Liberty named Bradley interim president

Former Bradley University provost Dr. Stan Liberty will be the university’s interim president until a successor to President Joanne Glasser is named, Bradley announced Wednesday.

Liberty will assume the interim president role June 1. Glasser’s retirement is effective May 31. A nationwide search to find her successor is underway.

Liberty was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Bradley from 1998 to 2005. In 2005 he left Bradley to become president of Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, where he served six years at the helm. 

After his retirement in 2011, Liberty and his wife Angie returned to Peoria and in 2014 he re-joined Bradley as a part-time member of the faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

When approached with this opportunity, Liberty immediately said yes, a Bradley news release said. “I am very fond of Bradley because my years here were some of the very best of my career. Taking direction from the Board of Trustees, together with other administrators I will focus on Bradley’s most pressing challenges that should not be put on hold during the interim period and are not likely to conflict with the vision and plans of an incoming president,” he said in the release.  

Bradley Board of Trustees Chairman Doug Stewart said he is pleased to make this announcement. “Stan is well known throughout Peoria and the campus community. He has a proven record of success and will provide Bradley with experienced leadership and stability during this transition,” Stewart said.

Liberty received his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and, in 2005, was recognized by his Alma Mater with the College of Engineering Honor Award for “significant contributions to the advancement of engineering, or meritorious achievements in engineering.”

He has had an impressive and extensive career in higher education serving as dean of engineering for 13½ years and later vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. At Old Dominion University, he was department chair of electrical engineering, and at Texas Tech he was a faculty member, founding director of Texas Tech’s Center for Energy Research and the associate dean of graduate studies.  

During his seven-plus years as provost at Bradley, Liberty was highly involved in the local community. He was a member of the board of directors of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, where he served as chairman of the Transportation Committee and member of the Business Advisory Committee. 

He also served on the Peoria Civic Federation Transportation Committee, was part of the Peoria NEXT founding team and a member of the Community Advisory Committee for the Peoria Area World Affairs Council.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).