Correction added

A new chair for the biological sciences department will be in place July 1, 2009.

An advisory search committee is meeting and looking for a replacement to Andy Methven, the current chair of the biology department.

Methven will continue as chair until June 30, 2009, said Mary Ann Hanner, dean of college of sciences.

Diane Hoadley, dean of Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, heads the search committee with five biological sciences faculty members.

Jeff Laursen, Janice Coons, Karen Gaines, Kip McGilliard and Gordon Tucker.

“I wanted to be on the committee because it is very important – to the department, the college and to me personally,” Laursen said.

Last February, Methven announced he was stepping down as chair in a memo to biology faculty.

In the memo, Methven stated he intended to stay with the department as a faculty member after stepping down as chair.

The deadline for applicants interested in the chair position is November.

“The search is going well,” Laursen said. “We are accepting applications and will begin reviewing applications in mid-semester.”

Upon receiving the applications, the committee will begin narrowing them down before bringing people in for interviews.

Hanner said the announcement of the new chair “will certainly be after the beginning of the spring semester I would expect.”

Laursen said, in making the search committee, Hanner requested names from people in the department who were interested in serving on the committee.

Hanner then decided who would be best fit to represent a diverse group of faculty.

Gaines, a committee member, and an assistant biology professor, volunteered because she still has many years left at Eastern.

With only four years at Eastern, Gaines wants to make sure the department has a chair who will represent a diverse department.

“It’s going to shape the character of that department,” she said.

The chair has a big influence in the department, and someone new will add dimension to the department, she added.

“To have the opportunity to bring someone in now, add someone to department will make it strengthened,” Gaines said.

The committee was formed last April, and has met three times.

“We’re looking for someone with experience in terms of management,” Gaines said.

The applicant has to show commitment to service in the department, as well as be able to teach, too, she added.

Historically, the biological sciences chair has taught, and Gaines said that precedent would probably continue.

“A chair has to be an excellent administrator of both faculty and students,” she said.

She said everyone on the committee has their own opinions but as a group, they can agree on that.

The associate chair position in the biology department also has a temporary replacement.

Marina Marjanovic, associate biology professor, will fill an interim spot that was created after former associate chair Robert “Bud” Fischer left for the University of Alabama-Birmingham in the summer.

When the position became open, Methven put out a call within the department for the associate chair position, Gaines said.

Hanner and Methven then decided on who would fill the void.

Marjanovic is serving a two-year term as interim associate chair.

“She’ll be here this year and next year – the first year of the new chair’s term – and at that point the new chair can determine how he or she might replace the associate chair,” Hanner said.

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