Jill Nilsen has been making an impact at Eastern for 30 years. She works with senators and mayors and still has time to participate in the local Chamber of Commerce. Her career has taken her from a school speech pathologist to one of the most influential women in Coles County.

As vice president of external relations, Nilsen oversees development, alumni relations, planning and institutional studies, WEIU radio/television and university communications at EIU.

“I never think of myself as a woman in power,” Nilsen said. “I am an individual who comes to work every day and tries to do the best job possible.”

Nilsen recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., where she met with the Illinois senators and was working to establish an international alumni advisory board.

“One of my unstated roles is governmental relations,” she said. “We oversee all of the legislative issues that affect the university.”

Nilsen also encourages students to participate in political activism as well. She regularly takes the Student Action Team to Springfield, Ill., and allows them to lobby and meet with local representatives, according to Cheryl Gilbert, program administrative assistant to Nilsen since June 2001.

“She’s one of the most giving persons you will ever meet,” Gilbert said. “She goes above and beyond the call of duty for the university. She believes so much in the academics of Eastern, and she loves to tell the story of EIU.”

After working as a speech pathologist in public schools, Nilsen came to Eastern in 1976 as a speech pathology faculty member. She served as chairperson of that department from 1984-1990, was associate dean of the graduate school from 1990-1993 and became acting vice president of external relations in 1998.

“It was never my intent to work in higher education, but I thought that the offer was intriguing,” she said. “It was a bit more by accident that I came to Eastern, but it has been a wonderfully fulfilling and rewarding experience.”

Nilsen also works with many community organizations. She has served on the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, the Charleston Strategic Planning Committee, the Charleston Unified Development Committee, the Coles County Alliance Committee, the Coles County Strategic Planning Committee and the Coles County Comprehensive Planning Committee.

“Jill is a class act,” Karla Evans, executive director of development, said. “She handles issues with grace and dignity and has survived well in a male-dominated world. At this time, Jill is the only female on the President’s Council (executive staff) and I aspire to reach the personal and professional accomplishments she has achieved.”

Nilsen does not feel that gender is an issue at Eastern, but she encourages all women to be strong. “The university environment is a very tolerant one,” she said. “”My gender has not been much of an issue in my professional career”.

“Each generation of women should be committed to making the world a better place for the generation that follows,” Nilsen said. “Life is not always easy nor is it always fair. Respecting oneself and one’s own skills and abilities and not allowing anyone else to make your decisions for you are important to any young person as they forge their way in the world.”

Nilsen’s family has always been a source of inspiration to her. “My dad always said do the best that you can do and know that you can always succeed,” she said.

“I have been extremely blessed to have a life partner of almost thirty years in my husband, Hank,” Nilsen said. “I have often said that I could not have been successful in my career and in my service to the university and the community without his support and strength.”

Nilsen and her husband have two sons. Nilsen has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from Eastern and a doctorate of philosophy in speech and hearing science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.