PANTHERS CONTINUE IN OVC
SOFTBALL COMEBACK
The women’s tennis team lost their Friday game to Eastern Kentucky.
The softball team won three of the four games against Belmont and Tennessee State.
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D aily E astern N ews
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” Monday , March 27, 2017 C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE E S T . 1 915
VOL. 101 | NO. 123 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Student body president candidates talk goals
It’s Lit
By Emmanuel Ayiku Contributing Reporter @DEN_News
OLIVIA SWENSON-HULTZ | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Brooke Szweda, a senior art major practices torching in the Doudna Fine Arts Center art studio practice room. “Learning metal smithing has been a very rewarding process,” Szweda said.
Bakken announced as 2nd provost candidate By Chrissy Miller Administration Reporter| @DEN_News The second provost candidate has been announced on Eastern’s website as Jeffrey Bakken, currently the associate provost for research and dean of the graduate school at Bradley University. Bakken is staying until Wednesday t o g o t h ro u g h t h e o n - c a m p u s interview process. An open forum for students to ask Bakken questions will be from 1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. Tuesday in the Arcola/ Tuscola room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The
faculty forum will be directly after from 2 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. in the same place. An open session for the staff and staff senate will be from 11:05 p.m. to 11:50 p.m. Wednesday in the Arcola/Tuscola room. Bakken was an associate professor in the department of specialized educational development at Illinois State University from Aug. 1999 to July 2004. From 2004 to 2012, he served as a full-tenured professor at Illinois State. He became the interim chair of the department of special education at Illinois State in July 2007 and continued in that position until
Dec. 31, 2008. He then became the official chair of that department from Jan. 1, 2009 to Aug. 16, 2011. In 2011, he served as interim associate dean for research, graduate studies and international education in Illinois State’s College of Education. In 2012 he was relocated to Bradley University, where he served as the dean of the graduate school and sponsored research for a year. In 2013, he became associate provost for research and dean of the graduate school at Bradley. In his current position, he helped increase Bradley University’s graduate enrollment from 578 students in
2012 to 1113 students this past fall. He also helped raise the international graduate population from 118 in 2012 to over 400 currently. According to his resume, in his past position as interim dean at Illinois State University, Bakken was able to approve all grant proposals when the dean was off-campus and unable to do so. He was also in charge of analyzing all graduate programs in the college, deciding if these programs should grow, be reduced or be deleted. Chrissy Miller can be reached at 5812812 or clmiller9@eiu.edu.
Proposal combining the Gateway Program, Academic Advising services to be considered By Cassie Buchman News Editor | @cjbuchman A proposal to combine some of the advising services provided by the Academic Advising Center on Ninth Street Hall and the Gateway program is currently being evaluated at Eastern. Mona Davenport, director of minority affairs, said these organizational changes are still in the infancy stage. Even if they were to go into effect, she said, the Gateway program would still
continue to exist. “We still have Gateway students coming in, and we will continue to have the Gateway program,” she said. In an emailed statement, Provost Blair Lord said the proposal for this reorganization is simply being discussed. If it were to go through, he said, there is a contractual process that would need to be followed. “With the lower staffing levels across the university, we are always looking for the most efficient ways of deploying our
staff resources,” Lord said. The proposed reorganization combine Gateway office’s academic advisers and advisers under the Center for Academic Support and Assessment, Davenport said. The program, housed in Minority Affairs, would potentially move to the Academic Advising Center in Ninth Street Hall. Gateway advisers would keep their positions. Currently, Gateway advisers advise Gateway students and advisers in Ninth Street Hall only advise new or undeclared
standard admits.** With the proposal, students would be taken care of by all the advisers. Before, there were two separate offices, Davenport said. “What we’re doing is putting the office together.” Gateway students get some opportunities other students do not, Davenport said, including the chance for more intrusive advisement and workshops on timemanagement and test-taking skills.
Gateway, page 3
Students will have the chance to vote for the next student body president Monday and Tuesday. An email will be sent to each students’ panthermail address, a l l ow i n g t h e m t o vo t e a l l t h e student government’s executive board positions. Speaker of the Senate Felicia Wagner, student vice president of academic affairs Luke Young and Jonathan Williams, a graduate student studying political science, are the candidates running for student body president. Wagner has been in student government since the spring of 2016. She said she wants to make a difference by increasing student recruitment and retention at Eastern, with academic initiatives and by continuing the “It’s on Us” campaign, which raises awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. She plans on increasing recruitment and retention by going to high schools from many areas to talk to students about Eastern. As president, Wagner said she wants to bring hands-on learning into the classroom by reaching out to Human Resources and faculty members. “That is how I learned and I know that many other students learn that way as well,” she said. To increase campus unity, she would have a pep rally during midterms instead of just once during the school year. Wagner said the way to make student government more visible to students is by getting its logo out there and having the senate talk to students. Student Vice President of Ac a d e m i c A f f a i r s L u k e Yo u n g has been involved in student government for two and a half years. “I am running for president b e c a u s e I h a ve b e e n a p a r t o f (student government) for a long time and I love it,” Young said. “I also have ideas that will benefit Eastern now and also in the future.” Yo u n g s a i d h e w o u l d s o l v e problems that are stopping students from coming to Eastern. He wants to make programs on campus sustainable so when students leave, their ideas will remain and others will build on that foundation.
Elections, page 5