President Bill Perry thinks he has figured out Eastern.

If he had to write a new slogan for the university, Perry said it would be “Eastern: We’re family.”

“I’ve seen that people here really do care about each other,” Perry said. “They really do care, and they really do value personal relationships. If someone stumbles, we’re there to catch them,” Perry said.

Perry took over the role of president on July 1, 2007, and his first academic year in the position is almost over.

Perry said his opinion of Eastern has changed since he interviewed for president.

“It’s just become more positive,” Perry said. “Anytime you interview for a job, and you’re assessing an institution, you think you have a pretty good fix on everything. But you don’t really know until you get there and are involved in the life of the university.”

Before coming to Eastern, Perry worked at Texas A&M University. He said his time spent working with students as a math professor and the time he spent in administrative roles at Texas A&M helped him prepare for his new job at Eastern.

“I picked up things here and there that particular professors did well,” Perry said. “And then in administration, I picked up techniques from others I thought might work. But that doesn’t mean you can be an imitator. You have to have your own values and philosophies that can be expressed through your leadership.”

Perry said this year he has enjoyed getting to know faculty, staff and students. By meeting with academic departments and attending athletic events, Perry said he has gotten to know the university and campus community better.

English Department Chair Dana Ringuette appreciates the time Perry has spent trying to get know the people at Eastern.

“I like his willingness, his intention of meeting with different groups on campus, meeting with different departments, meeting with different colleges, chairs and what not, in order to learn as much as he can about the university,” Ringuette said. “You can see that was his intention, and he certainly followed through on it.”

Perry said although he does spend plenty of time in meetings or working in his office, he is not the type of person who likes to sit at his desk all day. He enjoys taking walks around campus and greeting people, he added.

“Today (Tuesday) as I was walking to a meeting in Klehm, I saw a few percussion students throwing a football around, so I stopped and threw the football around with them,” Perry said. “I like to see what’s going on on-campus and be a part of that.”

While he has been able to attend many events and meetings this past year, he said his biggest challenge, as president, has been time management.

“There’s always more meetings you could be at, more events,” he said. “But when you have three events scheduled at the same time, it makes it difficult to choose.”

Bonnie Irwin, dean of the Honors College, said when she first met Perry, she was impressed by his enthusiasm and energy. She said she was happy to see Perry embrace some of Eastern’s newer initiatives, such as EIU Reads.

She was also pleased to see him support programs like study abroad and undergraduate research, areas the university has been working to improve for years, she added.

“I was glad that instead of coming in with his own set agenda, he paid careful attention to where we were already heading and listened to what we were excited about and shaped his goals accordingly,” Irwin said.

Next year, Perry said he wants to spend more of his time working on fundraising and university development.

He will also be stepping back into the classroom next spring to teach a senior seminar in the math department. He said he plans on spending some of his free time this summer preparing for the course.

“There’s nothing like relationships you can forge with students, right there where they’re learning and you’re teaching,” Perry said. “You’re trying to impart this sense of enthusiasm for discovery, and I really enjoy that.”

Barbara Harrington can be reached at 581-7942 or at bjharrington@eiu.edu.

Eastern President Bill Perry stands outside Old Main on an overcast Thursday afternoon. Perry’s first year as president is coming to a close in July, and he noted that he likes Eastern even better after working here for the academic year. “I like to see w

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