From: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO)
Teresa Amott will become Knox College’s first woman president when she takes over the top leadership role at the private school…
Amott previously was provost and a dean at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. She also served as vice provost at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., from 2000 to 2005. Amott has a Ph.D. in economics from Boston College and a bachelor of arts from Smith College… The small college in Galesburg will install Amott as president in a ceremony on Saturday… Read more…
From: The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, DC)
For Courting Students, Glossy Viewbooks Lose Luster: Of all a college’s courtship materials, the viewbook has long been the centerpiece. It seeks to convey the whole ethos of a place, what makes it unique. But viewbooks tend to blend together. Their pages teem with descriptions of majors and extracurriculars, and photos of bell towers, front gates, and groups of happy, diverse students on sunny fall days…
Should colleges keep spending so much on what amounts to a coffee-table book? That’s what officials at Knox College, in Galesburg, Ill., are trying to figure out. For decades, the small liberal-arts college has used a viewbook, but now administrators aren’t sure that’s the best way to promote Knox. All options are on the table, says Teresa L. Amott, the new president. The college might go with a scaled-back viewbook, a nontraditional one, or none at all, she says. “We’re trying to find the most compelling way to introduce students to Knox.”
Already the college has de-emphasized the viewbook, says Paul R. Steenis, vice president for enrollment. The current one is only 30-some pages, down from as many as 80 in decades past. Knox sends it out to fewer prospective students, those who data show are most likely to be a good fit. In addition to the viewbook, Knox uses smaller, more-focused mailings to drive students and parents to interact with the college in a deeper way online… Read more…
From: The Register Mail (Galesburg, IL)
Mayor Sal Garza, after noticing a complete absence of public places named after local women, is forming a committee tasked with identifying and researching Galesburg women who could possibly have their names enshrined forever on future city projects, including buildings, parks, streets and bridges…
The group will first meet in late January, with Knox College President Teresa Amott and Carl Sandburg College President Lori Sundberg co-chairing the committee. The two presidents are the first women to lead those schools… Read more…
From The Register-Mail:
After a decade of serving as president of Knox College, Roger Taylor will be leaving Galesburg at the end of the month.
Today, movers will pack up a few belongings from the president’s house, Taylor and his wife Anne will have lunch, and the two will leave, not to return for at least two years, according to Taylor.
In a few days, Taylor’s successor and future Knox College President Teresa Amott and her partner will move in.
Taylor and Amott each agreed to a Q and A session to discuss the transition…
Roger Taylor
What would you consider as your legacy at Knox?
Taylor: I fixed the Old Main bell. I mean legacy’s kind of a fancy word for a farm boy from Fulton County, but I’d say I’m the guy who fixed the bell, which hadn’t rung in 20 years. I say that half facetiously, but half seriously, because to me, it was a metaphor for the beginning of strengthening institutional self-confidence. If the bell doesn’t work, how can you have school spirit? So by golly, we fixed the bell and rang it on Feb. 14, 2002…
Teresa Amott
How are you spending your last days at Hobart and William Smith Colleges?
Amott: It has been a busy time, in which I have focused on wrapping up and briefing the person who will be filling in on an interim basis while HWS searches for my successor. I had hoped to take a brief vacation, but it looks as though that won’t happen! I am also working my way through the hundreds of congratulatory messages I’ve received from members of the Knox and Galesburg community…
From WGIL.com:
Outgoing Knox College president Roger Taylor has made a promise once he retires at the end of the month.
“Ann and I will not be on campus for two years.”
Taylor says he personally told that to incoming president Teresa Amott. He tells the WGIL Morning News it’s like when the preacher leaves the church: when it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on.
But Taylor says he and his wife Ann have some plans once retirement starts, including continuing to serve on a state board.
“I’m still on the Illinois Humanities Council Board and Ann wants to travel, I’ve had enough travel to last me for awhile, my only plan is to drive my pickup often enough to keep the battery charged.”
Taylor has been Knox College president since 2002, and is a 1963 grad of the school. He says the next time anyone will see him or Ann on campus is for their 40th class reunion in 2013.
Knox graduates around 250 students Saturday during morning ceremonies on the lawn behind Old Main.
From WGIL.com:
The president of Knox College can’t speak highly enough of another college.
Roger Taylor gave the commencement address at Carl Sandburg College’s ceremony Thursday night, and says not only is he proud of college president and Knox alum Lori Sundberg, who presided over her first commencement as president, but he’s also proud of the students, all of whom he said spoke of their love of the school when he recently got the chance to talk to them.
Taylor says it’s no doubt difficult for many of the graduates to have made their way through college, but they did it.
“You have ambition you wouldn’t be sitting here this evening if you didn’t have ambition, if you didn’t have ambition you wouldn’t have been able to juggle all of the things that you have juggled while you were a student at Sandburg. For most of you I know going to college was not the only thing that you had on your plate, in addition to going to college, most of you juggled jobs, family responsibilities, cars that broke down once in awhile, and more recently four dollar gas.”
266 students comprising CSC’s three campuses all received diplomas Thursday night. The ceremony was held in the Galesburg High School Auditorium, just a day after CSC’s ceremony for those receiving GED’s at the Orpheum Theatre.
