistant professor of mathematics in 1977.

Now 30 years later, Perry is beginning a new era for himself and for Eastern.

“I learned of Eastern’s commitment to excellence, its devotion to student learning and its dedication to personal relationships,” Perry said. “It was those three things I think that drew me to the position and to the university.”

“Today, to you I commit hard work, integrity in the spirit of friendship in working with you to advance Eastern Illinois University. Thank you for inviting me to be part of your future.”

William Perry, the newly elected president of Eastern Illinois University, speaks in the University Ballroom about his committment to help make EIU the choice state university Tuesday afternoon. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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New Eastern President William Perry walks to the Board of Trustees meeting with current President Lou Hencken outside of Old Main on Tuesday. Perry was announced as President at the Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday and will take over as Eastern’s chie

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