State budget woes a factor in 2 U Illinois professors' departures - Julie Wurth, News-Gazette

Thomas Overbye makes one thing clear: he loves the University of Illinois. He's spent the better part of his career at Illinois — 25 years — as a top professor in the highly ranked Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Like his UI colleagues, he's turned down overtures every year from competing universities. Until last summer. Then there was the uncertainty about education funding and pensions in the UI — even as Texas A&M offered financial incentives to lure him south. "There's a lot of uncertainty here in Illinois, a general feeling on campus that as faculty we don't feel the University of Illinois is that well-supported by the state. The feeling I get in Texas is that the Texas universities are well-supported by the state," Overbye said. http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-08-15/state-budget-woes-factor-2-ui-professors-departures.html