CARBONDALE — A top administrator at Southern Illinois University has left a high-paying post to which he was hired improperly by former SIU President Randy Dunn.

Colwell
Since July of 2017, Brad Colwell had been SIU’s vice president of academic affairs, charged with “interfac(ing) with the university’s president and the two main campuses on all issues relating to student issues and academic programs,” per the SIU System office's website.
But questions were raised about Colwell’s employment by a December 2018 investigation from the Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General, which found Dunn had broken university rules to hire Colwell and two employees at SIU Carbondale, who are no longer with the university.
In Colwell’s case, Dunn created and signed a search waiver to appoint him outside SIU’s hiring standards, which required an open, competitive search considering multiple candidates.
Dunn never informed the SIU Board of Trustees that Colwell’s position required a candidate search or that a search waiver would be used, the OEIG found, yet he falsely represented the board’s consent to issue the search waiver.
“No one else was considered for this position, the position was not posted, and no search was conducted,” investigators concluded. “The position was simply given to Dr. Colwell.”
In the wake of the findings against Dunn, Colwell is leaving the system office.
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“Through a mutual decision made with President Dorsey, Dr. Brad Colwell has returned to a teaching position on the SIU Carbondale campus,” said John Charles, spokesman for SIU Interim President J. Kevin Dorsey. “There will be a search for a new vice president of academic affairs. In the meantime, Dr. Jim Allen will serve as acting vice president until a new one is chosen, pending board ratification at its next meeting.”
Colwell is now assigned to the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at SIU Carbondale, where he holds tenure, confirmed SIUC spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith.
Colwell began at SIUC in 1996 as an assistant professor, earned a full professorship in 2005 and served as department chair from 2004 to 2008.
Colwell and Dunn were colleagues in the department in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. They also worked together as educational consultants, Dunn told OEIG investigators, and Colwell served as an adviser to Dunn’s wife, Ronda Baker Dunn, in her doctoral studies at SIUC.

SIU interim chancellor Brad Colwell and system President Randy Dunn meet in the chancellor's office on Colwell's first day on the job in September of 2015.
Colwell served as interim chancellor of the Carbondale campus from September 2015 to July 2017, when the late former Chancellor Carlo Montemagno was hired.
Allen, who will replace Colwell, is an emeritus professor in the SIU Carbondale history department, who previously served as associate provost for academic programs at SIUC.
Colwell could not be reached for comment via phone or email.
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(10) comments
Now that Dorsey has "convinced" Colwell to step down, why do we even need a search for another SIU System VP of Academic Affairs? The position was vacant for years before Colwell was anointed into it by Dunn. It wasn't needed then, why now?
How much will he make as a “teacher?” And how many classes will he have with how many students?” Only in academia do people caught cheating to weasel into a high salaried position get to remain with the same institution. #privilege #favoritism #waste #corruption
Good move by SIU. There is no good that can come by leaving remnants of the Randy Dunn era in SIU's system. Randy Dunn was the worst hire that I can remember at SIU.
Remember, those who can, do. Those who can't, hold administrative posts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. SIU has nice facilities. That's about all I can say positive about the alma mater. It lowered the admission standards so much so circa 2014 that they did indeed see an increase in freshman headcount. And it wasn't because they caaare about being inclusive, it's because low scholastic achieving kids come from lower socie-economic areas. These people got max Pell. Stats support it so no need to appease race baiting panderers. Anyway, these bums bring crime with them and we've been circling the drain since. Thank Cheng and Pose-Hard. And they keep recycling the same blowhards. From Nicklow to John Dunn. No leadership at all, just yes ma'ams. I say feed them fish heads.
Nail hit square on the head. I don't think people know how many people are on campus that were hired by Nicklow, Cheng, Ford, etc. These people still hold administrative positions with high salaries. If SIUC is really serious about turning this around they need to start with campus moral. These people are creating terrible moral everyday when they come to work. We should demand a new Chancellor committed to fix this issue. My guess is we will instead get a friend of a friend that will care about nothing but athletics.
It is a safe bet that the last time Colwell set a foot in a classroom was around 2004.
That's 15 years ago.
He is so rusty that he'd need a year or so to catch up with a progress in his discipline - so how is he going to teach?
My question is, will they return him to a teaching position but let him keep his huge administrative salary like they have done in the past?
Is the Pope a Catholic?
What else do you expect from SIUC? Also what a great role model he will present to students in terms of ethics and honesty. Dorsey does it again in making SIU the Southern Illinois University (of) Corruption!
In the past, and I know from past experience with others, SIUC used to allow administrators turned faculty to keep their high administrative salaries. However, after this became an issue with some high profile cases, SIUC began to actually follow the rule in their handbook, which required a salary commensurate with similar faculty. You can always check this out when the DE publishes the salary amounts, usually twice a year. Perhaps the real question here is why does SIUC even need this position? The student numbers are becoming so low that many administrative positions could be eliminated without missing a beat. Won't happen, I'm sure.
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