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

A new research and scholarly networking tool is in place at SIUC with the establishment of the SIUC Center for Delta Studies.  The Delta refers to a federally designated area known as the Delta Regional Authority - 240 counties and parishes in eight states bordering the lower Mississippi River.  The region includes 16 Southern Illinois counties.  There are geological, cultural, demographic and historical similarities that encourage study of the large area as a unit.  Professor Jane Adams, who holds a joint appointment in anthropology and history at SIUC, is the director of the new center.  She hopes the center will create new avenues of interdisciplinary scholarship and improve communication between academic fields for those whose expertise connects with the greater Mississippi River Delta area.  She hopes that the universities in the SIU system will take a leadership role for scholars of this region both at SIU and at other universities.  At present, the center is not a physical place, though plans call for it to have a cyber presence with a Web site by its second year.  More immediately, the center hosts symposiums in different program areas.

A national mathematics organization has honored a professor at SIUC for his achievements as a scholar.  The Mathematical Association of America recently named Salah E. A. Mohammed as this year's David Blackwell Lecturer for the group's annual event.  Mohammed is a professor and distinguished scholar in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Science.  Mohammed, who in 2006 was honored as SIUC's outstanding scholar, will give the lecture during MAA's annual MathFest, set for July 30-Aug. 2 in Madison, Wis. MathFest is one of the largest summer meetings for mathematicians throughout the country, drawing more than 1,400 last year to San Jose, Calif.  The National Association of Mathematicians, a non-profit group that holds increasing the number of mathematicians among underrepresented populations as one of its goals, sponsors the Blackwell Lecturer.

Anna Deavere Smith — actor, playwright, professor and performance artist, as well as a regular on the long-running hit series The West Wing — comes to the Arts & Issues stage at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in the Meridian Ballroom, on the first floor of SIUE’s Morris University Center.  She will speak about Engaging the World: The Role of the Artist in Society.  As an actor, playwright and teacher, Smith has built a respected career.  According to Smith's biography materials, her work “explores the American character and our multifaceted national identity” and has been acclaimed by the media, critics and audiences across the country.  Newsweek calls her “the most exciting individual in American theater.”

SIUC aerobatic team swept the competition out of the sky, winning - again - the International Aerobatic Club's Collegiate Team Award.  In addition, Andrew Bochnovic, a senior in aviation technologies, won the 2007 IAC Individual Collegiate Trophy as the top scoring aerobatic pilot.  The International Aerobatic Club is an organization devoted to aerobatic flying.  Founded in 1970, it is a division of the National Aeronautics Association and adheres to rules established by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world governing body for air sports.  In 2001, the IAC introduced a collegiate competition category.  SIUC's team, under the aegis of the aviation technologies department, launched that same year and won the first collegiate competition.  Since then, the team has six victories to its credit in the seven years of IAC collegiate competition.  The only year the team didn't win - 2003 - it placed second.  This year, SIUC's overall percentage score was 85.68 to win.  Second place University of North Dakota had 82.56 percent.

The SIUC Wind Ensemble has a date at Carnegie Hall, and it's not to sit in the audience.  At 8 p.m. on March 26, the student ensemble and a half dozen SIUC School of Music faculty perform in the Isaac Stern Auditorium on the Ronald O. Perleman Stage at Carnegie Hall as part of the New York Band and Orchestra Festival.  The Wind Ensemble is one of only two showcase ensembles to give a performance.  The ensemble earned its spot through competitive audition.  But before they go, they offer their home crowd a chance to sneak preview the Carnegie Hall concert for free.  The preview concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on March 19 in Shryock Auditorium.  Christopher Morehouse, assistant professor and director of bands, will conduct the ensemble at its Carnegie Hall debut.  He said the students are working hard to prepare for the once-in-a-lifetime event.

The SIUE institutional Marketing and Communications team has won nine national awards in the 23rd Annual Admissions Advertising Awards competition, the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the country.  This is the third consecutive year the unit has placed in the competition.  This year's awards included: Gold in two categories — 50th Anniversary T-shirt and Cougar Logo; Bronze in two categories — for the eConnection, which is the University’s alumni magazine, and the SIUE Web site home page; Meritorious in five categories — the 50th Anniversary Historic Timeline Kiosk, the 50th Anniversary Total Public Relations Program, the Chancellor's SIUE Holiday Invitation, the SIUE Graduate School ad and the Chancellor's report.  More than 1,000 colleges, universities and secondary schools submitted 2,000 entries from the 50 states and several countries.

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has awarded accreditation for four years for the continuing medical education program at the SIU School of Medicine.  Accreditation measures the accomplishments of the office and indicates to both physicians and the public that the continuing medical education activities sponsored by SIU's medical school meet ACCME national standards.  SIU's Office of Continuing Medical Education is responsible for the organization, development and coordination of continuing education programs both on-campus and off-campus.  In FY07, the office organized 82 programs with more than 3,500 registrants.  SIU's CME office supports the continuing professional development of health care professionals and offers them a full range of educational experiences to enhance their knowledge base, provide updates and review and expand professional skills.  Its primary audiences include a range of the medical profession, from full-time practitioners.

U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Springfield, and WGN radio's "Voice of Illinois Agriculture" Orion Samuelson will help make SIUC's fourth Agriculture Industry Day, scheduled for Friday, April 18, at the University Farm's Rowden Road site, the biggest and best yet.  The event's organizers decided on the move to Friday in response to queries from high school teachers.  The day will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a 4-H and FFA livestock judging contest conducted by recognized officials.  The morning program will include a presentation by Jenna R. Wicks, a sophomore in agriculture education from Ancona, on what it's like to be an SIUC student and one by two-degree graduate Lucas D. Maxwell, from Farmer City, who served as the college's first full-time coordinator of recruitment, retention and placement and is now a doctoral student at the University of Florida.  He will talk about what made SIUC the right choice for him.  Samuelson also will speak, followed by Durbin, who will talk about energy and climate change.

SIUE now offers students and employees the opportunity to register their cell phones as part of a new campus wide “e-Lert” program through a wireless emergency notification system.  The alert system will be used in the case of an ongoing emergency on campus, such as a hostile intruder or tornado warnings and/or sightings.  Emergency notifications will include events that present a serious, significant disruption to the campus community and pose an immediate danger to life, health and University property.  Snow closures will be included in the alerts; however, no non-emergency text messages other than testing will be allowed.

For the second consecutive year, Saluki volunteerism captured a spot for SIUC on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.  The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognizes American college and university students for their hard work, dedication, commitment and efforts to solve problems throughout the country.  Through Saluki Volunteer Corps and Land of Lincoln AmeriCorps, thousands of SIUC students each semester give countless hours of their time and labor to benefit the entire region.  From tutoring and mentoring young students to assisting dozens of charitable organizations and community improvement efforts, University students are right there lending a hand.

The SIUC women's basketball team garnered three All-Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors.  Erin Pauk, Erica Smith and Jayme Sweere all earned honorable mention honors.  Pauk, a three-time honoree in three years at SIU, earned a first-team nod in 2006 and second-team honors a year ago.  The St. Charles, Mo. native already earned academic all-district honors this season.  A native of Florissant, Mo., Smith is earning scholar-athlete honors for the second-straight year, a second-team member a year ago.  Sweere, a senior from Springfield, Mo., earns honorable mention honors for the second consecutive season.

The NCAA has confirmed that its 2008 Division II Baseball Championships will come to Southwestern Illinois in May, co-hosted by SIUE and UM-St. Louis.  SIUE Director of Athletics Brad Hewitt, a member of the NCAA Division II Baseball Committee, was instrumental in attracting the event to the area.  The tournament will take place May 24-31 at GCS Ballpark, just off Interstate 255, while hosting duties will be shared by the village of Sauget where the stadium is located.