The third of four candidates being interviewed on campus for the position of College of Sciences dean stressed the importance of teaching technology in an open session interview Thursday.

Philip Suckling, chair of the geography department at the University of Northern Iowa, said that many new university instructors have grown up in a “video era.”

“I have junior faculty in my department that don’t know what chalk is,” Suckling joked.

Suckling also discussed ways that Eastern, a more teaching-focused institution, can be more accommodating to faculty research. Before starting at UNI in 1991, Suckling worked his way up to a full professor at the University of Georgia, which emphasizes research.

To the joy of some faculty interviewers, Suckling voiced his support for conducting research without the aid of undergraduates.

“I think engaging undergraduates is wonderful stuff, but it’s more connected to the teaching mission,” he said. “In terms of research and scholarship, I don’t care what your research agenda is, really.”

When asked how he would prioritize his goals as dean, Suckling spoke on the need for input from faculty. At UNI, an institution similar in size to Eastern, each college has a Faculty Senate, rather than Eastern’s university-wide faculty senate.

Eastern was an attractive option to Suckling because of the structure of the College of Sciences – namely, that the college joins behavioral and natural sciences. Suckling’s speciality of geography spans the two fields with political geography and Suckling’s study area of physical geography and climatology.

Suckling earned his bachelor’s in geography and master’s in geography/climatology from McMaster University and his Ph.D. in geography/climatology from the University of British Columbia. Before beginning at the University of Georgia, Suckling taught at Brandon University in Manitoba.

Acting College of Sciences dean Mary Anne Hanner will be interviewed next week.