The Faculty Senate will fill its vice chair position and welcome seven new members to the senate at its regular meeting today.

The senate had someone set to be elected to the vice chair position, but first needed to get it approved.

Faculty Senate recorder John Stimac said they hoped to reach a quorum this summer but had not yet. The senate cannot appoint a member until they reach quorum, which is the minimum number of people who must be present for a decision to be binding.

One-third of the senate has also been replaced which is like every year because senate members have a three-year term. This year, however, two additional members were replaced which translates to a total of seven new members.

Robert “Bud” Fischer, former associate chair of the biological sciences department, accepted a position at University of Alabama at Birmingham as the chair of the biology department. Jeanne Snyder was promoted to associate dean of Lumpkin College.

Their replacements will fulfill the rest of their terms, which ends at the end of this year. Several other changes have been made as well.

John Pommier is the new chair for the year. John Stimac is the recorder for the year.

Chair, vice chair and recorder are one-year positions and were previously held by Lynne Curry, Ann Brownson and Jeanne Snyder, respectively.

Pommier, professor in recreation administration, has been on the senate since about 1999. This is his first time as chair. Stimac, chair and associate professor of the geology/geography department, has been on the senate since 2000. He has held the recorder position in previous years and was re-elected for this year.

As Pommier’s first year as chair, he wants to establish an environment where faculty’s voices are being heard, he said

“I don’t have any set agendas,” he said. “My idea is that it’s the faculty issues that are supposed to lead discussion.”

He said the senate has topics outlined, but nothing finalized until today. The fall agenda should be complete by today.

“There’s nothing out there that I think we want to say, ‘This is our agenda. This is what the senate is going to be about this year,'” Pommier said. “Because I think we need to be more fluid. We need to see what are the issues that our faculty – the faculty at Eastern – they want to address.”

There is one thing Pommier and Stimac would like to try differently.

The senate generally has a faculty forum in the spring, where faculty can address an issue that the senate deems important to faculty, staff and students. In the past, forums have discussed student involvement or study abroad.

“It always happens usually in February or March, which doesn’t give us much time to make any changes or come out with concrete suggestions,” Stimac said. “This year we’re going to try to have the faculty forum in November so that it does give us time in the spring to address some of the issues that come up.”

If need be, Stimac said the forum can always continue to be in the spring.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.