Dear Colleagues,

Winter has come to Edwardsville. In mid-February, freezing temperatures, snow and subzero wind chills shut down the SIUE campus for two days. A week later, however, temperatures climbed into the 60s. The sun is rising earlier and setting later. Spring is on the horizon.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to influence instruction, research and other activities on the campus. All students, staff and faculty who returned to campus before January 22 were required to undergo COVID testing, and nearly 7,400 tests were completed. Only 38 people (0.5 percent) tested positive, which indicates that students, staff and faculty are taking precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. An ongoing surveillance testing program has revealed that very limited virus transmission is occurring in the SIUE community.

Read Dean Leonard's full letter.

Reaching back to an ugly time in history and melding it with a current musical and cultural theme to present art which illustrates the intertwined, complex and oppressive nature of U.S. race relations, Kylea Perkins is stretching her creative limits as much as the copper and silver material with which she so diligently and lovingly labors. 

The senior studio art major is conducting the independent endeavor as an associate in the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) program. 

“The URCA program seemed like a fantastic opportunity to delve deeper into the metalsmithing techniques that I was interested in, and it afforded a budget to purchase materials and equipment I would otherwise not have been able to access,” said Perkins. 

Read the article.

The SIUE Graduate School has presented its 2021-23 Hoppe Research Professor Award to Adriana E. Martinez, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Sciences and Department of Environmental Sciences.

The Hoppe Research Professor Award recognizes and supports SIUE faculty members whose research or creative activities have the promise of making significant contributions to their field of study. The award supports a significant portion of a faculty member’s larger research agenda for a two-year period. 

“I feel honored and privileged that this work is being recognized through the Hoppe Research Professor Award,” said Martinez. “The impact of the border fence is not only important to the Texas-Mexico area, an underserved region, but also is a national issue that merits investigation. This funding will provide the opportunity to examine a topic that has not been previously studied despite the impact fence construction has had on habitats, landowners and potential flooding.”

Read the article. 

Looking at race and racial inequality in different ways will be the subject of SIUE Arts & Issues’ first session of the year. SIUE alumnus Rodney Coates, PhD, professor of critical race and ethnic studies at Miami University, will present the Zoom webinar, “The Matrix of Race-Fostering Social Change and Justice” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25. 

The free webinar, presented by Arts & Issues and the Department of Sociology, will take a unique look at race and racial disparities in new ways. Those being challenged will include minorities who have experienced the impact of race in their own lives and members of dominant groups who may believe that society is color blind. 

Read the article and register to attend.

Read the article. 

SIUE Biological Sciences Professors Rick Essner, PhD, and Peter Minchin, PhD, utilized a Meridian Society grant to install informational signs in Bohm Woods Nature Preserve, an old growth forest across from campus, on Saturday morning, Jan. 23.

Local Boy Scout Adrian Hall, of Troop 216, installed a new entrance sign and several interpretive signs for his Eagle Scout project. Fellow Scout Connor Coolbaugh previously built and installed an informational kiosk at the site. 

“We are grateful to the Meridian Society for supporting this project,” Essner said. “Old growth forests are exceedingly rare in the eastern United States and to have one so close to campus is remarkable. Bohm Woods offers a window into Illinois’ past, and we appreciate the opportunity to educate the public and our students about this special place.”

Read the article.

The Women's Studies Program is proud to present the following free, virtual events during March 2021 in honor of Women’s History Month. To register, please visit the Women's History Month website.

Current Schedule of Events:

"The Women Faculty Members Who Founded SIUE: Pioneers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s" 
with Dr. Stephen Kerber, SIUE, Lovejoy Library
March 1, 11 a.m.

"Discrimination and Depression among Latino Sexual Minority Men and Latina Transgender Women"
with Dr. Alice Ma, Department of Public Health, SIUE
March 11, 5:30 p.m.

"Before Roe: Abortion in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands"
with Dr. Lina-María Murillo, Departments of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies and History, University of Iowa
March 16, 5:30 p.m.

"Where are Black Girls Safe?"
with Dr. Aria Hallyday, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies & Program in African American and Africana Studies, University of Kentucky
March 18, 9:30 a.m.

For more information, contact Carolina Rocha, crocha@siue.edu