The all-day New Faculty Orientation helped to ease the transition of 39 new faculty members to the Eastern community Wednesday.

Seth Killen, an instructor of voice and the director of musical theater/opera, is one of the 39 new faculty members.

Killen said he received great information about all the services Eastern has for students and all the ways the school supports faculty.

“At the New Faculty Orientation we met with most of the administration of Eastern and with the colleagues that we will be working with,” Killen said. “They made us feel extremely welcomed and they seemed like they were very happy to have us here.”

Krishna Thomas, assistant director of faculty development, said she hoped the new faculty walked away from the New Faculty Orientation understanding two key concepts.

“I think that, really, the key point is that we are a student-centered campus culture,” Thomas said. “Another integral component is, as faculty members, we are here to support the faculty in teaching, research service and other aspects.”

During the “Student Focus” session of the orientation, a panel of speakers talked about different resources and support opportunities for faculty.

The panel included Dagni Bredesen, interim director of Faculty Development; Kim Moock, director of New Student Programs; Mona Davenport, director of Minority Affairs; Kevin Vicker, interim director of the International Students and Scholars, and Cindy Boyer, director of the Student Success Center.

Bredesen said a big focus of the orientation was to help the new faculty members support students in reaching their goals.

Kirstin Duffin, a Booth Library reference librarian and a new addition to the library staff, said she thought Moock’s presentation of the “EIU Student Profile” stood out to her the most.

“We were given a profile of incoming students, and it included where they are coming from and what their background was,” Duffin said. “That was definitely a highlight at the orientation and it was nice to get the context of who is taking classes here.”

Thomas said she thinks the first semester for new faculty can be very overwhelming, but she hopes they remember one thing.

“What I would like for them to know is that in the Faculty Development office we are here to support them and we have a network of faculty on campus who are interested in seeing each other succeed,” Thomas said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.