Last Friday, the Council on University Planning and Budget elected a new chair, who must implement a new plan.

Psychology professor Christine McCormick replaced Bob Augustine when she was elected the new chair of CUPB. A year-long report detailing the university’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) also was released at the meeting.

McCormick will head the board responsible for listening to the budget requests of various campus departments, and supplies planning for the university.

The seven-person executive committee representing the four administrative departments, deans or chairs, faculty and students was selected:

-Linda Coffey, bursar, was selected to represent the subcommittee for Business Affairs.

-Eric Davidson, assistant director of health services, was selected to represent the subcommittee for Student Affairs.

-Rick Sailors, director of the radio-tv center, was selected to represent the subcommittee for External Relations.

-Rodney Raines, a graduate student, will represent the student body.

-McCormick also represents the teaching faculty.

-Glenn Hild, chair of the art department, was selected to represent the dean or chair.

-Mahmood Butt, department chair of secondary education and foundation, was selected as an at-large position.

The CUPB consists of 37 voting members and nine non-voting members.

Judy Gorrell, executive secretary in the President’s Office, said faculty members serve three-year terms. Students and the Faculty Senate chair serve one-year terms. All others, which include administrators and college deans or department chairs, serve two-year terms.

Augustine said the executive committee and CUPB chair help create the meeting agenda by listening to concerns from those who fall into their respective departments.

Last year, the CUPB conducted the SWOT report, which will serve as a guideline for helping the university’s long and short-term planning, Augustine said.

Areas such as Academic Programs, Resources and Funding, Education Quality and Diversity were among the different areas examples were given from.

Augustine, dean of the graduate school, said a rough draft was approved for content by the CUPB in May, but the report needed to be “cleaned up” for the summer meeting.

Jim Shonkwiler, budget director, also informed the CUPB on Eastern’s budget situation.

The university dealt with a more than $5 million reduction in state appropriation from Fiscal Year 2003 to FY 04 because of budget cuts and an increase in fixed cost expenditures, such as health insurance and annual or sick compensation.

Shonkwiler said because each of the departments had a reduction in total funds, the university decided to pick up those costs to ease the budget cuts. The report was based on information supplied for his presentation delivered to the Board of Trustees June 23.

“The economy is not turning around as fast or as robustly as expected,” Shonkwiler said.

He said because of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign promise not to raise taxes, funding to higher education has become “static.”

“I think the probability of recession is growing every day,” Shonkwiler said. “And we have no idea when we’re going to get the recession nor can we see when (the economy) will come around.”