Current university budget problems may place restrictions on the Faculty Senate’s desire to create an office of faculty development, Blair Lord, vice president for academic affairs, said Wednesday.

On March 19, the Faculty Senate passed a recommendation to create a faculty development committee to help develop an opportunity for faculty to further their skills in teaching, research and service. The senate also suggested that Lord appoint a development coordinator to organize programming, maintain a Web site, and solicit funding for an office of faculty development.

The project is in a very early stage of development, Lord said, and the first step will be to acquire funding, which will come from the university’s base operating budget and any external funding that the committee may acquire through grants.

“Facing the budget we’re facing now, we will not be able to set aside a lot of funding,” Lord said.

Currently, Eastern is looking at a decrease in state funding from what it received last fiscal year.

Lord said once the committee is formed it will need to take a look at what it can do with the limited funding.

“There is a broad array of things we could do,” Lord said, “but there are some things that would cost some major chunks of money.

“If this committee proposes some act that needed additional staff and new staff salaries, it would be very difficult to pass.”

The senate has not yet given a direction that the development committee will take, Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, said Friday, so it is unsure how much the endeavor would cost the university.

“We really haven’t been approached with any specific direction,” he said, explaining the cost of the plan. “It all depends on the nature of the facility.”

The committee has not yet been formed, and Lord expects it to be established by the end of the spring semester.

Faculty Senate Chair Bud Fisher, associate biology professor, wasn’t sure if that deadline would be feasible.

“I don’t know if that will be possible,” he said.

Fischer also said Lord has asked the Faculty Senate “to put out a call to faculty that are interested in serving on the committee.”

The committee will be made up of 12 members, Fischer said. Each college will have two representatives, and the Faculty Senate will choose a representative from the library.

The Council of Deans, The Council of Chairs and Lord will each appoint a representative to serve on the committee.