About President Freeman
Leadership Vision
As the 13th President of Northern Illinois University, Dr. Lisa C. Freeman champions the university mission, emphasizing NIU's enduring commitments to promoting the social and economic mobility of our students, producing high-impact research and artistry and engaging with our region. She has a deep commitment to equity and promoting excellence by matching talent with opportunity. Accordingly, Freeman strives to create a learning environment where students, faculty and staff with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives feel welcome and included. Believing that relationships are resources, Freeman actively cultivates strategic partnerships to enhance student success, scholarly pursuits and institutional effectiveness.
Career at NIU
Since 2010, Freeman has held senior leadership at NIU. Before her appointment as president in September 2018, Freeman served as NIU’s executive vice president and provost and vice president for research and graduate studies. She has maintained a faculty appointment as a professor of biology.
Previous Experience
Prior to joining NIU, Freeman spent 16 years at Kansas State University where she served on the faculty and held leadership roles that include associate dean for research and graduate programs for College of Veterinary Medicine and associate vice president for innovation for K-State Olathe.
Academic and Research Contributions
Throughout her academic career, Freeman has served as a principal investigator on research and training grants; taught courses in pharmacology and the responsible conduct of research; acted as a mentor to numerous graduate students, postdoctoral trainees and early-career faculty members; and fostered partnerships across academia, industry and the public sector to promote educational attainment, economic engagement and workforce development.
Education and Training
Freeman earned a bachelor's degree in 1981, then a master's degree and a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1986, from Cornell University. She went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University in 1989 and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. In 2004-05, Freeman was a Fellow of the American Council on Education hosted by the University at Buffalo.
Freeman's research focused on the role of ion channels in the development of diseases such as gastrointestinal ulcers and ovarian cancer as well as on strategies for encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. Agencies that funded her work included the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Freeman has written more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, invited reviews and book chapters. She has been invited to present at national and international conferences as a biomedical researcher and an advocate for broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research and the STEM workforce.
Honors and Civic Engagement
Freeman has been widely recognized for contributions to her profession and to the communities where she has lived and worked. Among those honors are being named the Outstanding Veterinarian of the Year by the Association for Women Veterinarians, acknowledged by local businesses as a Castle Bank Community Leader and invited to join the influential leaders of The Chicago Network. She has served previously on the board of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) and is currently on the boards of Altus Academy, the Brookfield Zoo Chicago, serving as vice chair of the Campus Compact Board, the DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association and Intersect Illinois.