In an open session meeting, the final candidate for dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies addressed questions from faculty including how to bridge the gap between academic departments.

Jo-Anne Evans Coleman, vice president for academic and student affairs of Northwestern Health Services University in Bloomington, Minn., visited Eastern Tuesday and Wednesday to interview for the position.

“There needs to be an open dialogue among the constituencies that have issues. I don’t mind being a facilitator of that dialogue,” said Coleman.

Eastern’s teacher training program initially tempted Coleman with the idea of leaving her home state of Minnesota, which she has resided in for the past 25 years before coming to Illinois.

“One, it has a constructable model for its teacher training program,which is in my assessment one of the top three in the country, which lends itself for expansion from common space to college. Secondly, my daughter has applied to be a student here and we have a pact whoever leaves Minnesota first will follow,” said Coleman.

After having a chance to tour Eastern and speak with faculty, Coleman sees a need to work on faculty relations.

“One thing for sure is the need for relationship building. There’s too much to work on in a campus this size, which certainly is a flagship college with educational and professional studies. It starts here with tight discipline and cooperation within departments to break down the us vs. them mentality,” said Coleman.

Three other candidates have already interviewed for the position earlier this month. The first was Barbara Livingston Nourie, associate dean for teacher education at Illinois State University who visited on April 7 to 9.

David England, dean of the College of Education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, interviewed from April 15 to 17.

Charles Rohn, chair and associate professor for the department of educational administration at Eastern, interviewed from April 21 to 23.