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

The Second Annual Diversity Conference at SIUC on April 22 will focus on "Issues and Challenges in Teaching First Generation Students."  This year's conference is the result of discussions at campus diversity meetings and builds upon last year's session, which focused on diversity in the classroom, according to Bryson.  Open to SIUC faculty and staff, the conference kicks off at 8 a.m. with registration and continental breakfast at the Student Center Ballrooms. The day is all about giving insight into the issues relative to teaching and providing services to first-generation college students and what it means to the staff.  The registration deadline is 3 p.m. April 17. Pre-registration is required for lunch at the conference. Find the detailed schedule and the online registration form at http://www.dce.siu.edu/. You can also call the Division of Continuing Education at (618)536-7751.

Speaker Zeina Azzam Seikaly will present Words Transcending Borders: Arab Voices in the American Classroom at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in the Missouri-Illinois Room, on the second floor of SIUE's Morris University Center. Seikaly, who is the final speaker in a series on Middle East issues, is a curriculum advisor in the Washington, D.C., area and the outreach coordinator for the Center for Contemporary Arab studies at Georgetown University in Washington. She works closely with elementary and secondary teachers to develop online lesson plans and novel guides that will be made available to educators across the nation. A poet, writer and speaker, Seikaly focuses her work on the Arab world, the Middle East and Islam. The event is free and open to the public. Pre-register to attend at www.siue.edu/globalit/.

Eight faculty members from SIUC have won top marks from their colleges for superior teaching, while three others have been cited for educational achievement outside a college. They will be honored at the University's "Excellence Through Commitment" awards dinner April 22 at the Student Center.  SIUC college deans named Lilly A. Boruszkowski (College of Mass Communication and Media Arts), Bidyut Gupta (College of Science), J. Kent Hsiao (College of Engineering), Jean C. Mangun (College of Agricultural Sciences), Michael D. Michalisin (College of Business and Administration), Stacie L. Robertson (College of Education and Human Services), David E. Sutton (College of Liberal Arts) and Stewart P. Wessel (College of Applied Sciences and Arts) as their No. 1 educators. Amy C. Arai, Stephanie J. Graves and Wenona Y. Whitfield received kudos as the year's top faculty member in the School of Medicine, Library Affairs and the School of Law respectively.  Each will receive $3,000 outright plus a matching amount through the Office of the Provost to support professional activities during the next fiscal year. The Alumni Association also will present each teacher with a watch.

If a deadly influenza (flu) outbreak hit the Midwest, would the region be ready? That is a question being posed by the SIUE School of Nursing, which is bringing Pandemic Flu: Are You Ready?  to campus. The seminar, which will be held from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, May 2, in the Hickory/Hackberry Room on the second floor of SIUE’s Morris Center, will focus on developing a pandemic plan for businesses; establishing planning efforts to tackle global pandemics; examining the history of pandemics in the United States; differentiating between a pandemic flu and a seasonal flu; and using personal protection equipment. Admission is free. Those who attend also are invited to stay for lunch and a tabletop pandemic planning exercise in the afternoon. For more information, visit www.pandemicprep.org.

Robert A. Levy, the Florida attorney who helped shepherd constitutional arguments on gun control to the U.S. Supreme Court last month, will speak at the SIU School of Law.  Levy will lecture at 12:15 p.m., Wednesday, April 9, in the law school's auditorium. The law school's Federalist Society, a registered student organization, is sponsoring Levy's visit. Admission is free.  Levy is challenging Washington, D.C.'s strict mid-1970s home rule law that bans private handgun ownership for people other than active and retired law enforcement officers. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments March 18. A decision is expected this summer.  The case marks the first time in nearly 70 years the U.S. Supreme Court will directly rule on a gun rights case. Some legal observers predict a decision recognizing individual gun ownership rights within the Second Amendment could result in challenges to other anti-gun regulations across the nation.

One of the oldest continuing gay student organizations in the nation, SIUC's Saluki Rainbow Network, will celebrate its 37th birthday with a host of special activities during Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Awareness Week April 14-18.  The modern gay rights movement traces its roots to June 1969 and the SIUC organization was born April 14, 1971, according to Paulette Curkin, coordinator of the GLBT Resource Center.  The week kicks off with an appearance by the Rev. Mel White at 7 p.m. on April 14 in the Student Center's Ballroom D. White authored "Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America," and is justice minister for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.  The Saluki Rainbow Network is sponsoring the GLBT Awareness Week with the GLBT Resource Center as a co-sponsor for the transgender dialogues. Co-sponsors for the Mel White visit include the GLBT Resource Center, the Unitarian Fellowship Program Committee, University Christian Ministries, Graduate Professional Student Council and Student Development- Multicultural Programs and Services.

The Friends of The Gardens at SIUE, the Madison County Recycling Program, the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Environmental Improvement and Energy Resource Authority and Monrovia Growers Inc. are partnering with the Missouri Botanical Garden to save the planet by recycling one plastic pot and tray at a time. Metro-East homeowners and gardeners are encouraged to bring plastic garden pots and trays to SIUE’s The Gardens Support Center, 95 Arboretum Lane, Edwardsville, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, April 25. For more information, including other collection dates and sites, visit www.siue.edu/gardens.

The Litchfield Family Practice Center and its family practice physicians who serve as preceptor teachers for the SIU School of Medicine have been honored by the med school's Department of Family and Community Medicine.  SIU is recognizing a handful of sites each year for providing its students with a broad experience in the family medicine specialty and serving as strong models for a good family medicine medical practice.  Since its beginning in 1981, nearly 2,000 SIU medical students have participated in the program, which is offered by the School's Department of Family and Community Medicine.  SIU's School of Medicine is a public medical school established in 1970 and focuses on the health care needs of downstate Illinois.  An international leader in medical education, the school is based in Carbondale and Springfield and is specifically oriented to educating new physicians prepared to practice in Illinois communities

Amber Shelton became the second multiple All-American in school history recently with an announcement from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Shelton, a senior education major, earned honorable mention State Farm All-America honors this season to match her performance from the 2006-2007 season. Only Misi Clark, who will be inducted into the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame later this spring, has earned more with three All-American certificates. Shelton made the most of her two seasons as a Cougar. She scored 1,165 points, which was 10th best all-time at SIUE. Her 20.4 scoring average is the best all-time, eclipsing the old record of 19.0 points per game set by Clark (1997-2001).

Ten faculty members from SIUC deemed outstanding scholars by their colleges and schools will attend the University's "Excellence Through Commitment" awards dinner April 22 at the Student Center.  Gregory J. Brewer will represent the School of Medicine; Joan M. Davis will represent the College of Applied Sciences and Arts; John D.H. Downing will represent the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts; Todd C. Headrick will represent the College of Education and Human Services; Ajay Mahajan will represent the College of Engineering; Khalid Meksem will represent the College of Agricultural Sciences; John M. Pearson will represent the College of Business and Administration; Nicholas Pinter will represent the College of Science; Mark F. Schultz will represent the School of Law; and Anthony J. Steinbock will represent the College of Liberal Arts.  Each will receive $3,000 outright plus a matching amount through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research to support professional activities during the next fiscal year. The Alumni Association also will present each scholar with a watch.

Improvisation - a unique form of art with no script, no lines and no limits. Anything can happen at anytime. Sounds a little like life, doesn't it?  Patricia Ryan Madson thinks it does, and she will discuss why improvising your life can actually be rewarding when she comes to SIUC to deliver the Charles D. Tenney Distinguished Lecture on Tuesday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium.  The lecture is free and open to the public, with a reception and book signing following.  Madson, who taught in Stanford University's drama department for nearly 30 years, will give insight from her latest book, "Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up." It was named "One of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005" by Spirituality and Health for its invigorating style and transformation of what most would see as terrifying risk-taking into adventure and fulfillment.  The lecture is part of a series sponsored by the University Honors Program. Charles D. Tenney was vice president and provost of SIUC from 1952 to 1971.