Northwestern’s president-elect steps down to battle cancer

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern University’s president-elect is stepping down from the post after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. The school in Evanston, Illinois, said Monday that Rebecca Blank and her husband will return to Wisconsin, where she will undergo treatment. Blank was chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for eight years before she was named at Northwestern’s 17th president and first female president last fall. In a statement, Blank expressed her disappointment about having to step down from a position at the university where she was once on the faculty. The school says Morton Schapiro will remain as president until a successor is named.