39 Facts About Randy Dunn

Randy Dunn was most recently the president of Southern Illinois University.

Randy Dunn formerly served as president of Youngstown State University and Murray State University.

Randy Dunn graduated from Westmer High School in Mercer County, Illinois in 1976.

Randy Dunn earned his Bachelor of Science degree in teacher education from Illinois State University in 1980.

Randy Dunn completed his master's degree in educational administration and foundations from Illinois State in 1983.

Randy Dunn began his career as a fourth-grade elementary teacher at Gibson City, Illinois Grade School, where he worked from 1980 to 1983.

Randy Dunn then moved on to Roanoke-Benson Middle School in Benson, Illinois, where he served as principal from 1984 to 1989.

Randy Dunn worked as superintendent of schools in Argenta, Illinois from 1989 to 1991.

Randy Dunn then served as superintendent of schools in Chester, Illinois from 1991 to 1994.

Randy Dunn later became a department chair at SIU in 2000.

In 2004, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich handpicked Randy Dunn be the interim Illinois State Superintendent of Education.

In May 2006, Randy Dunn was selected to become president of Murray State University.

Randy Dunn originally told the board that he would not accept the Murray State presidency without a near-unanimous vote from the board of regents, but he changed his mind and accepted the position after talking with his supporters on the board.

Randy Dunn was selected to replace King Alexander, who left Murray State in 2005 to take a job as the president of California State University, Long Beach.

At the time of his selection, Randy Dunn was on leave as chairman of the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Randy Dunn took office at Murray State on December 1,2006.

The fundraising campaign, which began in 2005 prior to Randy Dunn's presidency, ended in October 2012.

In 2008, Randy Dunn had announced a highly publicized goal of increasing enrollment to 12,000 students at Murray State by 2012.

When Randy Dunn took office at Murray State in 2006, total enrollment was at 10,304.

In 2010, Randy Dunn applied for the position of president of the University of Tennessee.

Randy Dunn applied for the vacant president position at Missouri State University, and he was announced as one of the finalist for that position in September 2012.

Randy Dunn was ultimately passed over for the position in Florida.

Randy Dunn signed his employment contract with Youngstown State on June 7,2013, and began his tenure on July 15.

Under the contract, Randy Dunn would earn $375,000 per year for three years and receive benefits including health care, term life insurance, disability insurance, residence in the newly remodeled Pollock House, an American-made car, and membership at a local country club and one civic club.

On February 17,2014, after serving as president of Youngstown State University for only seven months, Randy Dunn announced that he would resign his position as president effective August 16,2014.

Randy Dunn announced that he had accepted the position of president at Southern Illinois University.

Randy Dunn had not notified them that he was a candidate for the position at SIU.

Confusion continued the following day as Randy Dunn did not appear as expected at an event for prospective students, where he was to speak.

Randy Dunn did not notify the board of his potential job offer as SIU asked for confidentiality.

Randy Dunn initially expressed reservations about being formally considered, but he told the search firm to keep him in mind.

Randy Dunn was appointed president of Southern Illinois University effective May 1,2014, and later had his contract renewed.

Trustee Marsha Ryan called on Randy Dunn to resign following the release of the documents.

The Board of Trustees met in special session on July 16,2018, to vote on termination and a severance package, with Randy Dunn placed on leave effective July 17,2018.

In May 2019, a report was released from the Executive Ethics Commission of the State of Illinois in which it was determined that Randy Dunn was responsible for two incidences of improper hiring.

Randy Dunn was found to have skirted fair hiring practices through misapplication of Civil Service hiring rules and an improper search waiver that allowed both positions to be given to the couple non-competitively.

Randy Dunn was alleged to have kept his actions secret from the Board of Trustees while simultaneously misrepresenting that the board approved of the search waiver.

The report determined Randy Dunn had abused search waivers while hiring his long-time friend and colleague Brad Colwell to the position of vice-president for student and academic affairs.

Randy Dunn oversaw his hiring to the VP position after Colwell lost the bid for chancellor.

Randy Dunn began dating Dr Ronda Baker in 2006 while he was the Illinois State Superintendent of Education and she was a regional superintendent in southern Illinois.