Board Of Regents Approves New NAU President

By Dennis Lambert
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - 1:20pm

The Arizona Board of Regents has approved a new president for Northern Arizona University.

The selection of Rita Cheng came during a special board meeting Wednesday morning in Flagstaff.

Cheng has been chancellor of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale since 2010. She will become NAU’s 16th president in August.

The regents will look to Cheng to increase enrollment at the university, which serves 26,000 students at dozens of campuses across the state and online.

Cheng will earn an annual base salary of $390,000, and have a vehicle and housing allowance. 

She succeeds John Haeger, who served as NAU president for 13 years, and plans to remain at the school as a professor.