President Bill Perry is investing $800,000 in the areas he outlined in his letter to the campus community on Jan. 15.

Perry said he asked each of the vice presidents for estimates of what they each needed to achieve certain goals within the priorities.

“In each case it’s a significant investment,” he said.

His letter listed “enhanced support for excellence in faculty scholarship and teaching, in particular faculty-mentored undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activities, enhance service and leadership opportunities for students, enhance fine arts programming and outreach, enhance study abroad opportunities and enhance honors programs” as priorities.

He also asked for enhancement of marketing, fundraising and sustainability.

To invest in each of the areas, Perry said the university did not have to take money from other areas.

The $800,000 comes from cost-savings and the increased tuition.

“When we increased our tuition and so forth we allocated extra money in each of the areas,” He said.

Tuition increased 12 percent this year to meet a number of needs, such as salaries, Perry said.

“Of course, to invest tuition in faculty research and teaching is exactly the right thing to do,” he said. “Because that’s the heart and soul of the university is the faculty, research and teaching and how that comes together in instruction of students in academic environment.”

Money was generated from cost-savings with situations like the renegotiation of a telecommunications contract, which saves the university a couple hundred thousand dollars, Perry said. The priorities will be a multiple-year process..

“Next year, we’ll invest more,” he said. “And the relative amounts may shift depending upon what a person wants to do.”

Sometimes, the plan may go over a three-year period or longer, or in some cases money is needed up front to get something started, like hiring a person, Perry said.

Academic affairs

Perry’s five specific priorities have been a main concern in academic affairs for several years, Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said.

The enhancement of the honors program, study abroad, fine arts and undergraduate research all apply to the Office of Academic Affairs.

This year, Lord said, Perry has provided him with some additional budgetary support to provide supplementary resources to each of those priorities.

Lord said about $200,000 to $250,000 was invested across all the priorities in the academic affairs office.

“We had been working on those priorities for some time but it’s hard to progress without getting a dime to work on them,” he said.

Different amounts were earmarked for each priority. A recent allocation of $40,000 went to the Study Abroad Office to offer more scholarships.

Lord said he is counting on continued funding to support that. He said there are similar plans in undergraduate research.

A symposium is planned for the first time this year for students to display their creative and scholarly research in early April.

Lord said another piece was allocated to help the academic affairs operating budget, which was not specifically one of Perry’s priorities, but had not been increased since Lord has been provost.

Most of the allocation went to the priorities, and a small piece went to help the tight operating budget, Lord said.

Student affairs

The priority that fits into the student affairs area is the enhancement of service and leadership opportunities for students.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said about $90,000 has been initially invested into the priorities.

He said the bulk of that investment has gone toward the enhancement of service opportunities.

Nadler said the university has been able to move forward on the service area by developing a new office, The Office of Community Service with director Rachel Fisher.

He said Eastern is currently in phase one of the service initiative by looking for ways to better promote and coordinate volunteer opportunities for students. A Web site will eventually be built to list these opportunities.

“Our goal over the next five years is to have, on an annual basis, our students volunteering at least 100,000 hours collectively per year,” Nadler said.

Student affairs is just starting to look at the leadership area, he said. A group will be put together to explore and assess what is happening with student leadership, Nadler added.

External relations

The marketing and fundraising initiatives outlined in Perry’s letter fall under the external relations office.

Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, said about $400,000 was allocated to support marketing and fundraising.

“That’s the most significant investment in those areas since I’ve been in this position and we’re working hard to be good stewards of those dollars,” she said.

That investment went toward both areas.

With marketing, a consultant, Stamats, was brought in to do a survey. The results of that will help put together an overarching plan for the coming year. Eastern’s Web site was also totally redone as part of enhancing the marketing of the university.

Nilsen said the university is also preparing to undertake a major fundraising campaign. Internal and external committees for the campaign have met and additional staff is being hired. Two directors of philanthropy will join the staff, too.

A five-year plan, from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2013, has been developed.

“We’ve established our long range goals directly with the president’s long range goals,” she said.

Business affairs

Sustainability initiative falls under the business affairs office.

Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, said efforts are focused on cost-avoidence and cost savings.

Cooley said he did not receive funding for sustainability because it is not fundable.

It is the opposite because it finds ways to save money in order to fund other projects, he added.

Cost savings helped fund Perry’s priorities for this year.

“If we can avoid a cost, there’s a cost we don’t have to pass on to the students or ask money from the state,” he said.

The main focus is on replacing the power plant. The plant has been there since 1928 and has outlived its life, Cooley said.

“That’s mission critical to us because, if I can’t heat and cool the buildings what kind of structure are we going to have?” he said.

The university is looking at energy conservation and cost-savings to pay for the plant and looking for different projects that save money to pay for the project, Cooley said.

The current plant burns coal, and the university is looking for a plant that will burn biomass fuel.

Cooley said he is also looking at wind turbines, to use wind power to save from generating energy. This is still in the process of being looked at.

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