Three candidates will interview for the director of New Student and Family Programs position this week and next week.

During their time on campus, candidates will have multiple interviews, including open ones and some with the student affairs director, interim vice president for student affairs Lynette Drake and the position’s search committee.

Tanya Willard, the first candidate, will have a campus open interview session from 10:40 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. Monday in the Arcola/Tuscola room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Willard is currently a doctoral associate in the department of educational leadership at Miami University.

According to her résumé, part of her responsibilities are to support professors teaching Educational Leadership 204, a class required for all teacher education majors, by providing “additional teaching resources and suggestions for improvement.”

Willard received her bachelor’s from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, her master’s from Georgia State and her doctorate’s from Miami University.

Justin Tierney, currently an admissions counselor at Eastern, is set to have his open on-campus interview from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Thursday, also in the Arcola/Tuscola room.

Tierney is in charge of recruiting prospective students from the central Illinois area and has served on several committees in admissions, one of which reviewed Eastern’s admissions standards.

He got his associate’s at Lincoln College, his bachelor’s from Elmhurst College and a master’s degree from Illinois State University.

The third candidate, Lisa Shelton, is currently the director of New Student Admissions at Lake Land College, where she oversees the “development and implementation of all activities relative to the recruitment and admission of traditional, adult or non-traditional and international students,” according to her résumé.

Shelton is an Eastern alumna, graduating with her bachelor’s in speech communication with a minor in English. Shelton got her master’s from Gonzaga University in Washington.

Shelton’s on-campus interview will be from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Monday, Dec. 4 in the Arcola/Tuscola room.

The former director of New Student and Family Programs, Kimberlie Moock, left Eastern in July to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she is studying higher education and integrative leadership.

Moock held the position for 16 years.

According to a previous article in The Daily Eastern News, about 100 undergraduate students participate in the Office of New Student and Family Programs in some capacity every year, including graduate assistants, with a core staff of 25 students who help during the year.

The director “provides university-wide leadership in the development and implementation of programs and services for new students and their families,” according to the Office of New Student and Family Programs’ website.

The office serves around 2,000 students, as well as new and continuing family members, with the director serving “as a communication link between other campus services and programs for new students.”

Those who attended the open interviews can go to https://www.eiu.edu/nsfpdirector/ to access a link for an evaluation form.

The evaluation form link will become available on the day of the interview and remain active until noon Tuesday, Dec. 5. 

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].