With a new year rolling in, Eastern’s Faculty Senate has overarching themes that will continue to play an important role in meetings throughout the next semester.

Its meeting on Tuesday will include a discussion with Joshua Awalt, the interim associate vice president for Information Technology Services, who will update the senate on technology.

Future guests of the senate will include Stacey Ruholl, chair of the Council on Academic Affairs and a kinesiology and sports studies professor, at its Jan. 23 meeting. Music professor Danelle Larson, who is also the chair of the Council on Teacher Education, will be at the March 6 meeting.

Last semester, the Faculty Senate had just started to discuss the hierarchy of the faculty-led organizations, such as the Council on Academic Affairs and the senate itself.

According to its bylaws, the Faculty Senate has power over the other organizations and can keep tabs on what they accomplish and discuss.

At the end of the fall semester, the senate updated its website to include all other organizations’ agendas on it and invited the chairs of the other organizations to come to a senate meeting and update those present on what has been happening.

The senate said it had the goal of going deeper than just the sent-out agendas and minutes it receives.

Earlier this year, the senate also recommended a naming committee be staffed to review a possible name change for Douglas Hall.

When Eastern President David Glassman visited the Faculty Senate on Nov. 14 of last year, he said he was still doing research on whether to take the senate’s recommendations or not, and how to implement those recommendations.

The president has not yet officially stated his decision on the matter.

The senate was also responsible for staffing the Workgroup Review Committee, which was tasked with evaluating the recommendations Workgroups no. 8 and 9 made during the vitalization project.

This committee has been meeting every Friday since October.

Its final recommendations are due to Provost Jay Gatrell on Jan. 15.

Brooke Schwartz can be reached at 581-2820 or at bsschwartz@eiu.edu.