The EIU Annuitants Association is currently collecting funds for an annual scholarship it hopes to kick off in January 2008.

The EIUAA, an organization made up of all retirees from the school, plans to present the scholarship to a descendant or relative of an Eastern annuitant. The group hopes for it to be $10,000.

The scholarship would be awarded not just on the basis of academics, but on extracurricular and other activities as well.

Association President Alan Baharlou said the scholarship was established as a way for retired alumni to give back to Eastern students for the great career they’d provided them with.

The association currently plans to have the award presented at a luncheon meeting, in which all members of the EIUAA would be present. The association member would then present his/her relative with a plaque displaying their name. A brief biography of the recipient would also be placed on the EIUAA’s Web site.

Baharlou hopes that this scholarship will help to close the gap between the different generations. He said that a moment like this between family members is “the most exciting, emotional moment that anyone could ever observe. We wanted to get that interaction between two generations at their best.”

In addition to their scholarship efforts, the EIUAA has worked to make life a little easier for spouses of a deceased association member.

In Illinois, all university employees’ retirement pensions are overseen by the State Universities Retirement System (SURS), and their health insurance is managed by Illinois Central Management Services. When an annuitant passes away, their spouse is eligible for some of these benefits. However, seeing that these benefits are transferred can often be a time-consuming procedure involving various amounts of paperwork.

Meeting these requirements at the same time that you are mourning the death of your spouse and adjusting to the new challenges is a tremendous burden,” Baharlou said. “EIUAA decided to train, with the help of SURS staff, some of our members to assist survivors to acquire the necessary documents, complete them and make contact with the appropriate offices on behalf of the survivors.”

According to John Terwilliger, chapter member of the EIUAA, the project is modeled after efforts by other retiree groups at different Illinois universities, such as Illinois State University.

“The goal of our group is to let all SURS members know that help is available,” Terwilliger said.

In the end, the EIUAA’s main concern is continuing to serve the Eastern community, even in retirement.

“‘We are EIU,’ and will remain EIU our entire life,” Baharlou said. “We had an exciting and rewarding career working at Eastern and plan to remain an integral part of it in our retirement.”