EIU Names Acting Provost and VPAA

(FARLEY)

Eastern Illinois University announced that Dr. Holly Farley will assume duties as the acting Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs beginning June 1.

“I am excited to take on the many responsibilities of this new role, and to helping EIU uplift and achieve its critical mission,” Farley said. “I am humbled by the trust my colleagues have placed in me, and I commit to representing the institution and its faculty and student stakeholders with integrity, confidence, and enthusiasm as we navigate a path toward our most promising future.”

“I have worked with Holly in a variety of roles over the past eight years, and she has proven herself to be an effective leader and a respected chair,” added EIU President Dr. Jay Gatrell. “She brings to the role a deep commitment to student success, EIU, and east central Illinois.”

Dr. Farley’s record of accomplishments includes launching the Gail & Richard Lumpkin School of Nursing and being the primary driving force behind the creation of EIU’s Traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program, which launched in 2021. The addition of the Traditional BSN program was a complement to EIU’s existing online BSN for nurses with a two-year degree, which the University began offering in 2007. As part of her role as the founding chair of EIU’s Gail & Richard Lumpkin School of Nursing at EIU, Farley successfully recruited and retained highly qualified faculty and staff for the new school—a challenge given the concentrated market for professional nursing educators in the Midwest and throughout the nation. As chair, she maximized enrollment while championing student success and academic excellence in myriad ways, contributing to EIU’s 100 percent National Council Licensure Examination/NCLEX pass rate last year for graduates of EIU’s highly competitive BSN program. The NCLEX is a standardized test that determines if a nursing student is ready to professionally practice—an additional requirement for becoming a licensed nurse in both the United States and Canada.

Dr. Farley is a multi-year member of the Council of Chairs (COC) executive committee and a “very highly respected chair of the council,” according to Gatrell. She has served on the EIU-UPI negotiating team and is experienced in contracts and negotiations—a critical component of her new role. Further, she has been active across campus with extensive service in and across EIU’s excellence and student success initiatives. She also serves as a member of the Jasper County Community District #1 School Board and has served on other community boards in the past. Prior to joining EIU in 2015, Farley served as a full-time faculty member of the nursing program at Olney Central College for 9 years and has extensive professional and clinical experience as a Surgical Practice Manager and Registered Nurse at health care facilities across eastern and central Illinois.

Farley earned a Doctoral Degree in Education—Leadership and Organizational Development in 2017 from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Prior, she earned a Master’s Degree in Nursing Education in 2005 from Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the Mennonite College of Nursing in 1996 from Illinois State University in Normal. She is also a graduate of Lake Land College in Mattoon (1993) and Newton (IL) Community High School (1991). Farley is a lifelong resident of Newton, where she resides with her husband and three sons.

EIU’s announcement comes following the planned departure of current EIU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Ryan Hendrickson. Hendrickson will begin a new role as President of University of St. Francis in Joliet this summer following a career in higher education spanning 25 years, the last 10 of which have been in senior leadership positions at EIU. Eastern Illinois University will launch a national search for its next permanent Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs in late summer 2025.