SPRINGFIELD — The Southern Illinois University board of trustees named a former Illinois state superintendent of education as the school's president on Monday.

Youngstown State University President Randy J. Dunn will be SIU's eighth president, replacing Glenn Poshard, who is retiring in June despite having a contract that runs to 2015.

"Randy Dunn has both the skills and the background to ensure that SIU continues to live up to its mission of providing a quality education for thousands of students, serving as an academic and economic engine and meeting the health care needs of individuals and families in central and southern Illinois," board chairman Randal Thomas said in the news release.

SIU, which has campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville as well as medical and dental schools, will pay Dunn $430,000, according to university officials.

Dunn's first job out of college was teaching fourth-grade reading at Gibson City Elementary School. Dunn spent four years at the Ford County school, leaving in 1983 for a principal's gig in Paw Paw.

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