Jill Nilsen wants her life to be as meaningful as she can make it.

“There was a poem I heard at commencement last spring called ‘The Dash,’ and ‘The Dash’ talks about how on your tombstone there’s the day you’re born and the day you die and in between is a dash,” Nilsen said. “The dash is your life, and you need to make your dash as meaningful as possible, so I’m going to be looking at ways that I can make that dash as meaningful as I can.”

During her more than 33 years at Eastern, Nilsen has done many meaningful things for Eastern. Nilsen will retire from her position as vice president for external relations Dec. 31.

Nilsen worked as a professor, and later department chair, of communications disorders’ sciences, associate dean of the graduate school and special assistant to the president before becoming an acting vice president in 1998.

Each area she worked in evolved under her guidance.

“I was department chair for speech pathology and audiology, and it became communications disorders sciences during that time,” Nilsen said. “The department looked carefully at department name trends across the country and the changing nature of the profession and we felt that communications disorders sciences was more reflective of the discipline, and so we started the process of changing the name.”

As associate dean in the graduate school, Nilsen helped establish the Graduate Student Advisory Council.

“GSAC was developed so the graduate students on campus would have a voice in the Student Government. GSAC still exists today,” Nilsen said. “They have a voice on Student Government. They represent the graduate student interests for the university.”

Her favorite part of the position was the broader scope of the university that she was exposed to.

“The thing I loved about working in the graduate school was, after having worked in one academic department, in the graduate school I worked in all academic departments that had graduate programs,” Nilsen said. “When you’re in your own academic department, you tend to only focus on your own curriculum issues and your own students. In the graduate school I got to know a lot more people.”

In 1994, then-president David Jorns asked her to work as a special assistant to the president. As special assistant, she worked mostly with board and governmental relations, and in planning and institutional studies.

In 1995, Eastern switched from a Board of Governors to a Board of Trustees system, which Nilsen helped coordinate.

“Jorns asked if I would begin working with our board, and that’s how board relations became part of my responsibilities,” she said.

When she moved to the vice president position, Nilsen carried many of her responsibilities with her, and more responsibilities continued to be added.

“Other things started coming in because it kind of fit under external relations; university marketing and communication, philanthropy, alumni relations and then radio/TV, WEIU, became part of my responsibilities,” she said.

With all she has done for Eastern, it may be hard to imagine that she originally only planned to stay for a year.

“I’d worked in the Chicago suburban schools as a speech pathologist, and I thought I would just go back there and go back to being a speech pathologist,” Nilsen said. “I never saw myself staying at Eastern for over 33 years.”

It wasn’t just the university that kept her here, though.

“One of the factors that changed was that during that first year here I met a professor in zoology who has now been my husband for 31 years,” Nilsen said. “I met and married my husband, Hank. About the same time that we met, I was asked if I would continue here and I made the decision to stay.”

The Nilsens and their two sons, Chris, 24, and Jeff, 22, have made Charleston their home.

“Our plan is to stay in the area,” she said. “Our children are not yet settled in any one place, so this is home. I love being near a university and taking advantage of all the activities that happen on campus. We love our home, all of our friends are here.”

In retirement, Nilsen plans to travel and golf, but she won’t lose focus on adding meaning to her life’s dash.

“I do want to give back to the community in meaningful ways,” Nilsen said. “There’s so many organizations in the area that need help, through their boards or through other support services. If I can help those organizations, I want to make that happen through volunteering. Children always need support, so I’d help in the schools.”

Her presence on campus won’t disappear, either.

“I see great things happening for Eastern, and I’ll be here, applauding and clapping and cheering on this university,” Nilsen said. “It has been nothing but wonderful to me for these 33 years, and I am so grateful to all the opportunities that this school has provided to my family and me. I couldn’t be luckier than to work with these wonderful faculty, staff and students. I’m going to miss it.”

Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7492 or at seruholl2@eiu.edu.

Dr. Jill Nilsen, vice president of external relations will retire on Dec. 31 after a long career at Eastern. (Chelsea Grady/The Daily Eastern News)

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