Jeff Cooley, interim vice president for business affairs, will participate in on-campus interviews today in attempts to solidify the position he has held in an acting capacity for almost two years

“We want as much feedback as we can get because the viewpoint of the campus is very important to the search committee,” said Ebrahim Karbassioon, chair of the vice president for business affairs search committee.

Karbassioon said faculty and students are welcome to attend a session that will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the 1895 Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, or they can attend the latter session from 7 to 8 p.m., also in the 1895 Room.

Before Cooley was appointed by Eastern President Carol Surles to fill the position in the interim, he served Eastern as assistant vice president for business affairs and previous to that Cooley was the director of internal auditing at Eastern.

In total Cooley, an Eastern alumni, has had an 18-year career as an Eastern administrator in the business affairs area.

After graduating from Eastern with a bachelors of science degree in 1979, Cooley worked as a senior accountant in Taylorville for four years.

Aside from possessing a bachelor’s degree, Cooley has been certified as a public accountant, fraud examiner and internal auditor.

Two candidates for the position have visited Eastern for interviews already and two more are scheduled to be on campus within the next week.

Harry Schuckel, vice president for budget, planning and information technology at Montclair State University in New Jersey, will be on campus Monday.

Dave Simpson, vice president for business and community relations at the University of the South in Tennessee, will be on campus on Wednesday.

After the on-campus interviews of the candidates have been completed, the search committee will convene and send forth recommendations to Surles, who will make the final decision.