After Eastern’s search for a new president ended unsuccessfully last semester, interim President Lou Hencken signed a two-year contract extension for the position.

He will earn $173,000 annually, nearly a 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Eastern’s Board of Trustees voted to extend Hencken’s contract to June 30, 2004 after discussing contract specifics with Hencken.

Hencken said the terms of his contract are the same as last year, with the exception of the raise. Hencken’s one-year contract last academic year gave him a salary of $165,000.

According to the contract, Hencken also gets a $27,500 annual housing allowance and an automobile for business and personal use. The university is responsible for maintaining the vehicle and paying for fuel and insurance.

The university also pays for business-related entertainment at Hencken’s house in Charleston. Hencken said he hopes to entertain legislators, showing off the campus and discussing areas needing improvement.

“(Legislators) are going to realize giving money to Eastern is not a lost cause. They’re going to come here, take a look at this place and see the investment they’re putting in Illinois.”

According to the contract, Hencken also has the option to teach two courses per semester for at least three years after his contract expires, something Hencken said he specifically asked to be included.

“I don’t want to go from working 75 to 80 hours a week to working zero hours. I think it would be bad for my health,” Hencken said.

Hencken said he is uncertain as to what courses he would teach, but he said there was a possibility of teaching an administration

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of higher education course.

“I don’t think you’ll see me in a physics class or an English class,” Hencken said.

Hencken will work out the details of what he might teach with vice president of academic affairs Blair Lord when the time comes.

During his service as housing director, Hencken taught two sections of a 4000-level resident assistants’ course for eight years to help resident assistants work through any problems arising on their hall floors, such as homesickness or strange behavior from neighbors.

The dean of whichever college Hencken teaches for would determine his teaching salary.

Also, according to the contract, the board may terminate Hencken’s contract or reassign him to another administrative position “without adequate cause.”

Were Hencken to teach at Eastern, he would not immediately be offered tenure, which offers better job security, higher pay and favored benefits.

Hencken, an Eastern alumnus, has been employed at Eastern for 37 years. He served as vice president for student affairs for nine years, as well as the housing director, assistant housing director and a resident director.

He became interim president in late July 2001, when then-President Carol Surles resigned because of her battle with breast cancer.

The board sought a permanent president through a search starting last fall but ended the search at the end of the spring 2002 semester when one of the three finalists turned down the position. According to the Board of Trustees, the other two candidates were not a good fit for Eastern.

A new search will begin sometime in 2003. An exact date has not been decided.