Knox President Roger Taylor elected Chair of Associated Colleges of the Midwest

Knox College President Roger Taylor has been elected chair, effective July 1, of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), a regional higher education consortium. The chair is selected from among the presidents of the 13 selective liberal arts colleges that make up the ACM.

"Roger's insights, style and judgment are impeccable," said Christopher Welna, president of the ACM. "He is a seasoned leader and just the right person to lead the ACM as we celebrate 50 years."

The ACM is one of the nation's oldest educational consortia, founded in 1958, but with roots reaching back to the 1920s in the establishment of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference and the creation in 1951 of the Midwest Faculty Conference. In addition to Knox, ACM members are Beloit College, Carleton College, Coe College, Colorado College, Cornell College, Grinnell College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence University, Macalester College, Monmouth College, Ripon College, and St. Olaf College.

Taylor has served on the ACM's Executive Committee for the past two years and participated in the ACM's development of a mission statement and action plan.

Taylor succeeds Stephen D. Schutt, president of Lake Forest College. This is not Taylor's first experience leading a consortium of colleges. In 2005, just four years after becoming president of Knox, he was elected president of the Associated Colleges of Illinois.

For thirty years prior to becoming president of Knox, Taylor was an attorney and partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, where he remains Of Counsel.

A 1963 Knox graduate, Taylor joined the College's Board of Trustees in 1988 and was Board Chair from 1999 to 2001. He is also a member of the Federation of Illinois Independent Colleges, the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Galesburg Regional Economic Development Agency Board of Directors, the "Galesburg's Lincoln" Bicentennial Commission, the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and a Trustee of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 48 states and 42 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.