After 29 years of service to the Illinois State University community, John Goodman ’93 will retire on April 29, 2022. A reception honoring Goodman will be from 2-4 p.m. Friday, April 22, at the Nelson Smith Building, Room 201C. Members of the campus community are invited to attend.
Goodman started his career at ISU as an extra help safety officer in 1993. In February of 1994 Goodman applied for and was hired as a full-time safety officer in Environmental Health and Safety (EHS). He was promoted to assistant director in 2004 and asssociate director in 2012. He was eventually selected to lead EHS, as director in 2016. Goodman oversaw all aspects of EHS including environmental protection, sanitation, biosafety, radiation safety, code compliance, fire/life safety, occupational safety, workers’ compensation, and protection of minors.
During his tenure at Illinois State, Goodman has worked with many departments and has been diligent to improve an already prodigious standing of EHS within the campus community. His passion, however, has been with the sciences and research safety. His involvement in the sciences led to the development of the National Institutes of Health-required Institutional Biosafety program. Goodman led this program as the acting biosafety officer while also chairing the Radiation Safety Committee. Goodman’s science interests similarly extended laboratory safety where he was the acting chemical hygiene officer and became an active participant in the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. In his supervisory role, he had oversight over several other key programs including hazardous waste, campus sanitation, industrial hygiene, lead, and asbestos.
These programs continue to be successful and provide a model for safe practices while maintaining a balance between regulatory requirements and safe/functional space for research and learning. A more recent initiative Goodman became involved with is the Protection of Minors policy. He co-chaired the Protection of Minors Committee that was formed per the policy. He subsequently provided supervisory support during policy implementation. This was a new regulatory policy and required many hours of deliberation, development, and implementation. Today the policy is an integral part of University operations and is managed by the protection of minors coordinator.
Goodman maintained a close partnership with the ISU Farm and was involved with environmental planning as it relocated to Lexington, Illinois. He also consulted on the construction of the Science Lab Building, Center for Performing Arts, State Farm Hall of Business, High Ropes Course, East and West Campus Renovations, and South Campus Demolition. Other career highlights include being an investigator on several high-profile events on campus including incidents in Wilkins Hall, Hancock, Center for Performing Arts (CPA), the Science Lab Building Lab, and several hazardous materials responses.
Throughout his career, he has forged many friendships with faculty members, staff, and the greater campus community. Goodman’s hard work and positive, can-do attitude will have a lasting impact on the health and safety of all who will visit, live, and work at Illinois State University well into the future. Please join Environmental Health and Safety in congratulating Goodman on a job well done and sending him on his way with best wishes on his next adventure.
