URBANA — Turnover has defined the last two years at the University of Illinois as the school replaced its top leadership after a politically charged admissions scandal.

But one constant — for the past two decades, in fact — has been a university officer who is little known outside campus.

Michele Thompson, secretary to the UI president and UI Board of Trustees for 21 years, plans to step down later this year. She originally hoped to retire in 2010 but agreed to stay on to work with Stanley Ikenberry during his interim presidency and until President Michael Hogan and newly appointed UI trustees settled into their jobs.

Thompson has served four presidents as university/board secretary — five if you count Ikenberry's second go-round in 2010 — dating back to 1990. Before that she worked in various administrative posts, 34 years in all with the UI.

Both trustees and administrators say Thompson is an indispensable part of university operations.

"Michele almost seems to be one of those irreplaceable people you can find in an organization where they know everything," said Trustee Pamela Strobel. "To most of us it seems as if she has pretty much sacrificed her life to being the board secretary."

Hogan said he did his best to talk her out of retiring.

"Every day I wonder how I'll get by without the wisdom of her experience, her professionalism, her herculean work ethic, her enormous grace, and her loyalty to me, to the board, and to the university," he said.

Board Chairman Chris Kennedy has appointed a search committee, with three trustees and two administrators, to find Thompson's replacement. A search committee was also used when Thompson was hired, chaired by former Vice President Craig Bazzani.

Officials said the board wanted to do a broad search to attract the best candidates.

"The relationship the secretary has to the board is a very intense one, and also can be very personal. You really have to work closely with each of the trustees," said Strobel, a member of the search panel.

The search committee is scheduled to meet again Wednesday and hopes to wrap up its work by the end of June, Strobel said. Thompson is assisting with the search.

Strobel and other UI officials praised Thompson's integrity, devotion to the university and work ethic. She was on duty virtually 24/7, starting work near dawn and often staying until 10 p.m., Ikenberry said.

"Often when I'd come in to the office on weekends, she'd be the one person I would find in the Administration Building," he said.

Thompson has been unfailingly gracious, even during contentious issues such as the fight over Chief Illiniwek, colleagues said.

Professor Emeritus Stephen Kaufman, who publicly battled UI trustees for a decade over Chief Illiniwek, said Thompson never tried to prevent him from speaking at meetings and was responsive to concerns he wanted to bring to the board.

"She was always extraordinarily professional, always incredibly respectful," Kaufman said. "She was courteous and thoughtful and efficient."

Ikenberry called her the "ideal" board secretary.

"She's polite, discreet, and tough as nails," he said.

While polite "to a fault," he said, the nature of the position means she works under a great deal of pressure, managing deadlines and answering to trustees, the president, faculty and other administrators.

"She is able, however, to keep a very sharp focus on her work," he said. "I can't recall any time over many, many years in working with Michele that she ever lost her temper."

In past years Thompson had to meet the demands of fussy trustees who wanted certain menus for board lunches, for example, or requested endless details about specific university contracts. Under Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, trustees delved more deeply into day-to-day university business and pushed their own interests, to the dismay of administrators.

Ikenberry said Thompson has done her best to "maintain order and be sure that all proper processes are followed. Sometimes that takes a great deal of strength and courage, to be able to tell various parties 'no' politely and with a smile on your face.

"The board secretary can play a very important role both to help trustees pursue their mission and also to counsel and guide them in ways that will avoid embarrassment either to themselves or to the university," he said.

Thompson had to testify publicly before a state commission investigating the UI's admissions scandal in 2009, which found that scores of politically connected students were admitted over more qualified applicants over five years because of pressure applied by trustees and other officials. Most trustees were replaced as a result, and both UI President B. Joseph White and former Chancellor Richard Herman resigned.

Thompson said the experience was "painful."

"It was a sad time. I wasn't that close to all aspects of it. I think the university's come through that period very well," she said, adding that the current board is well-regarded.

Thompson demurred from discussing past trustees, saying all had been "extremely kind" to her and committed to the job.

"I think she should be eligible for sainthood," said Professor Matthew Wheeler, chair of the University Senates Conference. "She has kept a level head in a lot of different crises over many, many years. She has been in charge of herding cats, both from the very highest level down to the faculty, interacting with a lot of constituencies with grace and good humor.

"I think the university's going to miss her — her insight, her historical perspective of how things work. She's been the glue that's held it all together."

Thompson grew up in Kansas City and worked at the University of Missouri at Kansas City before joining the UI in 1977. She initially worked for Morton Weir, vice president for academic affairs, and later became assistant chancellor under William Gerberding. In 1979 she was named executive assistant to Vice President Ron Brady, then served as associate vice president for human resources from 1981 to 1984.

After a year as director of human resources for the University of California president's office, she returned in 1985 to take a job as an administrative assistant to Ikenberry, who'd been named UI president in 1979. She became his "point person" in Chicago, where the UI had a medical center and a separate campus at Navy Pier.

A highlight of her career came in 1980-81, when she spent a year as chief of staff for a committee studying the consolidation of the Navy Pier and medical campuses. They later merged into the UI-Chicago.

It was "an experience few people would have in higher education administration," she said.

The consolidation was "a very open question" at the time, she said, and the committee met twice a month for a year to hash out the concerns. The primary draw was that the combined campus would be considered a top-tier public research university. Thompson said it's been gratifying to watch the Chicago campus flourish since then.

"The high regard for UIC is notable throughout the region, I think, and nationally," she said.

She expects her retirement to take effect in late summer or early fall, depending on the search.

Thompson said she'll miss the university and colleagues at all levels, but "I've reached the point in my life that retirement seems the next logical step."

Thompson, who shares homes in Champaign and Chicago with her husband, DePaul University Professor H. Woods Bowman, said she's still deciding how to keep busy during retirement.

"It's been an extraordinary experience. I am more grateful than I can express," she said.