Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for September 24, 2006 SIU - EDUCATION, RESEARCH, & SERVICE

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Poshard looks to continue SIU's success in education

BY CALEB HALE, THE SOUTHERN

CARBONDALE - Education, research and service.

Delyte Morris outlined those three components as the essence of Southern Illinois University's mission almost 50 years ago when he was president. And those words, like Morris, seem to have left an indelible mark on the university.

In many ways, Morris is seen as something of a founding father within the university community, said SIU Vice President for Academic Affairs John Haller, even though he didn't take the helm of leadership until 89 years after the school was chartered.

What Morris did do, however, was within 22 years take what began as a small teacher's college and turned it into a full-fledged multi-campus, research university.

That, current SIU President Glenn Poshard said, already makes anything he will do for the university pale by comparison.

"I would never dare compare myself with Dr. Morris, and I don't think anyone else would," Poshard said. "No one is going to equal his contribution to the university."

No one really has to. In 2006, SIU is the second largest public university system in the state. It has four campuses, complete with a law school, a medical school, a school of pharmacy, a dental school and nationally regarded centers of research in both bio-fuels and clean coal technology.

SIU is the university Morris envisioned and helped build, but it may come as a surprise to some that its past isn't enough to ensure SIU remains successful in the future. It may be why organizers of the university's first presidential inauguration since Delyte Morris in 1949 decided to title the event "Honoring Our Past - Forging Our Future." The latter part, obviously, is up to Poshard.

So Poshard, in such a vein of thought, said when he makes his inaugural address Thursday on the Carbondale campus - an event more than 1,000 people are expected to attend - the rhetoric won't be one of self-congratulation but a challenge, one he will make to the entire university community.

The core of the challenge will be to educate, to research and to serve the people - especially those in Southern Illinois.

"Morris did inspire certain ideals, and some of those things we need to go back to," Poshard said. "Like with service to the Southern Illinois area, I do think we've pulled away from that. We're a hug university with a lot of resources. Of course, we do help in a lot of ways. It's not to say we don't participate, we do, but there are a lot more areas where the region can benefit."

Poshard doesn't contend the university has abandoned any component of its core missions, but he will say the system could perform them better. In short, SIU will have to perform them better or risk being lost as a place of higher learning in the general public's eye.

"It's a different time," Poshard said. "You have to be much more competitive. We're seeing a decline in enrollment here on this campus, but there are private colleges, master's schools now. They are taking students right off our doorstep we are not even competing for."

SIU is no longer the only option for local students. With the rise of community colleges offering associates degrees and technical training for the workforce at cheaper prices, Poshard said universities, like SIU, have to convince the public they are an aspect of society worth more than any single degree.

When universities call for education, research and service they will get a different response from the students today, Poshard said. It will be his and the university community's challenge to make sure the response is one that benefits both SIU and Southern Illinois.