The Daily Illini spoke with incoming Chancellor Charles Lee Isbell Jr. on Monday after his approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. He will formally assume the position on Monday as the 11th chancellor of the University.
Isbell made his first public appearance as chancellor delegate Monday afternoon at a welcome reception, where he greeted a crowd of students, staff, local lawmakers and other community members.
The new chancellor spent over 20 years at his alma mater, Georgia Institute of Technology, in a variety of research, professorial and dean roles before serving as the provost and vice chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2023.
Isbell’s contract includes a salary of $900,000 and a recommendation for appointment as a professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science within The Grainger College of Engineering. The latter position is non-salaried on indefinite tenure and zero percent time.
The following interview offers a first glimpse into Isbell’s goals, values and passions as he prepares to don the orange and blue here in Champaign-Urbana.
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Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
The DI: Do you have a single priority that you’re most focused on going into the 2025-26 school year?
Isbell: My biggest priority for this year is listening. I have been paying attention to this university for a very long time — I actually used to visit a lot in the early 2000s, working with people here, so I know this place.
But one can’t just come in and say “We’re going to do this, this and this.” You’ve got to learn what the environment is like. You have to be immersed. My top priority for the next six months is listening and learning and talking to the students, faculty and staff.
The DI: Why Illinois? What brought you here?
Isbell: Like I said, I’ve been paying attention to this place for a very long time. It is a wonderful engine for innovation and discovery, but it also truly believes in its public mission and takes that seriously.
There are maybe five or six such universities in this country that can claim to have the breadth and impact that this place has. I’m very happy to be a part of that, and I’m hoping that we’re going to create conversations over the next couple of years exactly in that space.
The DI: How are you looking to really connect with the campus community and students specifically?
Isbell: By being there. Being on the Quad, talking to students, talking to everyone, and not just the people on the campus, but the people who live around the campus.
I plan to be on the ultimate frisbee field. I plan to be playing sports. I plan to be running around. I plan to go to the restaurants. I plan to talk to people. If students or citizens want to talk to me, they should feel free to talk to me.
The DI: Given your background in Artificial Intelligence, is there anything from that research that you plan to bring to the University during your time here, whether it’s in the next month, year or five years?
Isbell: I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that AI is transformative technology, but, if we step back a little bit, it’s just computer science which has already radically transformed the way that we do things.
We should think about AI and machine learning as the next step in that. I think for a university like this one it’s actually really important not just to think about the impact it’s going to have on students next week or next semester, but to think about what it’s setting up for the future.
Amara’s Law is one of my favorite laws; it says that we overestimate the impact of technology in the short run and we underestimate it in the long run. I think remembering that particularly around things like AI is really important.
I think the question for a place like this is not “What is generative AI going to do for the next assignment a student’s going to turn in?” Rather, “What is it going to set up for 20, 30, 40 years from now?” It’s about how we can set up our students and faculty so that they are best prepared for that future, not just the thing that’s happening next week.
The DI: Is there anything specific you’re taking from one Big Ten school to another that you think will be valuable to carry on?
Isbell: The Big Ten is a real thing. It’s a culture, and it’s a history. Even as it’s grown and expanded, it is a way of people talking to, comparing and helping one another. I think that understanding why the Big Ten is the Big Ten has been really enlightening for me over the last couple of years, and I look forward to working with all my colleagues.
The DI: What are you looking to get out of your time at the University? What are you hoping to garner from all the things that Illinois has to offer?
Isbell: The opportunity to build that future and work with people here. Like I said, this place is great. It’s going to be great. But we could have an even bigger impact at scale if we all work together, and I’m hoping to talk to people to figure out how we’re going to do that together — to learn how to do that better and then keep doing it here.
The DI: What would you say is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?
Isbell: That you should be two things at once. You should be confident at what you’re trying to do and understand what your strengths are, but you should also come to everything with humility.
Humility is understanding that problems are hard and that you have to learn and think carefully about them in order to solve them. If you think about humility like that, you can make big changes in the world. That is what I’ve learned over the last couple of decades, and I’m looking forward to being humble here.
The DI: Is there anything that you’d like your first impression to be with the community members? What are you looking to give off when they see you as more than just a photo in a press release?
Isbell: More than just a photo … I like that. I do want them to see me as more than just a photo. I am a person, and I am here. I’m here to listen.
What I want people to take away from this is that I really do care about higher education. I really do care about what we can do, and I really care about this place and that we’re going to go somewhere together. I want to be a part of that.
I want them to feel that they can talk to me, that they can share with me what they’re thinking, that I’ll listen and that we’ll figure out where we’re going to go.
