HARRISBURG, Ill. - At its regular monthly board meeting on August 17, the Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees named Dr. Jonah Rice as the college’s sixth president.

“I am honored that the Board of Trustees came to this decision,” Rice said. “As president, I plan to continue to build on Southeastern’s time-honored tradition of providing quality, affordable education to the citizens of southeastern Illinois.”

After a thorough national search, the board chose last summer to name Rice as its interim president, a position he maintained until Tuesday night’s decision to lift the “interim” label. Over the past year, Rice has helped steer the college through difficult financial times brought on by delayed and missed payments from the state.

The past year at Southeastern has seen the implementation of online degrees and expansion of online class offerings, the opening of the successful burn tunnel for mine fire safety training, the purchase of firearms training simulation technology and offering of safety classes, and more new initiatives – along with renewed efforts to recruit, welcome and retain top students from high schools in the district.

“Southeastern has long been a beacon in providing the essentials of a community college education: smaller class sizes, dedicated and experienced faculty, and individualized attention,” Rice said. “But we’ve also never rested on our laurels, and we’ve always been open and eager to explore new pathways, keeping our finger on the pulse of educational and workforce trends. That’s a philosophy we plan to continue in the years ahead.”

Before becoming the interim president, Rice taught at SIC and served as the college’s Humanities Division Chairman. Employed at the college since 1990, Rice’s history with the school goes back even further. After graduating from Carrier Mills High School, Rice received an Associate in Arts from SIC. Rice went on to earn a B.S. from Bradley University, a M.A. from Central Michigan University, and a Ph.D. from Regent University. Rice has also had additional training at both the University of Illinois and the University of Indiana.

Rice also served as a long-time coach for the nationally renowned SIC Forensic Falcons speech program, and was the coordinator of SIC’s most recent Higher Learning Commission self-study process, which concluded in 2008 with the school receiving a full re-accreditation.

Rice is married to the former Megin Ewing, a Harrisburg High School graduate. She taught at Benton High School, then for many years at Harrisburg High School – where she served as science division chairperson – and most recently at Marion High School. She completed her B.S. in biology and chemistry from Murray State University and her M.S. in biology from University of Nebraska-Kearney. She has had continuing graduate coursework in chemistry at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana.