Illinois Central College Invites Community to Celebrate the Leadership of President Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey
East Peoria, IL (11/24/2025) — Illinois Central College (ICC) invites community members, partners, alumni and friends to celebrate the remarkable leadership and lasting legacy of President Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey at a reception on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. The event will be held from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the CougarPlex Practice Gym on the East Peoria Campus, with a formal program beginning at 5:30 p.m. RSVPs are appreciated.
Dr. Quirk-Bailey will conclude her tenure as President of ICC on December 31, 2025, after nearly forty years of dedicated service in higher education and nine years of transformative leadership at ICC. Since joining the college in July 2016, she has led the College through a transformative era focused on student success, equity, and workforce innovation.
Under her leadership, ICC achieved five consecutive semesters of enrollment growth, reduced placement in developmental education by 66 percent while maintaining student achievement, and increased both graduation and retention rates. She also expanded and enhanced student support services to better meet the diverse needs of learners across the region.
Dr. Quirk-Bailey has been widely recognized for advancing innovative, nationally acclaimed workforce programs that fuel economic growth and expand opportunities across central Illinois. These include the Workforce Empowerment Initiative (WEI), the IT Workforce Accelerator and the nation's first federal prison education program funded by Pell grants. Since its launch, the WEI program alone has helped more than 1,200 individuals overcome barriers to economic mobility, with participants seeing an average annual wage increase of nearly $33,000.
The reception offers the public an opportunity to celebrate Dr. Quirk-Bailey's impact, thank her for her service and reflect on her enduring contributions to the College and region.
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Illinois Central College is a two-year community college with campuses in East Peoria, Peoria and Pekin, Illinois, providing a high-quality, affordable education to prepare students to enter the workforce or to transfer to a four-year institution. ICC is the 2020 awardee of the National Community College Charles Kennedy Equity Award from ACCT, a 2022 and 2025 EDA Good Job Challenge Institution, and the Lead College for the state of Illinois' Workforce Equity Initiative. ICC also conducts original research in agricultural fields, including water quality and soil conservation. For more information, visit icc.edu.
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Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey