Lisa Freeman

Northern Illinois University (NIU) is an engaged public research university that serves a diverse student body. As president, Freeman works to support all aspects of the university’s mission, emphasizing NIU’s continued commitments to promoting the social mobility of Huskie students, producing high impact scholarship, and engaging with our region. She strives to create a learning environment where students, faculty, and staff from a wide range of backgrounds feel welcome and included. She takes pride in bringing people, ideas, and resources together to promote positive change. Freeman has been a member of NIU’s senior leadership team, and a professor of biology since 2010, serving previously as NIU’s vice president for research and graduate studies, and executive vice president and provost.

Prior to joining NIU, Freeman spent 16 years as a faculty member and administrator at Kansas State University (K-State). There, she served as a principal investigator on research and training grants, acted as a mentor to numerous students, postdoctoral trainees, and early career faculty members, and promoted public-private cooperation to advance networking, specialized training, legislative advocacy, and business relocation for biosciences and animal health assets. In her last position as the associate vice president for innovation for K-State Olathe, Freeman was responsible for designing a specialized campus and delivering effective strategies focused on fostering productive partnerships across academia, industry, and the public sector to promote educational attainment, economic engagement, and workforce development.

Freeman earned a BS in 1981, and an MS and DVM in 1986, from Cornell University. She went on to earn a PhD 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 (ACE) hosted by the University at Buffalo.

In addition to being an accomplished scientist with numerous publications and presentations, Freeman has been recognized widely for contributions to her profession and to the communities where she has lived and worked. Among those honors are being named as the Outstanding Veterinarian of the Year by the Association for Women Veterinarians in 2002, recognized by Women We Admire as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Education in 2023 and 2024, and invited to join the influential leaders of The Chicago Network. Freeman has served the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities as a board member and past chair of the Executive Committee of the Commission on Information, Measurement, and Analysis. She is currently on the boards of Altus Academy, Brookfield Zoo, Campus Compact, DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association, and Universities Research Association.