The last Campus Master Plan was completed 10 years ago.

Eastern is in the process of choosing a consulting firm to update the Campus Master Plan.

The 19 proposals from companies have been evaluated and narrowed down, said Paul McCann, interim vice president for business affairs

“We’ve gotten down to the final three,” he said. “We’re contacting those people trying to set up schedules and try to bring them to campus.”

McCann said he is hoping to choose the consulting firm within a month or two.

“We are still very, very early in the process,” McCann said. “We have not done campus interviews for consulting firms to do the work.”

President Bill Perry said after the consultant selection has been made, different committees would be formed.

The firm will consult with these committees and look at the entire current plan.

Subcommittees will also be formed to look at specific areas within the plan, such as sustainability.

Perry said he is hoping to have the bulk of the Campus Master Plan completed before summer.

Topics to include in the plan will not be chosen until a consultant is hired.

The consultant will then sit down with various groups both on and off campus, including the president, vice presidents, faculty, staff, students, community members and alumni.

Discussion will then begin on individuals’ desires, needs or wants for the university.

“Probably every person is going to have a different idea, a different opinion,” McCann said. “Somebody’s going to say, ‘I want a new basketball arena.’ Somebody’s going to say ‘I want a new science building.’ ‘I want a new steam plant.'”

Because individuals’ preferences will be varied, the consultant will try to put together something that is workable for the campus.

“The consultant is really a communicator and a professional planner that can listen to the various constituencies and get some type of idea and develop a plan from that idea,” McCann said.

Perry said a number of issues would be considered for the plan.

He said the university has established a number of priorities.

“Among them are going to be sustainability; supporting faculty, teaching and research; supporting faculty-student interaction; and supporting study abroad, honors, the arts, community service,” Perry said.

Ten years have passed since the entire Campus Master Plan was completed.

“The Council on University Planning and Budget recognized that and made a recommendation to the president last year to undertake a campus master planning process,” said Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations.

Nilsen said the master plan process is intended to start later this spring.

More recently, an update was done on the master plan in 2002.

“This spring the entire plan will be reviewed,” Nilsen said.

The last Campus Master Plan talks about the recommended capital projects when it was done in 1998.

Addressed in that plan were the expansion of the Doudna Fine Arts Center, the moving of traffic and parking to the periphery of campus, the location of the new health services building and the location of a new science building.

The consultant for the previous master plan was Sizemore Floyd Conroy Planning Team.

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