Eastern Illinois University

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/authors_at_eiu_october2024/1045/thumbnail.jp

MARCOM

President Jay Gatrell

Vol. 53, No. 5
Guest speaker: Director of Academic Advising Services Danny Gourley Fische

Decker, Brad

Eastern Illinois University 
The Keep 
Minutes Faculty Senate 
10-22-2024 
October 22, 2024 
Brad Decker 
Recorder Substitute 
Follow this and additional works at: https://thekeep.eiu.edu/facsen_mins 
Recommended Citation 
Decker, Brad, "October 22, 2024" (2024). Minutes. 1576. 
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/facsen_mins/1576 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Senate at The Keep. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Minutes by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact 
tabruns@eiu.edu. 
Vol. 53, No. 5 
Agenda  
 
October 22 
Faculty Senate 2024-2025 
 
Members Present: Todd Bruns (chair), Teshome Abebe, Grant Sterling, Barbara Carlsward, 
Bradley Decker, Matthew Inverso, Anna Kochigina, Jeanne Okrasinski, Md Farhadur Reza, Steve 
Scher, Isaac Slaven 
 
Guests: Kayla Reyes Morales (Student Senator), Ryan Hendrickson (Provost), Danny Gourley 
Fisher (Director of Academic Advising Services), Julie Dietz (online), Logan Lehmann 
  
 
I. Call to Order 
a. Senator Inverso made the motion, with Senator Slaven making the second, to 
approve the minutes from the October 8th meeting. Motion carried 11 Yes, 2 
Abstentions, 2 Non-votes (absent).  
II. Announcements 
a. A Climate Survey was distributed last week. The deadline to submit your 
response is November 6. All faculty are highly encouraged to participate. 
b. The Celebration of Scholarship, Creativity, & Engagement is Wednesday, October 
23 at 4:00 p.m. in the Doudna Concourse. 
c. Final Fridays Returns! All are welcome to join the fun on Friday, October 25 
starting at 4:30 p.m. at Friends & Co. Alan Pocaro, Mark Hudson, Larry Cox are 
the guest speakers for the day. 
d. The next Authors @ EIU Event will highlight authors Amie Whittemore and Linda 
Ghent. This will be held on October 28 at 5:00 p.m. in Booth Library West 
Reading Room. 
e. The Fall musical (She Loves Me) will be held October 31 - November 10 and all 
are welcome to attend. 
III. Communications 
a. Handout (distributed by Danny Gourley Fischer) 
IV. Committee Reports  
a. Executive (Bruns/Stowell/Mulvey) 
i. EIU Think Tank: The faculty senate recognized and thanked Anna 
Kochigina for stepping in as the newest member of the Think Tank.  
Teshome Abebe was also recognized and thanked for his previous service 
to the Think Tank. 
ii. Shared Governance Chairs: No report 
iii. CUPB: No report 
iv. Council of Illinois Senates: Senator Bruns attended the meeting last 
Friday, engaging with other faculty senate chairs across the state. Several 
campus issues were discussed, including student success, retention and 
Vol. 53, No. 5 
recruitment. The group endorsed a resolution sponsored by SIU-
Carbondale in support of faculty at WIU.  
b. Elections and Appointments: No report 
c. Awards – (Scher) 
i. At the time of the meeting, the deadline for the Luis Clay-Mendez Service 
Award had passed. There were few nominees. While the committee 
discussed extending the deadline, this raised the ethical question of late 
submissions when there were applications and materials submitted on 
time. Senator Bruns’ remarked that information is needed by Amber May 
for the Fall 2024 graduation, and as there is a nominee, we can move 
ahead. Given the current submissions meet the criteria of the award, the 
committee will review the applications and announce the awardee soon. 
d. Budget Transparency – (Sterling): Senator Sterling had requested to be sent 
financial data after VPBA Bierman’s budget town hall, but the date for this was 
pushed back, so Senator Sterling is still waiting on the data.  
e. Faculty Forum – (Thibault Geen): The committee has decided upon the 
topic/title: Navigating Tough Talks - Effective Strategies for Faculty/Student 
Communication. This fall faculty forum is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 
November 14th at 2:00 p.m. at the Black Box Theatre in Doudna. 
i. Panelists tentatively scheduled to participate include Amanda Harvey, 
Logan Lehmann, Chigozirim Sodeke, and Matt Gill. The committee also 
discussed including a student panelist.  
ii. The committee plans to record the forum and offer a Zoom or Teams 
option, as has been past practice.  
iii. Senator Abebe suggested that the Faculty Forum be added to the 
university calendar to boost attendance. 
f. Student and Staff Relations – (Bruns, Decker) 
i. Staff: No report 
ii. Student: (Reyes Morales) Student Senator Reyes Morals shared that the 
student senate has been discussing concerns with budget transparency 
and they will continue to follow up on their concerns.  
V. Provost’s Report 
a. Provost Hendrickson shared that he and the college deans had a meeting with 
student leaders last Friday, specifically to discuss artificial intelligence (AI). Most 
students in attendance made the argument about needing guidance from faculty 
on if and how they should use this resource. Administrators suggested that they 
have given guidance via FDIC that academic freedom is the main objective. 
Although syllabus guidelines have been distributed via the Academic Affairs 
office, students report that they would like more specific guidance. 
b. Several Senators shared their thoughts on these comments and AI. Senator Bruns 
stated that there is a new expectation from the public that college graduates 
know how to use AI. Senator Reza shared that his department has created 
guidelines for their specific programs. Senator Abebe noted that there was a 
faculty forum on this specific topic last year.  
Vol. 53, No. 5 
c. In relation to this discussion, Provost Hendrickson is requesting that Faculty 
Senate review and discuss the AI task force report that was generated and led by 
FDIC director Michael Gillespie and colleagues in a future meeting.  
VI. Guest Speaker: Director of Academic Advising Services Danny Gourley Fischer 
a. Director Gourley Fischer learned at a Council of Chairs meeting last year that 
faculty don’t have access to advising tools and advising procedures are mostly 
passed along by oral tradition. His office is striving for a more structured 
approach and faculty who advised are encouraged to utilize resources available.  
i. Current resources the Advise1 list-serv, the Advising Worksheet, and 
Advising files in SharePoint. 
b. An advisor training D2L course is being developed and will be unveiled soon. 
c. Fischer also discussed our adopted scheduling software: Calendly. Several 
Senators objected to the relatively high cost ($77 per license) being applied to 
academic department budgets.  
d. Several senators had questions and comments regarding advising including 
concerns about the SAP Form and improvements to DegreeWorks. Senator Scher 
also requested a list of main tasks for departmental advisors. An open discussion 
regarding access to tools for advising and Calendly vs. Booking resulted in 
suggestions for more development of current tools. 
e. Director Fischer also described how his team interacts with new students, such 
as discussions around “interests vs. aptitudes,” and counseling of new students 
about good fits for their programs. University advisors also meet with each 
department and learn more about their programs. Director Fischer identified 
“Focus2” as a tool they make available to students to assess career interests and 
paths. Additional discussion occurred about opportunities available for pointing 
new students in the right direction when they are just beginning or when they 
are struggling to find courses of study. 
f. Senator Scher raised concerns about the ratio of online vs. in person courses. 
Provost Hendrickson responded that there has been a push post-COVID to make 
more classes in person. The university is trying to make courses efficient, and yet, 
meet demand. Guest Dietz (attending online) suggested that we want to offer 
more in person sections, but they sometimes don’t make based on enrollment. 
Senator Scher requested data on seats and offerings for online and in person 
courses.  
 
VII. Discussion Items 
a. Potential Future Agenda Items: 
i. Information Clearinghouse for Faculty: One spot with updated student 
support services information, marketing/recruitment info for faculty, AI 
regulation guidance 
ii. ADA Compliance Concerns 
iii. International student support: Abebe raised concerns about student 
support needs not being known and reaching out to international 
Vol. 53, No. 5 
students. International students should be included in this discussion so 
we know what we need to address. 
iv. On-Boarding Student Populations: Faculty Connections (Kochigina) 
v. Student Tech Skills Support (Kochigina) 
vi. Faculty/Staff Anonymous Feedback to Admin (Kochigina) 
vii. Move Java to the Library (Kochigina) 
viii. Promote “People at EIU” recognitions outside of the email (Kochigina) 
ix. Textbook Rental: E-Books (Bruns; possible guests Heist [gen ed needs], 
Bowers [peer institutions review]) & Art Tools (Bruns) 
x. Facilities: Accessibility, Extreme Heat/Cold  
xi. Coaches steering student athletes to online courses/programs 
 
The next meeting is scheduled for November 12 because it is election day on our regular 
meeting day.  
 
Senator Sterling made the motion, with Senator Abebe making the second, to suspend the 
agenda until then. The meeting was adjourned at 3:40pm 


English

October 22, 2024

Krabel Funeral Home

obit - David Lee Jorns

Mattox, Aaron

Episode 2:  Dr. Mattox sits down for an interview with the President of Illuminate Financial Consulting Dr. Robert Grossi who has worked with school districts across Illinois to discuss the current state of school finance and collective bargaining in Illinois

Episode 6:  Dr. Mattox sits down for an interview with Eastern Illinois University Professor Dr. Katie Havercroft to discuss the SLD support project and the valuable services and professional development opportunities that the grant is offering to educators across Illinois

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_pr/1010/thumbnail.jp

Association of Honors Students

Hot Dogs & S\u27Mores with the Dean

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_fall2024/1006/thumbnail.jp

Officer Spotlight: Laney Wright

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_fall2024/1017/thumbnail.jp

Ice Cream Social

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_pr/1003/thumbnail.jp

Spooky D&D with the Dean

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_fall2024/1014/thumbnail.jp

Eastern Illinois University

Not a member yet

President Jay Gatrell

October 22, 2024

obit - David Lee Jorns

Episode 2: Dr. Mattox sits down for an interview with the President of Illuminate Financial Consulting Dr. Robert Grossi who has worked with school districts across Illinois to discuss the current state of school finance and collective bargaining in Illinois

Episode 6: Dr. Mattox sits down for an interview with Eastern Illinois University Professor Dr. Katie Havercroft to discuss the SLD support project and the valuable services and professional development opportunities that the grant is offering to educators across Illinois

Hot Dogs & S\u27Mores with the Dean

Officer Spotlight: Laney Wright

Ice Cream Social

Spooky D&D with the Dean

Ice Cream Social

52,557

96,689