Nominations for the Faculty Laureate will be different this spring as the Council on Academic Affairs approved multiple revisions to the nominations process at its meeting Thursday in Booth Library.

Candidates will only be required to submit one letter of recommendation instead of three to be eligible for the award. The letter should be no more than one page long and should highlight that person’s contributions to general education at Eastern.

The letter of recommendation can now come from anyone familiar with the candidate’s contributions to general education in addition to the traditional fellow faculty member or administrator who has observed the nominee.

Student evaluations are now only required from four semesters of work in the faculty member’s last three years of work at Eastern. Supporting documents that highlight other ways the nominee has supported general education at Eastern may also now be accepted. A list of general education courses taught over the last three years is no longer required either.

The CAA also approved a program change in Health Administration, which will reduce the number of required hours and increase the number of elective hours offered in the program.

Human Physiology will no longer be a required course, and Research Methods II will be switched to an elective.

The purpose of these changes was to allow students to customize the program better for their career goals.

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or jpbullock@eiu.edu.