Head of Scholarly Communications and Dean of Library Services, Todd Bruns was selected the Faculty/Staff Member of the Year and has helped students find the resources they need.

Bruns has also been helpful to students that come to Booth Library for the keep, institutional repository.

“It’s an archive of various, like images and audio files and video files,” Bruns said. “We have almost 100,000 documents or file types in there. It’s pretty cool. I love it. I love doing it. I also do teach a class for the school technology as an adjunct.”

Bruns said why he came to Eastern as a faculty member and explained how Eastern’s campus influenced him.

“The reason I came here to EIU was because of the collegiality that I was seeing amongst the faculty and staff of how much they support each other, how much they work together, how much they’re there for the student,” Bruns said.

Bruns experiences at University of Wisconsin-Madison were completely different than the experience at Eastern.

“So, a big part of when you’re at a school is you sort of have to self-manage you as a student.” Bruns said. “You have to kind of be very proactive in making sure you get the right classes, making sure you get the right help getting support when you need it, versus an institution like EIU where there is a lot more very obvious and immediate help available to you.”

International students have influenced Bruns in many ways and some have made a positive difference in his life.

“I just feel that connection with them. I teach a lot of international students come here and it’s an adventure for them. It’s also challenging, right because they’re not at home,” Bruns said. “They’re not in their environment, or culture or food and their family is far away and they’re coming here to get their degree. It’s empowering to see them come here and do that, so I’ve been influenced by many of them. Just seeing them as future leaders in technology and seeing them embrace. When they get out into the field.”

Bruns mentioned a few students from other countries and explained how they influenced Bruns.

“I would say I had a student from Nigeria several years ago, who came here and was in my class, and very clearly a leader he just had amazing capabilities. He and I just knew he is going to be somebody who is going to be a leader in his future company,” Bruns said. “He had that level of skills and everything. It was just very inspiring to see him in my class. The things he would say, the very thoughtful critical analysis he would do. He was great at critical thinking. He is great at bringing up you know, particular issues.”

Bruns explained what the nomination meant for him and how much impact it has on him.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Bruns said. “I was surprised to get the email. I mean, it’s a surprise and it’s an honor. I don’t know who nominated me, but I appreciate the nomination. It means a lot to me. I hope it means that I was somebody who students identified as someone who’s making a change in a good way.”

Chandler Smith can be reached at 581-2812 or at cbsmith5@eiu.edu.