UW-Parkside Chancellor Deborah Ford leaving for Indiana University Southeast job

One of the University of Wisconsin System’s longest-serving chancellors is leaving for a job leading a similarly sized university in the Midwest.

Indiana University Southeast announced Thursday that UW-Parkside Chancellor Deborah Ford will begin serving as the school’s next chancellor July 1. The 3,500-student university is a regional campus of Indiana University and located in the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky.

Ford has led UW-Parkside since August 2009. Nearly 60% of students at the Kenosha campus are the first in their families to go to college, and more than a third are considered low income and receive Pell grants.

The Indiana job is a natural fit for Ford, who grew up in the Louisville metropolitan area and graduated from Indiana University as a first-generation student. She said the job opportunity will bring her closer to her family in the greater Louisville area, including a grandchild who will be born this spring.