EIU Media Relations

First-of-its-Kind Faculty Symposium Takes Place at EIU

Eastern Illinois University, in conjunction with Lake Land College and Parkland College, sponsored its first Faculty Symposium for community college and Eastern faculty today.

The symposium allowed faculty members from community colleges to join their colleagues from Eastern in discussing topics of interest related to their academic disciplines and improving the academic experience for transfer students.

The symposium's program and agenda were jointly planned by representatives from four academic disciplines at Eastern, and by Scott Lensink and Tom Ramage, chief academic affairs officers from Lake Land and Parkland colleges.

Jane Wayland, chair of Eastern's School of Business, and her colleagues planned a program that identified methods to foster professional and academic development for the community college transfer student, including helping students to meet the challenges of transferring to EIU.

The Department of Communications Studies, under the guidance of its chair, Mark Borzi, conducted sessions to foster closer working relationships between community college and EIU faculty by exploring issues common to both faculty groups.

The Department of Psychology, with leadership from its chair, William Addision, explored strategies for enhancing communication among faculties from psychology programs at EIU and community colleges.

Eastern's College of Education and Professional Studies, with the assistance of Jeff Duck, academic advisor, involved participants in discussing the implementation of the electronic portfolio and identifying different teaching standards as they apply to the transfer of specific courses.

Approximately 50 community college faculty members representing 10 Illinois community college districts attended the meeting. Those colleges included Danville Area Community College, Joliet Junior College, Kaskaskia College, Lake Land College, Lincoln Land Community College, Moraine Valley Community College, Olney Central College, Parkland College, Prairie State College and Southwestern Illinois College.