Out-of-state academic James Beeby named next UW-La Crosse chancellor

James Beeby was named the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, taking over for a leader fired late last year after his production of porn videos was publicly revealed.

The UW Board of Regents picked Beeby for the post in a closed-door meeting Wednesday. He is currently the provost at Keene State College in New Hampshire. The public liberal arts institution has about 3,200 students − roughly a third of the size of UW-La Crosse's 10,000-student campus.

“Dr. Beeby’s extensive experience will be a great asset to UW-La Crosse,” UW System President Jay Rothman said in a statement. “He has a proven record in student success and collaboration that will be extraordinarily valuable for the entire campus and its community.”

Who is James Beeby?

Beeby said in a statement he was drawn to UW-La Crosse because of its mission, strong reputation, close ties to the local community and dedication of campus employees.

Beeby will earn $281,112. He starts July 1.

Hailing from a small village in eastern England, Beeby was a first-generation college student who earned degrees from the University of Wales and Bowling Green State University.

Beeby previously worked as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Southern Indiana and as a history professor at Middle Tennessee State University. He has published extensively in the fields of U.S. southern history, African American history, race relations, and the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

At Keene State, Beeby developed several new undergraduate and graduate programs, worked with others to improve retention and graduation rates, and built transfer pathways with community colleges.

How competitive was the UW-La Crosse chancellor search?

Sixty people applied for the job, according to the UW System. Of the 34 applicants who voluntarily provided demographic data, 25 were men and nine were women. Racially, the search yielded one Hispanic, one American Indian, five Asian, two Black and 25 white applicants of the 34 who participated in the survey.

Beeby beat out two finalists: interim UW-La Crosse Chancellor Betsy Morgan and Christopher Olsen, the provost of Indiana State University.

What is the status of the Joe Gow investigation?

As interim chancellor, Morgan fielded a complaint filed by Rothman against her former boss, former UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow.

The regents removed Gow as chancellor late last year after discovering he had created sex tapes with his wife and posted them on porn websites. Gow remains a professor, but he isn't teaching this semester. He is on paid leave while the investigation is ongoing.

The UW System hired Husch Blackwell, an outside law firm, to investigate. The findings will go to the UW-La Crosse chancellor and a faculty committee to decide whether Gow should be fired from his tenured faculty position.

More: What to know about about former UW-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow and the investigation into him

When will the Gow investigation conclude?

It's unclear, but Rothman laid out the directive he gave Husch Blackwell during a Milwaukee Press Club event in late January.

"The charge that they have been given is to go through the process as quickly and as expeditiously as they can, with the understanding that we don't know where the facts will take them," he said. "Do I hope that that gets done sometime this spring in terms of the investigation being done? Yes. But we'll see where it takes us."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: James Beeby named next UW-La Crosse chancellor