Kaskaskia College Board of Trustees held a special meeting on Thursday, June 22, to appoint a new board member to fill a vacancy left by resigning member Jeff Brown (Greenville), who resigned due to family obligations. Board members included Laura Wedekemper (Shattuc), Jim Beasley (Centralia), Linda Stover (Centralia), Bryan Holthaus (Carlyle), and Louis Kalert (Centralia). Bill Hawley (Odin) and Madison Johnson (Student Trustee) were absent.
After conducting candidate interviews, board members appointed Craig Finke to serve the remaining term. Finke owns Finke Farms in Nashville, Illinois, and is a retired fifth-generation dairy and crop farmer. He is also serving as the outgoing Kaskaskia College Foundation Board of Directors president, with his term ending in August 2023.
Finke will serve until the next college board election in 2025, where a candidate will be elected to an unexpired two-year term. He will be sworn in at the June KC Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, June 26, 2023.
“I want to thank everyone for this opportunity and look forward to serving with the board for the betterment of the college,” said Finke.
Kaskaskia College is a public community college in Centralia, Illinois, within South Central Illinois District 501 serving all or part of nine counties including Bond, Clinton, Fayette, Marion, Washington, Jefferson, St. Clair, Madison and Montgomery. Committed to making education accessible, they host the Crisp Technology Center in Centralia, and also have education centers in Greenville, Nashville, Salem, Trenton and Vandalia, Illinois. The school, which is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, offers a broad spectrum of degrees, programs and certification options, specializing in 2-year associates degrees and trade school programs. Founded in 1940, Kaskaskia College was the first Class I Community College established in the State of Illinois.
Seen above: Craig Finke
