President evaluation shows positive results, ‘some’ concerns

The final results of Eastern President Doug Whitlock's recent evaluation were revealed at a Board of Regents meeting on Jan. 17.

The electronic survey, which was conducted by Eastern's Board of Regents with help from the Pappas Consulting Group, was presented in November to evaluate Whitlock in areas such as communication, leadership and management.

According to a report from Gary Abney, chair of Eastern's Board of Regents, 211 students, 138 faculty members and 149 staff members responded to the survey.

"Two years ago, I said the evaluation was both affirming and instructive, and I feel the same way this time," Whitlock said. "The only way things can get better is if someone points it out."

Whitlock received positive results from the survey claiming he was viewed as an effective leader by all stakeholders and guided the university steadily through the changing economic times that have occurred since his last evaluation since 2009.

He also received positive comments as an effective communicator through his use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, which Whitlock said he uses regularly.

"I've tried very hard to be very transparent and building as high a degree of trust as possible," Whitlock said. "I've worked very closely with every president of this institution since Robert A. Martin and tried to learn the best I could."

The Board of Regents asked Whitlock to develop an action plan to address issues brought up in the evaluation. Included in the action plan are enrollment management and student success. According to the president's report to the Board, the enrollment decrease in the fall has caused tuition to fall short by approximately $3 million.

"The Board placed a strong interest on us working with various school districts to improve enrollment," Abney said. "That's where the president and Board of Regents will be focused."

Now, Whitlock plans to focus more of his attention toward marketing efforts to increase student enrollment. Recently, he gave up his seat on the Madison County School Board to direct more of his time toward these efforts.

"I try to be as confident as I can about the people on this campus being able to handle what comes our way," Whitlock said.

"We're going to have to work on becoming more efficient with the budget restraints," Abney said.

There was some concern about the amount of time Whitlock has spent traveling internationally. Whitlock said he feels so much progress has been made, he can now "redirect time somewhere else."

Whitlock said he wants to do his best to offer students opportunities to study abroad and feels they are being "short-changed without communication with others on this planet."

As part of his annual evaluation, Whitlock was asked to complete a self-evaluation of how effective he believes his time as president has been. He said he is relieved he does not see himself differently than other people do.

Whitlock's current contract has two years and five months left, ending on July 31, 2014, but the contract will be ending just 12 days before his 71st birthday. He plans to stay in office "as long as my health holds, as long I feel and as long as the Board feels."

According to university bylaws, the president must be evaluated by the Board during his second and fourth year. If Whitlock chooses to stay President after the expiration of his contract in 2014, he will be evaluated again in the fall semester of 2015.