After 14 years at the helm, NIU President John La Tourette took the occasion of the June, 1999 Board of Trustees meeting to announce his retirement.
The Board of Trustees, in existence for just three years at this point, had a huge challenge in replacing La Tourette, a well-accomplished president who had set many wheels in motion for the next president to manage.
They needed a president with broad operational and strategic planning experience, talent in the fundraising and legislative arenas, and knowledge of Division I athletics.
With the help of an executive search firm and a 20-member search committee, the board was looking at finalists by February 2000, and announced their choice the following month.
On March 24, John G. Peters, provost and chief academic officer at the University of Tennessee, was named the 11th president of Northern Illinois University.
A political scientist by training, Peters’ teaching career began at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where he and wife, Barbara, would spend the next 20 years of their life and welcome their son, Russell. Over time, Peters moved into various administrative positions at UNL, including Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. From UNL he was recruited to be the vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee, and finally provost.
The NIU presidency seemed to be tailor-made for John Peters, and he for it. In his first few months at the helm, Peters sealed the deal on a $20-million gift to the College of Business; gained NIU admittance to the prestigious Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU); and oversaw NIU’s ascension to the Carnegie Foundation’s list of most prestigious research universities.
He followed up those accomplishments with a series of trips to Washington, where he engineered several special appropriations to strengthen top NIU programs. Those included a $4.2 million grant for an NIU-led accelerator research project with Fermilab and the first of two grants used to construct the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
In Springfield, Peters’ personal lobbying efforts helped move several stalled university proposals out of political waiting rooms. Those included money for the Altgeld Hall renovation, funds for a massive flood control project and an even larger heating and air-conditioning project, and $4.5 million for an expansion at Founders Library.
At the same time, John Peters managed to endear himself to NIU students. He frequently walked around campus, looking for students to talk to, to test ideas and get feedback. He diligently taught University 101 classes, and once surprised a class by inviting them all over for dinner. And he constantly reminded students of NIU’s great value and growing prestige.
“I want you to know that you’ve chosen a top-notch university,” he told them, “and when you hang an NIU degree on your wall, you’re going to go far.”
The Peters era included more than a dozen major building projects, including new and renovated academic and research spaces, athletic facilities, entertainment venues and residential facilities. Lobbying in Washington and Springfield provided funds for some projects, while unprecedented private giving underwrote others.
Yet in spite of those and other accomplishments, the Peters legacy is most strongly associated with NIU’s darkest hour, for it was on his watch that NIU experienced a mass shooting on February 14, 2008.
From the first minutes of the crisis to the last, John Peters focused on the victims. He visited hospitals, attended funerals, comforted families and held the hands of traumatized students. He shared information promptly and compassionately, and urged his fellow NIU leaders to err on the side of kindness when making decisions on how to move forward. In the end, NIU emerged from the February 14th tragedy as a united campus, its president held up as a model for grace under pressure.
Peters stayed on for another five years, focused on financial management in a period of accelerated state disinvestment, as well as private fundraising and athletics. He led the MAC Council of Presidents and represented the Mid-American Conference on the NCAA Executive Committee. He also helped seal the deals on private gifts that created new athletic practice and performance facilities on campus.
At the same time, Peters rounded out his 13-year presidency by presiding over a residential renaissance, using public-private partnerships and low-interest bonds to build the New Hall residence hall and Northern View apartments, while also remodeling Grant Towers and Gilbert Hall.
At his final State of the University Address in October of 2012, John Peters announced his retirement, effective June 30 of 2013. John and Barbara returned to their home in Knoxville, Tennessee, rejoining their son and his family. As of this writing, they continue to enjoy the mild climate of their adopted hometown and proximity to their much-adored grandchildren.
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