The Council on Academic Affairs will consider new officers to fill vacant positions during its meeting Thursday.

Stephen Lucas recently resigned his position as CAA chair after four years of participation in the council.

He said his resignation was due to professional reasons.

“I need to focus on my department,” Lucas said.

In the previous CAA meeting, Stephen Lucas proposed a new committee for general education courses to help regulate the program.

Vice chair Stacey Ruholl said the council’s priority is to find a new chair before any decisions are made on the proposed committee.

Lucas said he hopes initiatives will be taken in regards to his proposal.

“I hope they take it into consideration and adopt a plan that will engage the campus community,” Lucas said.

Ruholl said the council has contacted the faculty senate to help with the process.

Faculty senate chair Grant Sterling said the CAA chair position will be added to the list of other positions currently open for other committees in the fall election.

Sterling said the faculty senate is in charge of conducting the election.

“We put the ballot together, make arrangements so people can vote, and make sure people that are in a ballot are eligible for the position,” Sterling said.

He said elections for positions are normally in the spring; however, a special election will be done in the fall to fill vacancies.

“There is no specific date for fall special election, but we try to get it done as reasonably as possible” Sterling said.

In emergency cases someone is appointed to fill the position temporarily until the day of elections, he said.

The process of electing a new chair is then passed on to CAA members.

“Once the election is done, CAA will elect their new chair,” Ruholl said.

CAA will also have a program review presentation from the physics department.

The presentation will give feedback on initiatives taken and planned for the physics program.

CAA will have a study session at 2 p.m. Thursday and will begin their meeting at 3 p.m. in the Library Conference Room 4440.

Debby Hernandez can be reached at 5812812 or dhernandez5@eiu.edu