I am excited to get started on my first semester as chancellor, and I am eager to connect with new and returning faculty, staff and students. While this will be a fall semester unlike any other, our commitment to providing a high-quality education in a safe environment remains our top priority. I am deeply grateful…
Category: Campus Life
Talking about safety and the fall semester
As we begin this very unusual fall semester, we have been receiving a lot of questions from students, families, faculty and staff members, media representatives and others about safety measures, classes, housing, masks and much, much more. Our goal is to provide as much information as possible in as many ways as possible – through…
Supporting Saluki success through graduation, Part 2
In my last blog post, I outlined some of the ways we are focusing on student retention, including our efforts to provide early connections, specialized support and a robust campus life. Here are some other attributes that contribute to student retention. Hands-on learning and research sets SIU apart One of our defining features as a…
Supporting Saluki success through graduation, Part 1
I recently wrote about the myriad ways we are working to recruit more students to SIU Carbondale. These efforts are paying off. Our number of transfer students is up as is our yield rate for getting admitted students to register for classes. For the second year in a row, our freshman class had the highest…
Grow personally and professionally: Take a class
One of the great benefits to working on a college campus is the opportunity to expand our horizons by taking classes. For SIU employees who are completing a degree or simply seeking personal growth, the price is right: tuition and most fees are waived for those taking SIU courses on campus or online. I’m personally…
Pack leaders keep it personal at SIU
I recently had the pleasure to present our annual Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards. Each recipient has made significant contributions to SIU through outstanding teaching, meaningful research and strong leadership, both at SIU and throughout the community. The recipients — Sukesh R. Bhaumik, Ken B. Anderson, Farhan Chowdhury, Nilanjana Bardhan, Jeff McGoy and Timothy Lyle…
Great events fill a busy calendar
The spring semester is in full swing, which means this is SIU’s busiest time. There are more events planned on campus than I can keep track of, including theater productions, musical performances, lectures and more. SIU is celebrating Earth Month and Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month while also gearing up for commencement. All of…
Happy Birthday, SIU!
Now that the Day of Giving is behind us, we look forward to a year of events, speakers and general celebration on campus as SIU recognizes its sesquicentennial. I have written before about our themes of Saluki TRADITION, Saluki PRIDE and Saluki PROMISE, and I am ready to see how everyone on campus embraces those…
Saluki family celebrating 150 years of tradition, pride and promise
You may have heard that SIU is gearing up for a very important milestone. This year marks the university’s 150th anniversary, and we have a lot to celebrate. We’ll kick off a year of festive events and more with our annual Day of Giving on March 6. We feel like this is a fitting launch…
Southern hospitality in action
On Friday and Saturday, we welcomed more than 320 prospective students and their families to campus to interview for Chancellor’s and University Excellence scholarships. Chancellor’s scholarship weekend attracts outstanding students from Illinois and beyond who have already been admitted to SIU because they are attracted to our programs and our campus. That’s a very big…