Carbondale Calendars and Events
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The Black Alumni Group, a constituent society of the SIU Alumni Association, will bring back alumni from all over the country this month to participate in the 12th biennial reunion held on the Carbondale campus. This year's theme is "Southern Nights."  The reunion will kick off July 7 with a meet and greet at the Hampton Inn east of Carbondale. Friday’s events include an opportunity to participate in financial workshops, a writer’s symposium, a fish fry and bid whist tournament, tours of local wineries and the SIUC campus, and an Old School 80’s party.  Saturday’s festivities include a cookout, step show, and health fair in the afternoon, followed by a semi-formal banquet that evening. After the banquet, the group will have the option of travelling to the Saluki Club located at the new Saluki Stadium for one final toast at the “Grand Finale” party or attending the Herb Kent party at the SIUC Student Center.  If you would like to learn more about the BAG Reunion or would like information on how to register, please call the SIU Alumni Association at (618)453-2417 or visit siualumni.com/bagreunion.

Greg Petrowich, executive director of SIUC’s WSIU Public Broadcasting, will be a member of the Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors.  Petrowich’s three-year term started July 1. The terms can be renewable twice for a total of nine years on the board. He will be one of approximately 36 board members.  The private nonprofit educational organization is “dedicated to fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities,” according to its website. The organization receives funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, the Illinois General Assembly through the Illinois Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Petrowich oversees operation of WSIU’s three public radio stations — WSIU, WUSI and WVSI; two PBS stations — WSIU and WUSI; and the Southern Illinois Radio Information Service.

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has selected SIUE among five universities across the nation as a research partner to participate in collecting information about how students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are prepared through master’s programs. SIUE will join Loyola University in Chicago, Purdue University, Texas A&M University and Wright State University in collecting vital data about students seeking master’s degrees in STEM disciplines. The awardees will collect data on completion and attrition in STEM master’s degree programs; administer surveys to students, graduates and those who do not complete degrees; and conduct student focus groups. Additionally, awardees will survey graduate program directors. Data collected will allow stakeholders to better understand reasons for enrollment, factors that contribute to student success and promising practices to improve completion. Insight gained from these activities can help ensure that U.S. graduate schools are preparing the necessary talent at the master’s level in STEM fields to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Research partners in the CGS project on Completion and Attrition in STEM Master’s Programs will receive $30,000 to participate. CGS, an organization of more than 500 institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Canada, engages in graduate education, research and the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees. Among U.S. institutions, CGS members award 93 percent of doctoral degrees and 76 percent of master’s degrees. The organization’s mission is to improve and advance graduate education, which is accomplished through advocacy in the federal policy arena, research and the development and dissemination of best practices.

Ten projects that focus on campus sustainability at SIUC are getting a total of $59,201 from the Green Fund this summer.  The projects include installing rechargeable door openers and recycling bins, helping restore Thompson Woods, enhancing sustainability research and outreach efforts, encouraging use of locally grown foods, and more.  The fund that pays for the projects originated with a student-led initiative that assesses students a $10 green fee each semester. The fee funds projects that promote energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy and campus sustainability.  Fund managers report the Green Fund balance now stands at about $146,500. With the latest round of grant awards, a total of 47 projects have received about $546,000 in funding.

Two graduate students at SIUC earned prestigious study opportunities with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the nation's top weather research organization.  Hannah Kalk, who just completed her graduate work in plant biology at SIUC, and Adam Chupp, a current doctoral student in plant biology, both garnered the opportunities at the NOAA’s Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on the coast of Mississippi.  The nation’s first scientific agency with roots that run to 1807, NOAA’s research endeavors range from the surface of the sun to the depths of the oceans. Along with its daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring, the organization also works in the area of fisheries management and coastal restoration, among others.

For the second consecutive year, SIUE has been named by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to its list of colleges and universities demonstrating a commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement—this is the first time the University has been named to the distinction category. CNCS oversees the annual President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. departments of Education, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as Campus Compact and the American Council on Education. SIUE students have many opportunities to work on service projects and in the area of volunteerism throughout the year through the University’s Kimmel Leadership Development Center. Engagement activities such as service projects and volunteerism help students achieve personal, professional and leadership development objectives. These experiences, which take place on and off campus, are an important part of an SIUE student’s education and foster academic and professional development. The Kimmel Center, under the purview of the SIUE Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, offers co-curricular experiences that promote personal growth, develop self-confidence and leadership abilities, and prepare students for lifelong learning. The Kimmel Center staff assists students with planning and coordinating programs that promote the educational, cultural and social enrichment of the University community. The CNCS honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses. A total of 641 higher education institutions out of 851 that applied received recognition through CNCS on the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. CNCS is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit the Web site: nationalservice.gov.

A new summer camp at SIUC’s Touch of Nature Environmental Center will explore the unique world of fisheries and aquatic sciences.  Fish U, set for Aug. 1-5, is a weeklong day camp for high school students and incoming SIUC freshmen. Campers will explore Little Grassy Lake and the surrounding area as they participate in a variety of activities.  There are still openings for Fish U, but the deadline to register is July 8. The cost is $125 per camper. Organizers are in the process of seeking external funding for scholarship opportunities.  To sign up for “Fish U” or for additional information about the camp, call (618)201-1787 or visit fisheries.siuc.edu.

Students interested in learning more about the impact that media has on their lives can now earn a minor in Television Studies through SIUC’s Department of Radio-Television.  The minor will allow students, including those who do not plan to work in the industry or become media professionals, the opportunity to gain a critical ability to understand how media is involved in their lives.  The explosion of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and the increasing number of media platforms also makes it important that people realize the opportunities available. Television today is available through a variety of screens, including computers, and not just the old console television sets that many grew up watching.  For more information on the Television Studies minor, contact Jean Kelley, academic adviser in the Department of Radio-Television, at (618)453-6902, or by email at jeank@siu.edu.

A new website developed by a team at SIUE through the Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Research, Education and Outreach, also known as the STEM Center, has people searching for icy worlds in the outer solar system. The team, known as the IceHunters, has challenged members of the general public to use the site, www.icehunters.org, to search for Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), which are icy objects that orbit beyond Neptune. Scientists have calculated where in the sky an object moving toward a potential meeting with the New Horizons spacecraft should currently be located, and some of the largest telescopes in the world are being used to image that region. Those images are being made public through the IceHunters project. New Horizons launched in 2006 on a journey that would carry it past Jupiter in 2007 and on to Pluto in 2015. After flying through the Pluto system, the mission will have just enough fuel left to change course toward one or more additional KBOs. The SIUE IceHunters website is packed with millions of images that could contain the object New Horizons should visit. The public is asked to help examine these images for that sought-after target. Along the way they will discover large numbers of variable stars, asteroids, and other KBOs, said Pamela Gay, an assistant research professor at SIUE. The Kuiper Belt is a region of space that stretches from within the orbit of Neptune, out to nearly twice Neptune’s orbit. It contains a population of icy objects that vary in size from a kilometer across to roughly moon-sized objects like Pluto, Makemake and Haumea, Gay said. She added, while long theorized to exist and to be the source of many comets, the first KBO other than Pluto was only discovered in 1992. Gay and Cory Lehan, SIUE computer science graduate student in the School of Engineering, developed the site. IceHunters is a product of the SIUE STEM Center, which is dedicated to educating children and adults about STEM initiatives. The work is part of SIUE’s ongoing collaboration with the Zooniverse collection of citizen science projects. More than 400,000 Zooniverse volunteers are already making important contributions to such diverse topics as the classification of galaxies in Hubble images, reconstruction of historical records of Earth’s weather and analysis of close-up pictures of the Moon’s surface. The public is invited to become a part of this and all other Zooniverse projects. The Zooniverse is administered by the Citizen Science Alliance.

“Eat Out? Eat Right!” is a nutrition program designed to assist cancer patients and anyone concerned with making healthy menu choices when eating a meal away from home and healthy eating habits as a preventive measure.  The class will be held  from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, at Simmons Cancer Institute at the SIU School of Medicine, 315 W. Carpenter in Springfield.  The event is open to all cancer patients, regardless of where they receive treatment, as well as the general public.  The event is free of charge.  Register by calling (217)545-0798 weekdays or go on-line at www.siumed.edu/cancer and click on the registration link.

Saluki track and field alumnus Gwen Berry is SIUC's nominee for the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year award.  The NCAA presents the Woman of the Year award annually to honor outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics, leadership and community service. Berry was one of 473 nominees from across the NCAA's three divisions nominated for the award.  Berry graduated from SIUC this spring with a bachelor's degree in psychology, finishing with a cumulative GPA of 3.337.  A two-time All-American and four-time MVC event champion, Berry ranks second in school history in three events (hammer throw, outdoor shot put, indoor weight throw) and third in the indoor shot put. She posted the longest collegiate marks in the nation for both the weight throw and the hammer throw in 2011.