Cheryl Green, the first Black president of Governors State University in Illinois, passed away on April 23 after a long battle with cancer.
Dr. Green had recently retired from the presidency of Governors State University on March 1. She was appointed as the university’s sixth president in July 2020. Over the past five years, she launched new external partnerships and secured the university’s largest-ever private donation. She also established the university’s Honors College, College of Graduate Studies, Latinx Resource Center, and a chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Prior to assuming the Governors State presidency, Dr. Green worked in higher education for three decades. She had stints as vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and assistant vice president for student affairs at Tennessee State University. Earlier in her career, she spent over twenty years as a professor of psychology and academic administrator at Chicago State University.
Dr. Green received her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.