President Barbara J. Wilson The state Board of Regents has unanimously chosen Barbara Wilson to become the next president of the University of Iowa. Currently the second-in-command at the University of Illinois system, Wilson boasts some two decades of experience as an academic administrator and has a research and teaching background in communications studies. A career academic who rose up through the ranks at multiple public universities, Wilson’s appointment represents a return to a conventional leadership profile for the school. Her qualifications stand in stark contrast to that of her predecessor President Bruce Harreld, a businessman whose appointmentoutraged many on campus.