Carbondale Calendars and Events
Edwardsville Calendars and Events
East St. Louis Calendars and Events

If all goes according to plan, the football Salukis will christen new digs in August 2010 and the basketball teams will follow suit two months later in a newly renovated SIU Arena.  The SIU Board of Trustees, meeting Nov. 8 on the Carbondale campus, authorized development of the detailed design and plans for the phased construction of the new football stadium, renovations to the Arena and relocation of the tennis courts and recreational sports' lighted fields.  The board set the budget at $83 million.  The projects are part of Saluki Way, the plan to create a new campus core that would stretch from the flagpole near Altgeld Hall south to the new football stadium and refurbished SIU Arena.  The plan also calls for a new student services building, a new academic building and modern parking garages.  The football stadium, with 12,000 fixed seats plus additional "lawn" seating, will replace McAndrew Stadium, originally constructed in 1939.  The new facility will be located south of McAndrew and northeast of the Arena.  Renovations to the Arena, which opened in 1964, will include new seating throughout the lower and upper areas, improved accessibility and entrances to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, middle handrails at all aisles, improved concessions, additional restrooms and fan amenities on the upper level, a new scoreboard and other aesthetic and functional improvements.

Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole will speak at Veterans Day ceremonies, Sunday, Nov. 11, at SIUC.  Cole will give the keynote address starting at 11 a.m., at the Old Main Flagpole.  Admission is free.  For 24 hours preceding the ceremony, a combined operation of more than 100 cadets from SIUC's Army and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps will conduct a time-honored tradition honoring those who have served.  The cadets will stand a silent vigil beginning at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Old Main Flagpole in remembrance of the nation's prisoners of war and those who remain missing in action.  The guard will change every 15 minutes during the 24-hour period that ends at 10 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 11.  Air Force and Army cadets will perform a 21-gun salute and provide color guard for the event.

SIUE Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice Jessica Kerr received the 2007 Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award recently during the Illinois Pharmacists Association’s (IPhA) awards conference in St. Charles.  To qualify for the award, candidates must be members of the state organization, licensed in Illinois and must have received an entry degree in pharmacy less than 10 years ago.  The award “honors an up-and-coming pharmacist, an individual who shows tremendous commitment to the profession and his/her community, leadership potential, professional aspirations and involvement in community service,” according to a press release from the IPhA.  Kerr, who has been teaching at SIUE since 2005, also was recognized this year as the School’s Pharmacy Practice Faculty Member of the Year.

For the first time in three years, the SIUC Flying Salukis won the National Intercollegiate Flying Association Region VIII competition held the weekend of Nov 2-4.  The Flying Salukis finished with 569 points, outdistancing the University of Illinois and Lewis University to win the regional title at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.  Other teams competing Oct. 31-Nov. 4 were Purdue University, Indiana State University, and host Middle Tennessee State University.  The top three teams receive automatic berths to NIFA's competition, May 4-10, at Smyrna Airport in Smyrna, Tenn. Middle Tennessee State University will host the national competition.  The Flying Salukis' automatic bid marks the 38th national appearance in 39 years - the squad's string of 37 straight appearances was snapped last year.  The Flying Salukis have won seven NIFA national titles; the latest in 1985.  The Flying Salukis finished fourth in the nation in 2005, and fifth nationally in 2006.  The team's last regional title was in 2004.

A six-student team from the Department of Construction in the SIUE School of Engineering took second place in the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Great Lakes Region Design/Build competition conducted recently in Downers Grove.  The SIUE team, known during the competition as Trophy Construction, finished behind the 2006 national champion, the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  SIUE team members are: Megan Ladwig, of Edwardsville; Matt Giacomini, of Williamsville; Kevin Nesselhauf, of Festus, Mo.; Bill Nolte, of Brighton; Jessica Charles, also of Edwardsville; and Oliver Coulson, of Troy.  The team was coached by Associate Professor Kerry Slattery, a member of the SIUE construction faculty.  The undergraduate student competition, co-sponsored by the ASC and Associated General Contractors, simulated a real-life, high-pressure situation.  The teams were asked to design, price, schedule and prepare a professional presentation in an extremely tight time frame.  The team is judged on estimating, planning, scheduling, thoughtful methodology, creativity, understanding of construction techniques and challenges, and presentation skills.

Krystal Stein, a senior studying speech communication in the College of Liberal Arts at SIUC, is the 2007 Lincoln Academy of Illinois Student Laureate representing SIUC.  Stein, a Nashville, Ill., also delivered the keynote address on behalf of the 2007 Student Laureates in Springfield on Oct. 27.  The Lincoln Academy of Illinois annually recognizes one senior undergraduate student from each four-year, degree-granting institution in the state, naming that person a student laureate.  Stein will graduate in May 2008 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication specializing in public relations with a marketing minor.  She will pursue graduate studies here at SIUC in sports administration.  She intends to become an athletics administrator at the college or high school level.

SIUE student Ross Mead represented the institution this year as SIUE’s 2007 Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.  Mead, a senior computer science major, is one of 48 student laureates honored recently at the Old State Capitol in Springfield.  Each year, a student from each of Illinois’ four-year public universities is chosen to represent their institutions.  The students receive a Student Laureate Medallion, a $150 honorarium and a certificate of achievement.  Mead was honored with the award because he is the top senior at SIUE, as determined by his excellence in curricular and extra curricular activities.  A native of Edwardsville, Mead first discovered engineering, computer science and robotics in high school.

A scientist from the SIUC is among a handful of researchers perched at the far southern reaches of the Earth who are peering into the past by drilling into the ice and seabed.  Scott E. Ishman, associate professor of geology in the College of Science at SIUC, is making his eighth trip to Antarctica, where he hopes to discover secrets of the Earth's past as a member of an elite international team.  Ishman is working with ANDRILL, an international group of more than 150 scientists that investigates Antarctica's role in global environmental change.  Ishman has a long history with the frozen continent, first visiting the frigid landscape as a graduate student.  Following a more recent trip, Ishman's co-authored an article arguing global warming is a recent, human-made phenomenon.  Also, in 2004, he joined a team that discovered an undersea volcano in the Antarctic Sound.  Ishman is now with a team made up of about five dozen scientists, engineers, technicians, students and eight teachers from several countries.  Its mission is recovering rock cores and sediment using a sea-ice platform adjacent to the Ross Ice Shelf in the Southern McMurdo Sound.

Rick Williams, professor emeritus of classics at SIUC, will present the Charles D. Tenney distinguished lecture in the Student Center Auditorium on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m.  The lecture is entitled "Is Sophocles Out of Date?  The Importance of Tradition in a Tradition-free Society" and will explore whether the ancient Greek dramatist's messages can still speak to a contemporary, postmodern culture.  It is free to the public and will be followed by a book signing and reception in the Old Main Lounge in the Student Center.  Williams, who for 30 years served as a classics professor at SIUC, teaching Greek, Latin and classical mythology, is an expert in translating and staging classical texts, especially the plays of Sophocles.  He also directed the University Honors Program for 20 years.  The lecture is a part of the University Honors Program's Charles D. Tenney Distinguished Lecture Series.  Tenney served as SIUC's vice president and provost from 1952 to 1971.

Discovering the Middle East through Literature and Poetry — A Speakers Series will bring a glimpse of life in the Middle East to the Midwest.  Four acclaimed speakers will engage audiences during four programs next semester at SIUE.  The events are free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Gloria Reading, (618)650-3433.

Treating diabetes is the topic of a public education program to be presented this month in Springfield by the endocrinology division at the SIU School of Medicine.  It will be held 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, at the Wedeberg Conference Center, Memorial Medical Center, 701 N. 1st Street, Springfield.  The program will provide general information for patients with diabetes and their families about approaches to treating diabetes with lifestyle and medications and preventing complications.  The exhibits will open at 5:30 p.m. and include demonstrations of diabetic products.  The presentations begin at 6:30 p.m.  The program is free to the public.  For more information call, SIU School of Medicine at 545-8065 weekdays.

A nearly $195,000 award will allow the SIUE School of Education to expand a program that benefits K-12 schools and teachers in 16 Illinois counties.  Thanks to the support of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Springfield), the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program will receive funding beyond 2008, through The Library of Congress.  The program, formerly known as Adventure of the American Mind, has helped provide resources for training and mentoring of more than 500 educators, as well as nearly $250,000 in technology awards to area schools and teachers.  Since 2002, the program has been awarded nearly $1.3 million.  Educators can peruse more than nine million historical items in more than 100 themed collections on a Web site, known as American Memory.  They can choose pieces from the Web site, www.memory.loc.gov/, to enhance their curricula.  For more information, visit www.siue.edu/education/aam.

The SIUC women's basketball team opens regular season play Saturday, Nov. 10, hosting the DePaul Blue Demons at 7 p.m. in the SIU Arena.  The Salukis finished last season as champs of the Missouri Valley Conference with a record of 21-11 and have won both of their pre-season exhibition contests.  The Saluki men's team, ranked No. 23 in the pre-season polls, plays their second and final exhibition game of the pre-season Sunday, Nov. 11, against Lincoln Memorial.  Tip off is 2:05 p.m.  The Dawgs won their opening pre-season game against King, 74-38.  The Dawgs open regular season play Saturday, Nov. 17, against Northern Illinois at the SIU Arena.  The game begins at 7:05 p.m.

The No. 5 football Salukis (8-1) take on Illinois State University in their final home game of the regular season on Nov. 10.  Kick off is at 1:30 p.m.  Contact the Saluki Ticket Office at 618-453-2000 for ticket information.  The Salukis travel to Hampton on Nov. 17 for the final game of the regular season.  That game begins at noon.