SIU President's Communique (2-3-2012)

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Weekly Communiqué (February 3, 2012)

February is Black History Month at SIUC
SIUE Finance Professor’s Research Featured in the Wall Street Journal
SIUC’s Immigration Detention Project Secures Grant
Simmons Cancer Institute’s Summer Internship Program Expands
Elijah P. Lovejoy Library Hosting “Lewis & Clark” Traveling Exhibition
SIUC Wellness Center Plans Spring Workshops
Scholarship Will Benefit SIUC Pre-Veterinary Students
MLK Award Winners Announced at SIU Edwardsville
SIUC’s Morris Library to Host ‘18 Tigers Art Show’
Football Salukis to Participate in Annual Souper Bowl

1. February is Black History Month at SIUC

Black History Month 2012 at SIUC features poetry and film, history and ceremony, with the role of black women in the history and culture of the United States as its theme. The event draws scholars and artists both far-flung and local to help celebrate and educate. Films, workshops, lectures, and the annual “Tunnel of Oppression” are all part of the observance. Many events are free and open to the public and take place both on campus and at community sites.

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2. SIUE Finance Professor’s Research Featured in the Wall Street Journal

Understanding corporate stock buybacks can be a tool in an investor’s arsenal, if investors closely examine the trades made by insiders leading up to the buyback announcement. Shrikant Jategaonkar, an assistant professor in the SIUE School of Business, has studied the relationship between share repurchases, insider buying and stock performance between 1991 and 2006. His working paper titled “If it’s good for the firm, it’s good for me: Insider trading and repurchases motivated by undervaluation” was highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article on Saturday, January 21st, 2012 (Buy Signals: How to Decipher Stock Buybacks). SmartMoney.com columnist Jack Hough explored share buybacks and the possible implications of this activity for investors in his article. Hough cited a variety of reasons why managers choose to repurchase their stock and how in some cases this can be a signal to invest in that company. The study shows that stock repurchases associated with unusually low insider buying outperformed other stocks by almost 9 percent over a 4-year period. In contrast, firms with unusually high insider buying prior to stock repurchases earned an abnormal return of 29 percentage points over the same period. Jategaonkar, who is an alumnus of SIUE’s School of Business, earned an M.S. degree in Economics and Finance in 2004. Prior to returning to SIUE, he received a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Arizona. The SIUE School of Business is among an elite 10 percent of business schools worldwide that have earned the prestigious seal of approval from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. The School’s accounting program is accredited through AACSB International. Less than 30 percent of AACSB-accredited business schools also hold the accounting accreditation. For the sixth consecutive year, the SIUE School of Business has been named an outstanding business school by The Princeton Review. The publication’s The Best 294 Business Schools: 2012 Edition recommends the School as one of the best institutions in the U.S. to attend to earn an MBA.

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3. SIUC’s Immigration Detention Project Secures Grant

The SIU School of Law has again received a grant to continue its work assisting detained immigrants. The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation is supporting the law school’s Immigration Detention Project with $2,800 to defray costs associated with providing legal information to immigration detainees at the Tri-County Detention Center in Ullin. Volunteer law school students, faculty and when needed, translators, visit the detention center to interview detainees and assess their legal needs. Immigrants, unlike criminal defendants, are not entitled to counsel paid for by the government, so most of the detainees at the Tri-County Detention Center have no legal representation. Law school student volunteers meet with detainees for intake interviews to collect biographical data and information for initial assessments on whether a detainee has a good legal argument that might help them stay in the United States. For more information on the program contact Cindy Galway Buys by email at cbuys@law.siu.edu.

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4. Simmons Cancer Institute’s Summer Internship Program Expands

Qualified undergraduate college students who plan a career in medicine or research with a focus on cancer are invited to apply for a summer lab internship program at Simmons Cancer Institute at the SIU School of Medicine. The interns will have the opportunity to learn basic laboratory techniques while working under the supervision of SCI research faculty members. The internships will be offered at both the Springfield and Carbondale campus for the first time since the program was created in 2009. The number of internship slots has also been increased from three to four. Interested college undergraduates should submit a current college transcript, a resumé and two letters of reference from instructors along with a personal statement letter describing current studies, activities and future goals. The deadline to apply for the program is March 15. The preferred method of submission is by using PDF-formatted documents emailed to tcasson@siumed.edu.

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5. Elijah P. Lovejoy Library Hosting “Lewis & Clark” Traveling Exhibition

“Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country,” a traveling exhibition, is on display at the Elijah P. Lovejoy Library on the SIUE campus through March 2. The exhibition tells the story of the explorers’ historic 1804–1806 expedition from a different point of view — that of the Indians who lived along their route. During the explorers’ journey to the Pacific coast and back, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their small group of voyagers crossed the traditional homelands of more than 50 Native American tribes. The exhibit examines this monumental encounter of cultures, and the past and present effects of those events on the lives of the tribes, which still live in the region. The exhibit draws upon original documents in the rich Native American collections of the Newberry Library, Chicago, and in the collections of the Washington State Historical Society, the Minnesota Historical Society and other institutions. Photographs of handwritten documents, maps, paintings and drawings provide a colorful background for the story of the encounter. Organized by the Newberry Library, in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country” was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): great ideas brought to life. Additional support came from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Sara Lee Foundation is the lead corporate sponsor; Ruth C. Ruggles and the National Park Service also supported the exhibit. For details about programs for the public in connection with the exhibit, or for more information, contact Library and Information Services, (618)650-4636, or email kbouman@siue.edu.

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6. SIUC Wellness Center Plans Spring Workshops

You can find the latest information about various health and well-being topics at the spring semester Wellness Workshops at SIUC . The Student Health Services’ Wellness Center offers the free presentations featuring the most current and accurate information available on a variety of subjects. The public is welcome to attend any of the workshops. The workshops are held on various dates during the spring semester and all will take place in the Student Health Center Auditorium. The Wellness Center offers educational information about stress management, nutrition, substance abuse, violence prevention, sexual health, relationship violence and more. For more information about the workshops or the Student Health Center and numerous services it provides, look online or call (618)536-4441.

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7. Scholarship Will Benefit SIUC Pre-Veterinary Students

A scholarship endowment has been created to honor a man who practiced veterinary medicine for 40 years. Students at SIUC pursuing a degree in pre-veterinary medicine can apply for the Dr. and Mrs. Carl McDowell Case and Mr. and Mrs. Victor Le Gout Scholarship. Preference will be given to students who graduated from a high school in the Illinois counties of Lawrence, Richland, Crawford and Wabash. If no student qualifies from these counties, the award will be open to all applicants. Recipients must attain at least junior status in the pre-veterinary track program, offered through the SIU Carbondale College of Science. They must have at least a 3.5 grade point average. Two $3,000 scholarships will be presented annually.

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8. MLK Award Winners Announced at SIU Edwardsville

The Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian and Scholarship awards have been announced by SIUE. The awards will be presented at the University’s annual celebration of the birthday of the Rev. King at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Meridian Ballroom of SIUE’s Delyte W. Morris University Center. A reception will follow in the Goshen Lounge for the winners of the Scholarship and Humanitarian awards. Winners of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. High School Essay, Poetry, and Visual Arts awards also will be honored. Recipients of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. awards include Deontay “Sean” Crawford of Springfield, a junior pre-dental student majoring in biological sciences through the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences. Crawford is the recipient of the MLK Scholarship and Humanitarian Award. Cheryl Heard, assistant director of the SIUE Kimmel Leadership Center, who has worked for positive social change for 16 years through St. Louis area grass roots organization, Racial Harmony, is the Faculty/Staff Humanitarian Award recipient. The Rev. Dorris Davis, founder of the Dorris Davis Helping Hands Shelter for homeless men in East St. Louis and dedicated community volunteer, was chosen as the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. Winners of the MLK high school competition awards are Jacob Till-Meidinger of Belleville, a senior at Belleville West High School — visual arts award; Berit Ericson of Columbia, a senior at Waterloo High School — poetry award and Richard Roberts of Alton, a sophomore at Alton High School — essay award. Tickets for the MLK luncheon are $20; students, $15. For reservations, call (618)650-2660.

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9. SIUC’s Morris Library to Host ‘18 Tigers Art Show’

Inspired by a tragic incident last fall, the 18 Tigers Art Show opened Feb. 3 at Morris Library and run all month long. Local artist Beth Martell is coordinating the show in the library’s Rotunda Art Space. It will feature 18 of her intense tiger paintings along with a selection of works from other artists, including children. Everyone is welcome to visit the show throughout the month whenever the library is open. The exhibit by Martell encourages viewers to embrace a new perspective as they view and consider the endangered tigers, their plight and the effects of decisions about survival. To learn more about the project, visit http://www.facebook.com/events/329945110355778/.

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10. Football Salukis to Participate in Annual Souper Bowl

The SIUC football team will participate in the annual Souper Bowl fundraiser at various locations around the community on Saturday, February 4. Members of the team will be outside five area grocery stores - Kroger, Schnucks, Wal-Mart, and the Neighborhood Co-op in Carbondale and the Wal-Mart in Murphysboro - from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. collecting monetary donations for the Good Samaritan House in Carbondale, which feeds needy families in the community. This is the 10th year that Saluki football has participated in this effort.

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