The final candidate for the dean of Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, said increasing faculty unity is one of the goals she would strive toward at Eastern.

Several business and family and consumer science teachers attended the open meeting in the Martinsville Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union to hear Geralyn McClure Franklin’s plans for Eastern if offered the position.

Franklin is currently dean of the School of Business and a professor of management at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa.

She began the meeting with a brief review of her past job experiences and why she chose to explore the opportunities offered at Eastern.

“Stephen F. Austin State University is much like EIU, as it is a traditional campus and had 12,000 students while I was there,” Franklin said of the university where she earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees and held a dean position.

Franklin said she knows several Eastern faculty members, and the university has a good reputation for its business school.

The cause of one of the problems she sees with the faculty not have grown together is the setup of the facilities that house the business and family consumer sciences departments, Franklin said.

“I believe it is better for both of these components to combine as one unit, as they are stronger when it comes to representation,” Franklin said.

Franklin said although her background is mainly business, she will not favor business over family and consumer sciences.

She said she hopes to disengage those senior professors who are ready for retirement if it is best for the university.

“The systems are different here than how they are at my school, but we offer incentives to senior faculty members who are ready to disengage,” Franklin said.

A concern for Franklin if she were to become the dean is the faculty and university administration have slightly unusual expectations of each other.

“I’m not sure that the expectations that the faculty and administration have are realistic, or that a dean could successfully complete these expectations,” Franklin said.

Franklin said one of her greatest challenges will be becoming more familiar with the other disciplines, as she is more experienced in business aspects.

“I’m going to have to learn about these other areas, the people that are involved and what exactly they do,” Franklin said.

Franklin was the last of four candidates to interview for the open dean position. The search committee will now convene and decide on its recommendation, which will be forwarded to Blair Lord, vice president for academic affairs.