Election of a new Faculty Senate vice president and secretary topped the agenda for the first meeting of the year.

The Senate selected Joseph Stephen to be the new Faculty Senate vice president and Radha Balamuralikrishna to be the Faculty Senate secretary. Patricia Henry, NIU representative to the Faculty Adviser Council to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, relayed information to the Faculty Senate from a Faculty Advisory Council meeting held in June.

The senate discussed the increases in textbook prices and a development at the University of Illinois at Springfield to develop a campus of the future with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

A campus of the future would create an online “mirror campus,” which would expect faculty to teach at least one online course a year and students to take at least one online course offering, Henry said.

Paul Stoddard, president of the senate, brought a recommendation to consider starting a community lecture series given by faculty members.

“This series would allow faculty members to work closely with the school teachers around the area,” Stoddard said.

The senate also elected members to the Faculty Grievance Committee, which mediates faculty and staff disputes.

Names drawn from a box determined the composition of the committee, which consists of 15 tenured faculty who belong to the Faculty Senate.

The senate also voted on the approval of Faculty Senate Committee chairs and composition of standing Faculty Senate committees for 2004-05.

The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held at 3 p.m Sept. 29 in the Holmes Student Center’s Clara Sperling Skyroom.