Eastern’s board of trustees gathered in Doudna’s Dvorak Concert Hall for its final meeting of the year.  

The board unanimously approved two purchases, increased funding for three campus projects as well as set aside money for three new projects. It also approved a new major and granted an honorary degree. 

Purchases and reserve account restructures  

The board unanimously approved a purchase to upgrade the university’s fleet of work vehicles. The purchases are not to exceed $500,000.  

The university has about 20 vehicles, most of which are in poor condition, according to Eastern’s Vice President of Business Affairs Matt Bierman. 

“We’re trying to get creative about it,” Bierman said. “We’re going to go and ask car dealers across the Midwest who might have inventory that they could sell us. We might purchase two, we might purchase eight. We just don’t know depending on the pricing that comes back.” 

The vehicles are used for the tradespeople on campus. Some have worn down engines, some have worn down bodies and some have other problems, according to Bierman. 

The board also unanimously approved a $272,518 purchase of two controllers for Eastern’s building automation systems. The controllers will be put in Old Main and the Textbook Rental Service. 

The controllers allow the university to communicate with the heating and cooling systems of each campus building. Eastern can control individual building temperature and find issues in an off-site, centralized location, according to Bierman. 

“That system is old, and it needs to be replaced in most of our buildings,” he said. 

The university pulls from reserve accounts to complete projects on campus. Every year, the board sets aside money for these accounts. It makes the administration of campus projects easier, according to Bierman. The university can only restructure these reserve accounts during board meetings. 

Here are the changes: 

• $350,000 was added to an account for repairs at O’Brien Stadium. Bierman said there is painting that needs to be done and concrete issues that need to be fixed. 

• $200,000 was added to an account to fix Booth Library’s roof and brick exterior. Bierman said Booth has “lots of leaks.” 

• $200,000 was added to an account to purchase the controllers for the building automation system discussed above. 

• $250,000 was granted to a new fund to replace the north facing doors in Booth Library, which have been out of commission since last year. Bierman said the university has been trying to get them replaced for a long time, but because they want to keep the building’s historic appearance, he said it’s been a mess. 

• $100,000 was put into a new fund to repair windows in the Gail & Richard Lumpkin School of Nursing on Ninth Street. 

• $300,000 was set aside in a new account for general sidewalk repairs. 

The board reported that the demolition of the smokestack on the building across from Blair Hall cost $495,924. 

New degree program 

The creation of a Bachelor of Social Work was approved unanimously by the board. 

“There are multiple departments that contribute to this degree plan,” Eastern’s Provost Ryan Hendrickson said. “Political science, for example, you take all of your classes in the political science department to get the major; same with psychology. In this degree program, you could take from multiple departments to piece together the program such that you could graduate with a bachelor’s in social work.” 

The program offers foundational classes in social work, but students will also choose between several elective areas to specialize their degree. They can study addictions, gerontology—the study of aging, child welfare, policy and advocacy, criminology or health and nutrition, according to the board’s proposal. 

The program aims to prepare students for work as an Illinois Licensed Social Worker and an Illinois Licensed Clinical Social Worker. 

Fiscal year 2024 degrees report 

Easterns 2024 fiscal year ran from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. The board presented a report on degrees awarded by the university in that timeframe. 

Eastern awarded 2,372 degrees; 1,101 bachelor’s degrees were awarded, alongside 375 post-bachelor’s certificates, 867 master’s degrees and 29 specialist degrees. 

The board report noted that the 2024 numbers are similar to the 2023 numbers. Eastern awarded 2,426 degrees for that fiscal year. 

Of the 1,101 bachelor’s degrees awarded, the top five were: 

• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (95) 

• Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (72) 

• Bachelor of Science and Education in Elementary Education (51) 

• Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences (51) 

• Bachelor of Science in Organizational Development (45) 

Of the 857 master’s degrees awarded, the top five were: 

• Master of Science in Technology (342) 

• Master of Science and Education in Curriculum/Instruction (44) 

• Master of Art in Art (42) 

• Master of Science and Education in Educational Leadership (41) 

• Master of Business Administration (41) 

Minority students received 457 degrees, which was 19% of the total degrees awarded, according to the board. 

Robert Flider is awarded an honorary degree 

Robert Flider graduated from Eastern in 1979 with a bachelor’s in journalism. He would go on to work at the Mattoon Journal Gazette/Charleston Times-Courier. 

Flider shifted his career to politics shortly after graduating. He served 16 years as the director of regulatory and government affairs for Illinois power—now Ameren.  

He was also the mayor of Mount Zion, Illinois, for 12 years before becoming the director of the department of agriculture under Gov. Pat Quinn from 2013 to 2015. 

Flider was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Public Service. 

Aidan Cusack can be reached at 581-2812 or at atcusack@eiu.edu.