Faculty

Donald E. Fouts, Ph.D.

Dr. Fouts is director and senior fellow at the McKendree University Center for Higher Education Management. Throughout his career, he has been active in public and private higher education governance at both the state and national levels. Fouts served previously for twenty years as president of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities. He has also served on the boards of Southern Illinois University and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and as the private sector representative to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

He has taught at Northern Illinois University and Western Illinois University and lectured at DePaul University, Loyola University and the University of Chicago. Most recently he served as professor and director of the Center for Higher Education and Organizational Change at Benedictine University.

John P. Minogue, D.M.

Dr. Minogue served as the tenth president of DePaul University in Chicago from 1993 to 2004, where he set and executed a growth strategy that made DePaul the largest Catholic and seventh largest private university in the U.S. During his tenure, he developed a strong multi-site and internet-based course delivery system to increase graduate enrollment, making DePaul the largest provider of master’s degrees in Illinois.

Rev. Minogue is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where he provides quantitative and technological support for medical research and counseling support to families with high risk pregnancies. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

J.W. Croft, Ph.D.

Dr. Croft  is executive vice president of The Field Museum in Chicago, one of the world’s leading research museums. The Field Museum conducts basic research in natural science and offers a variety of public educational programs that serve nearly 1.8 million visitors a year. He has more than 40 years of not-for-profit executive experience, including management, strategic and financial planning, administration, fundraising, and facilities and operations management.

A college faculty member for more than 25 years, he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at National-Louis University, finance and management courses in the Ed.D. program in Higher Education and Organizational Change at Benedictine University, and currently teaches courses in finance and budget planning in the Center for Not-for-Profit Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Marilyn Martinson Croft, M.S.

Ms. Croft heads Croft Human Resources Consulting, Inc., a full service human resources consulting firm serving  a variety of clients in the not-for-profit sector. She previously served for 14 years as director of human resources at the Field Museum in Chicago. In this capacity she served as a member of the executive management team with responsibility for providing leadership for the Museum’s people strategy.

She has extensive teaching experience in the field of human resources and has served as an adjunct faculty member at National-Louis University in Chicago, teaching in the MBA, Masters of Human Resources, and BSM programs.

Costas Spirou, Ph.D.

Dr. Spirou is professor of sociology at National-Louis University in Chicago and has served as a visiting faculty member at a number of institutions, including DePaul University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Loyola University.  He has particular expertise in analyzing the impact of management structures and institutional cultures on developing “best practice” delivery of administrative services at higher education institutions.

He also has extensive experience teaching and lecturing abroad, having most recently served as visiting professor at the Center for Public Policy & Urban Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham and visiting professor of political sociology at Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu in Nowy Sacz, Poland.

Advisory Board

Elizabeth Adams
Director of Research Administration, McCormack School of Engineering, Northwestern University

Coleen Burrus
Director of Foundation Relations, Northwestern University

Joseph Cipfl, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate School, McKendree University

Deborah Edwards
Senior Vice President, Bank of America – Chicago

Janet Gibbs
Former Chief Financial Officer, Loyola University

John Hartung, Ph.D.
President, Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

Curtis McCray, Ph.D.
Former President, California State University – Long Beach

John T. O’Connell 
John T. O’Connell Ltd.

Calvin Stockman, Ph.D.
President/CEO, The Growth Group, Inc.

David Strand, Ph.D.
President Emeritus, Illinois State University

Roy Wehrle, Ph.D.
Former Senior Fellow, Institute of Politics, Harvard University

Tom Wolf
Executive Director, Energy Council, Illinois Chamber of Commerce