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East St. Louis Calendars and Events

There is no argument: the SIUC Debate Team is the best in the nation.  Its win at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, which concluded March 17, verifies it.  Todd Graham, director of the debate team, said SIUC debaters Kevin Calderwood and Kyle Dennis dominated the tournament.  "They were better researched and smarter - more intelligent, insightful and held a deeper understanding of world events - than every single team they debated.  They are better thinkers than everyone they debated, and every single judge said so."  This national tournament, held March 15-17 at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., is one of two in which SIUC participates for parliamentary debate.  The tournament just completed - the one SIUC won - is an invitational tournament for the top 54 teams in the country.  The second national tournament, the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament, is March 27-31 at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Kathleen Sullivan Brown, an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has been named interim executive director of the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) at SIUE, effective May 15.  Brown, who also will be a visiting associate professor at SIUE, will take a short-term professional leave from her faculty position at UM-St. Louis to serve as interim executive director through Aug. 15, 2009.  Her primary responsibility will be to direct IERC research activities, while also working with statewide education leaders to guide state education policy.

Historian S. Jonathan Wiesen is the recipient of SIUC's 2008 Outstanding Teacher Award.  Wiesen, an associate professor of history, specializes in modern European and especially German history, with emphases on consumerism and the Holocaust.  Meanwhile, Christina McIntyre is the recipient of the SIUC's 2008 Outstanding Term Faculty Teaching Award.  McIntyre teaches in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.  David J. Gibson, professor of plant biology, is the winner of this year's top scholar honor.  During his 12 years at SIUC, Gibson has helped push the University into the international limelight with his research and leadership, publishing a book and 94 papers, mentoring masters and doctoral students and garnering more than $1.5 million is research funds.  The recognition is part of the University's "Excellence Through Commitment Awards Program," which began in 2004.  Wiesen, McIntyre, Gibson and other Excellence award winners will be honored at an Excellence Through Commitment Awards dinner on April 22 in the Student Center.

A longtime health educator will give the 2008 John & Marsha Ryan Bioethicist in Residence lecture at the SIU School of Law Center for Health Law and Policy.  Amy Haddad, director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Creighton University Medical Center, will speak at 5 p.m. April 2 in the courtroom at SIUC's Hiram H. Lesar Law Building.  On April 3, Haddad also will speak to a class taught by Eugene Basanta, professor in the SIU School of Law, titled "Regulation of Health Care Professionals.”  On April 4, Haddad will travel to Springfield where she will give a presentation for students in the SIU School of Medicine.  Haddad is director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics and holder of the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Endowed Chair in Health Sciences at Creighton University Medical Center.  She earned her doctorate in adult and continuing education in 1988 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She earned her master's of science in nursing in 1979 at University of Nebraska Medical Center and a bachelor's of science in nursing in 1975 from Creighton University.

The SIUE Alumni Association is moving into a new era of communication with SIUE alumni by launching a new social networking Web site — Cougar Tracks.  After registering on Cougar Tracks (a link on www.siue.edu/alumni/), participants will be able to create a personalized profile which could include a photo, contact information, work history, hobbies, interests and any other information the registrant chooses to share with other community members.  Discussion boards may be created within the community through which messages may be shared about specific University topics ranging from campus and athletics events to University decisions and announcements.  Cougar Tracks is active and ready for new members.

For Jacob O. Bach, the choice was an easy one when considering the future of the "Norse Nomad." The retired SIUC professor's gift - the result of a lifetime love of flying - will help current and future aviation technology students learn about composite aircraft.  Bach recently donated his "Long EZ" experimental aircraft to the University's Department of Aviation Technologies program.  The retired professor in educational leadership spent almost 2,000 hours over four years building the "Norse Nomad," a composite plane of fiberglass and foam, before finishing the project in 1983.  "It's been a wonderful plane to fly," said Bach.  The plane, a design of experimental aircraft innovator Burt Rutan, logged 813 hours in the air, making trips to Texas and Minnesota, and at least three journeys to the annual Experimental Aircraft Association air shows in Oshkosh, Wis. Bach, now 88, made his last flight in the "Norse Nomad" in November 2006.

The spring issue of Drumvoices Revue — a journal of “Literary, Cultural & Vision Arts,” co-published by the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club and SIUE — will feature more than 90 poets, including Sacramento writers such as Charles Blackwell, Odessa Bethea and Marie Celestin, to name a few.  Those three and many other poets, both national and regional, contributed to a special section in the magazine dedicated to “kwansabas” for Richard Wright (1908-1960) in honor of the Wright Centennial (1908-2008).  The issue also contains haiku poetry by Wright.  The kwansaba, a 49-word poetic form invented during the EBR Writers Club’s 1995 workshop season (in East St. Louis), consists of seven lines of seven words each, with no word containing more than seven letters.  Previous issues of Drumvoices have featured kwansabas for Miles Davis, Katherine Dunham, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and Jayne Cortez.

SIUC is taking steps to enhance its ability to be more responsive to its growing racial/ethnic student, faculty and staff populations.  SIUC has established two new offices - the African American Resource and Service Center and the Hispanic Resource and Service Center - that will assist the University community in efforts to be more reflective and responsive to targeted groups.  The centers also will organize, sponsor and support services and programs that will contribute to the accessibility, persistence and achievement of black and Hispanic students.  Dexter Wakefield, a tenured professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences, will coordinate the African American center, while Carmen Suarez, currently director of SIUC's Office of Diversity and Equity, will serve as interim coordinator of the Hispanic Center.  The two offices will offer a wide range of services and resources; however, initial efforts will include addressing issues identified in a recent report on underrepresented populations.

Patients in central and southern Illinois who require hip replacement surgery can now benefit from a new technique which can minimize pain and reduce recovery time.  Dr. D. Gordon Allan, associate professor and chair of the orthopaedic surgery division at the SIU School of Medicine, is using a new front, or anterior, approach.  This means a surgeon can reach the hip joint from the front of the hip rather than using a side or back (lateral or posterior) approach.  The new technique is possible because of a new hana™ table.  Both St. John's Hospital and Memorial Medical Center in Springfield started providing the table in their operating rooms in the fall of 2007.  The table means the physician can better position the leg, placing it in different positions not possible with conventional operating tables.  In addition to less muscle trauma, the patient has a smaller incision of 4 to 5 inches rather than the standard 10 to 12 inches.  As a result, patients are expected to have shorter hospital stays and faster recoveries of two to eight weeks rather than two to four months and eventually, return to normal activities more quickly.  Other benefits, which will vary among patients, can include reduced pain, reduced blood loss and less chance of a hip dislocation.

Shoji Sadao — who as a young architect and engineer collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller to design the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Religious Center with its signature geodesic dome in 1971 — will speak about “Best of Friends: Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, at the Religious Center.  A protégé of Fuller and Noguchi, Sadao became a renowned architect in his own right and is now considered one of the 20th century’s great creative minds in his field.  An historic event for the Religious Center, Sadao's April 12 appearance is part of the celebration of SIUE’s 50th Anniversary.

After 33 games and arguably the toughest schedule in school history, the Saluki men's basketball team finally ran out of gas March 20th.  When the final horn sounded at Wells Fargo Arena, the tank read "empty" for SIUC, and Arizona State advanced to the Elite Eight of the National Invitation Tournament with a 65-51 victory.  The Salukis, who finish the season at 18-15, essentially used a six-man rotation against the Sun Devils, due to injuries to all-conference point guard Bryan Mullins and reserve forward Tony Boyle.  Despite the loss, Coach Chris Lowery is already looking ahead to next year.  "We have to regroup," he said.  "We have some good recruits coming, and the guys returning have to really step up and improve their game."