JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The University of Missouri prepared Wednesday to announce its new president, almost exactly one year after the resignation of the previous leader of the four-campus system amid protests over racial issues at its Columbia campus.
The head of the system's governing board will announce University of Connecticut Provost Mun Y. Choi's appointment during an event in the state capital of Jefferson City, a person familiar with the search told The Associated Press. The person insisted on anonymity because the person wasn't authorized to discuss the matter ahead of the announcement.
President Tim Wolfe and Columbia Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin stepped down on Nov. 9 last year amid nationally watched student protests over what some saw as administrators' indifference to racism and other issues on the Columbia campus. One student went on a hunger strike, and some members of the school's football team threatened to strike if the administration did not respond to students' complaints.
Mike Middleton has been serving as interim president.
The Columbia community is still grappling with some of the racial tensions. In September, the campus temporarily suspended a fraternity over accusations of racial slurs directed toward black students. The incident is under investigation.
Choi, 52, has been provost at the University of Connecticut since 2012. He joined the school in 2008 as dean of engineering and professor of mechanical engineering.
Before that, he was department head of mechanical engineering and associate dean for research at Drexel University. From 1994 to 2000, he was a faculty member in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Illinois. He earned his master's degree and doctorate in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.
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