Professor Bill Eadie was recently named chair of the University Senate.
Though his first experience in a University Senate may have come nearly 30 years ago at a different CSU, it was an experience that left Media Studies professor Bill Eadie wanting more.
Bill Eadie, SDSU Senate Chair
Now, Eadie has stepped into the role of San Diego State University’s Senate chair for the first time in his career, replacing Bill Snavely in the position.
In representing the university’s faculty, he will work closely with President Hirshman and other Senate members to create policies that improves the university for faculty, staff and student alike.
A love for governance
Eadie was always interested in university governance, and joined the Senate of California State University, Northridge in the early 1980s. It was not long before he was elevated to the position of secretary-treasurer.
In 1993, Eadie left to pursue a position with the National Communications Association, where he worked with researchers and promoted communication research to a variety of audiences.
He served that association for eight years.
On to SDSU
“One of the first things I did when I got to SDSU in 2001 was to express my interest in being part of the Senate,” Eadie said. “They kind of laughed, and then it was forgotten. I was very busy in my position as Director of the School of Communication, but I definitely wanted to get back into university governance.”
A few years later, he got his chance. Fred Hornbeck was chair at the time and wanted to revise the badly outdated Freedom of Expression policy on campus. He asked Eadie to chair the project to overhaul the policy and draft one with more modern considerations.
Eadie and his committee impressed Hornbeck, and the then-chair asked Eadie to serve as secretary, in which position he served for three years from Fall 2008 to Spring 2011. He stepped down from the position for one year before being selected as chair.
The selection to chair
While he recognizes the position will be demanding of his time, Eadie welcomes the challenge.
“Mainly, we do a lot of listening,” Eadie said. “We solve problems and we serve as liaisons between different campus entities.”
More than just listening, though, the Senate and its chair is called upon to look at tough challenges and find solutions that may be “outside the box.”
“This campus has a long history of being creative with what we have,” Eadie said. “Next year we’ll keep doing just that — come up with solutions for whatever problems and issues come our way.”