The board of trustees of Indiana State University in Terre Haute has appointed Deborah J. Curtis as the 12th president of the university. When she takes office on January 3, she will be the first woman to hold the position since the university’s founding in 1865. She will also hold a tenured professorship in the Bayh College of Education.
Indiana State University enrolls more than 11,000 undergraduate students and more than 2,300 graduate students. Women make up 54 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Since 2012, Dr. Curtis has been serving as provost at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. Earlier she served on the faculty of Illinois State University for 26 years and also was dean of the College of Education.
Dr. Curtis is a graduate of MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, where she majored in music education. She holds a master’s degree in music education from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Indiana State University.