Friday, August 25, 2006 11:39 PM CDT
EIU’s Hencken retiring
University president to step down in 2007 at end of his contract
By KATE HENDERSON, Staff Writer
khenderson@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- After 41 years at Eastern Illinois University, the last six as president, Louis V. Hencken has announced he will retire next year.
“I have always been told that ‘to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens’ and I firmly believe that there is a natural rhythm to academic institutions like this one -- a time to begin and a time to end,” he said Friday during a special meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees.
Hencken’s current contract expires June 30, 2007. He advised trustees that if needed, he would remain in office until a new president can be selected.
Hencken, 62, began his career at EIU in student affairs as a graduate assistant. He moved through the housing ranks as a counselor and both assistant and associate director before being chosen director in 1975.
In 1989, Hencken was named associate vice president for student affairs and in 1992 expanded his duties when he was named vice president for student affairs. Hencken also served as interim director of athletics (1996-1997) and is a former NCAA football official.
He said in a press conference Friday that he would have liked to stay and cut the ribbon for the renovated Doudna Fine Arts Center, but he had to take his energy level and what’s best for the university into consideration when thinking about retirement.
“Instead of people saying, ‘We sure wish Lou would’ve left last year,’ I’d rather leave and have people saying, ‘I wish he would’ve spent one more year because we know his energy level is still here,’” Hencken said.
The president said he’d been considering retirement for the past 10 years.
“The board was really hoping to hear that Mr. Hencken had decided to continue to serve as president, but while we are sorry to see him go, we respect his decision to do so,” said Leo Welch, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
“You are a living example; you are EIU,” said Don Yost, board member, referring to the university’s “I am EIU” slogan.
Welch said the next step will be to contact the appropriate search firms. He said letters will be sent on Monday. The structure for the Presidential Search Committee will be announced at the Sept. 8 board meeting in the university union’s Grand Ballroom.
“This, of course, represents a transition in this institution,” said Welch. “I am confident that this process will be transparent and thorough, and I am also confident that we will be able to select the appropriate president for this institution.”
Welch said board members know what they’re looking for in the next president.
“Eastern has established and continues to establish an institution of high academic quality,” he said. “We do indeed expect that that particular type of situation remains so, so we want leadership certainly in that area.”
And what will Hencken do with his retirement? He said he plans to spend it teaching part-time for the university (a provision built in to his contract), traveling and spending time with his family.
In other business the board:
-- Approved an agreement for design services with Cannon Design based out of Chicago, for furniture, fixtures and equipment at the Doudna Fine Arts Center. The cost is $450,000, including $18,000 for reimbursable expenses and $40,950 for contingencies.
-- Approved a 3 percent, across-the-board wage increase effective July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, for Teamsters Local 26, representing 15 employees. The estimated cost of the increase is $15,350 for Fiscal Year 2007.
-- Approved a successor labor agreement that members of the AFSCME Local 981 Clerical Unit, representing 151 employees, will receive a 3 percent, across-the-board increase effective July 1, 2008. In addition, bargaining unit members who are under the market rate of compensation for their classification will receive a parity wage increase. The amount of money available for parity increases would be $90,000 each year of the agreement.
-- Approved the extension of Diane Hoadley’s contract through June 30, 2009, to serve as the dean for the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences.
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CLICK TO ENLARGE
 Stephen Haas (JG/T-C)
With the portraits of past presidents on the wall behind him, Eastern Illinois University President Lou Hencken, left, talks with Leo Welch, chairman of the university Board of Trustees, after a news conference announcing Hencken's retirement at the end of the 2006-2007 school year Friday in the 1895 Room of the Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union on the school's campus.
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