New developments with the Illinois Board of Higher Education were brought forward to the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday.

Les Hyder, a journalism professor and Eastern’s Faculty Advisory Committee representative, said the government appointed a retired professor to the Faculty Advisory Committee, despite confusion at the last IBHE meeting.

Prior to the IBHE meeting, there was a caucus to select new representatives from public universities, community colleges and private universities, Hyder said.

“We’re putting these issues there on the table,” he said. “We make no position statements, but we want comments.”

IBHE does not think furloughs are a good idea and resists them, Hyder added.

“Furloughs should only be used as a very last resort,” he said.

Hyder said that the faculty is an important part in evaluating the institution and balance the available resources with needs.

“I do not perceive that as a problem with Eastern,” Hyder said. “It is a big concern for several of the other institutions especially community colleges, but some other public universities, too.”

IBHE recommends performance-based funding and additional completion incentives for high quality degrees in certain fields, such as math and science, Hyder added.

Michael Hoadley, assistant vice president of academic affairs for technology, revealed that the Center for Academic Technology Support launched iTunes U Tuesday. iTunes U is a subcategory of iTunes where universities across the country can launch podcasts and other resources for students, Hoadley said. Although the idea has been around for sometime, it has only recently been a reality.

“We went live this morning, so it’s out there now,” Hoadley said.

He added that Eastern is one of the only universities to include captioning for their podcast resources.

He also included information about the new web office located in McAfee Gym, stressing that the presence of Eastern on the web is important.

The need to accommodate the growing demand for the CATS is also an issue to be addressed, Hoadley said.

“CATS grew out of response by the faculty in 1998,” Hoadley said. “It needed to be an academic technology center to complement the Information Technology Services.”

Derek Markley, special assistant to the president, was originally scheduled to speak about cost containment options, but was unable to attend due to family illness.

Jacob Swanson can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected]