The University of Illinois has chosen University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise as its next chancellor.

In a news release Wednesday, the university says Wise will take over the top job at the university's flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign on Oct. 1 - pending approval by the board of trustees at their next meeting in September.

University President Michael Hogan called the 66-year-old Wise a proven scholar.

Wise will replace interim Chancellor Robert Easter, who took over after the 2009 resignation of Richard Herman during the campus' Category I scandal over the admission of politically connected students.

Wise was interim president of the University of Washington system last year. She is a professor of physiology and biophysics, biology, and obstetrics and gynecology.