Paige C. Cunningham, executive director of Trinity International University’s Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity, will take a one-year leave of absence from her position in Deerfield to serve as interim president of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.
Cunningham graduated from Taylor in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She has served on the Taylor board of trustees for 17 years and was most recently the board chair.
Cunningham also holds a Master of Arts in bioethics from TIU, a Doctor of Philosophy in educational studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law. She serves as an affiliate professor of law at Trinity Law School.
Cunningham has a wide range of teaching and organizational leadership experience both inside and outside the academy, having served as past president and board chair of Americans United for Life, and as an adjunct instructor at Wheaton College for eight years.
Cunningham will follow Paul Lowell Haines, who announced June 24 that he was resigning the presidency of Taylor effective Aug. 15.
“The University’s leadership, beginning with the board of trustees, will remain true to the Lord and our calling and will have the resolve, faith and strength of purpose to carry Taylor forward into the future,” Cunningham said as board chair at the time of Haines’ resignation. “We look forward to building on the strategic plan developed by Dr. Haines and the executive leadership team.”
“As we make plans for the CBHD to progress in her absence, we're already anticipating her return for the 2020-21 academic year,” interim dean of Trinity Graduate School Don Hedges said. “But we must accept that--for the moment--Taylor needs her even more than we do.”