PANTHERS PICKED
SOCCER WINS The women’s soccer team picked up their first win Friday in a 2-1 victory over Chicago State University. PAGE 8
Three students were picked to carry on the “Billy the Panther” mascot legacy.
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016 “TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE E S T . 1 915
Faculty Senate aims to fill open positions
VOL. 101 | NO. 12 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Labor day rituals
By Samuel Nusbaum Administration Reporter | @DEN_newsdesk Faculty Senate will meet Tuesday in their second meeting of the academic year. The last time they met was Tuesday, Aug. 23. The members discussed topics such as revisions for the council on university planning and budgeting need or CUPB and the open committee spots to be filled. Additionally, they talked with Provost Blair Lord about a document that looks at the profits and losses for each department. Faculty Senate Chair, Dr. Jemmie Robertson, and member, Dr. Teshome Abebe, both talked about the Faculty Senate’s work with the CUPB that took place over the summer. The CUPB and Faculty Senate met a few of times over the summer to discuss how to make the CUPB work more effectively. The CUPB and Faculty Senate both had concerns as to how the CUPB was operating, and both decided to focus more on making the CUPB more effective rather than changing bylaws. Another topic the Faculty Senate covered in their first meeting was trying to fill vacant committee positions. Dr. Jeffrey Stowell, a psychology professor, gave a report saying three positions need to be filled on various committees. He listed the positions on each committee and the criteria each candidate has to meet to be eligible to apply for the vacant positions. The last major topic Faculty Senate talked about came up during Lord’s report. History professor and senate member Dr. Bailey Young asked Lord about a rumored sheet that has been floating around campus regarding losses and profits for each department. “It has come to my attention that there is a document circulating that calculates profits and losses for each department. Can you provide details about this?” Young asked. Provost Lord confirmed the document exists and is used to analyze growth in programs, but it is in the draft phase and will not be in circulation for some time because Provost Lord will have to talk to President Glassman about them. The senate also talked briefly about the student enrollment numbers, and how it affects the hiring of faculty and financial concerns. Provost Lord said to the senate that numbers are low but not as low as previously expected; so the school could not bring on many more professors. One senator brought up that professors do not have the same amount of resources they used to and the goals they are expected to meet have not been changed to match the amount of resources the professors have to work with. Samuel Nusbaum can be reached at 581-2812 or scnusbaum@eiu.edu
MOLLY DOTSON| THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Tristan and Logan Williams, boy scouts in troop 141, take down the flags their troop put up earlier in the morning along Lincoln Avenue in observance of Labor Day. Their troop leader, Joe Williams, who is also a psychology professor, said this organization does this for every major holiday.
Professor is planted with recognition By Angelica Cataldo Entertainment Reporter | @DEN_News Not many people can say that a newly discovered species of plant is named after them, but it can be said about botanist and long-time Eastern professor, Dr. Gordon Tucker. Fimbristylis tuckeri, a newly discovered species of the sedge family, was found in the Western Ghats, a mountain range on the coast of the Indian Peninsula. Tucker worked with the botanists in India remotely through email, sending pictures and data of the plant specimens being collected. After receiving help from Tucker, they named the plant after him. The editor of the Kew Bulletin, an international journal for botany studies, and a friend of Tucker’s were the ones who broke the news to Tucker. “It really made my day and I was really excited about it,” Tucker said. “I felt honored and flattered at the same time. It was nice to have some recognition.” Since the 1970s, Tucker has been a professional botanist and has published papers and monographs detailing his study as a vascular plant systematist specializing in sedges. The sedge family contains more than 5,500 species, closely resembling grasses and rushes and is highly common in both Asia and South America. Throughout his career, Tucker has worked with other botanists from Korea, India, China and Illinois. He has also traveled around the world to study Botany in places such as China, Brazil, Mexico and Nepal.
ANGELIC A C ATALDO | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Gordon Tucker, a biology professor, examines samples he had on file in his office. Indian botanists named a plant species after Tucker because of his contribution to their work.
He has had the honor of, not only discovering new species of plants, but also naming them. He said he has named plants after professors and other scientists he worked with. Tucker was not the first Eastern instructor to have a plant species named after him. John Ebinger, a retired professor, had the Elymus ebingeri named after him in 1997.
In 1996, Tucker became a professor in the department of biological sciences and succeeded Ebinger as the curator of the Stover-Ebinger Herbarium.
Plant, page 5