Even with the Fall semester well under way and the family weekend performance behind him, the chairman of the University Board, still said he is still flooded with work to do for the semester

“Homecoming is coming up, and I’m swamped” Darius Francis, a senior communications major, said.

Along with his many responsibilities during homecoming, he also has to deal with the everyday work involving UB, as well as his other job as the of Greek Court Housing senior staff assistant.

He in his Greek role, he has to help make sure Greek Court buildings keep running. He said he helps run the Kappa Delta House.

“Between that and (UB), getting a job, and graduating, it can be hard to balance it all” he said.

Starting out as the Cultural Arts coordinator, he learned he really enjoyed planning programs and new events for students pertaining to the cultural arts. After being on the board for two years, he decided to apply to become the chairman.

As the UB chairman, Francis said he “spends a significant amount of time each week meeting with coordinators,” and going to board events.

He usually has up to eight to 10 meetings a week dealing with UB matters as well as a general board meeting every Tuesday.

“In a typical day, the first thing I do is check my emails, follow up (on the emails) with logistical things” Francis said.

Some of these logistical things include dealing with the budgets of the UB, student government, and the student recreation center. Francis has to look at the new budget and see where the money is coming from.

Francis is also a peer advisor, supervising events such as Homecoming and Main Stage. He works on marketing, planning and executing these events so they will be successful.

He has to deal with reporters and various organizations as well as meeting with the director of student life with any requests they have for UB as a whole.

All of these requests come through Francis as chairman.

When an event like Homecoming comes up, he does work such as sending out advertising information, and making sure it comes out “in a reasonable amount of time, as well as technological things (he has) to attend to.”

While one of the hardest things about his job can be keeping his life balanced with all the obligations he has to do, keeping up with all of these assignments is also what he said was one of his favorite parts of being the chairman of UB.

“The work is fast paced, and there is always something new and plenty to do” he said. “I try my best to accommodate all of the coordinators and students, and it’s hard because everyone is different and I need to coordinate things based on those differences”.

Learning to coordinate these differences and being on UB have helped him with many aspects of his life, he added.

“(Through University Board), I have figured out what I want to do with my life. This is where I got my start, and figured out my love and passion for events,” he said.

He said working in this role has taught him professionalism and helped him grow as a professional in general.

“I can bring this into the workplace, I know how to regulate, balance a budget,” Francis said. “These are all things I can carry out of Eastern.”

Francis said being on UB was “even better than a class.”

Although being UB chairman can be a time-consuming job, Francis said it is rewarding.

“When we have successful events and happy coordinators and I’m happy, it’s great,” he said. “It has been three years of my life, which have been a good three years.”

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or cjbuchman@eiu.edu