Dear Colleagues,

As November 2021 ends, we should pause to reflect on the fall 2021 semester, which is rapidly drawing to a close. The SIUE campus buzzed with activity in a way it had not since before the pandemic began. For the first time in more than a year, students, staff, faculty, and community members attended lectures and musical and theatrical performances in the Dunham Hall Theater. Even as these events returned to campus, SIUE continued to prioritize safety. Classroom capacity remains limited, and masks are required inside all campus buildings.

Read Dean Leonard's full letter.

CAS student Taylor Ewing, of St. Louis, was named the September SIUE Rotary Student Leader of the Month. The biological sciences major was nominated by Melinda Stitzel, assistant director for leadership programs for the Kimmel Student Involvement Center.

“It was a great honor being recognized as Student Leader of the Month,” said Ewing. “It showed me that not all my actions go unnoticed and was motivation for me to keep doing what I'm doing. It has also helped me to see more leadership qualities in myself than I recognized before. Winning this award made me encourage others to fine tune their leadership skills and establish who they are as a leader so they can see their full potential and also win this award someday.”

Read the article. 

Adriana E. Martinez, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Geography and Geographic Information Sciences and Environmental Sciences, is one of 12 nationwide members selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of a two-year fellowship by the AGU LANDInG Academy (Leadership Academy and Network for Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences).

“The geosciences is one of the least diverse disciplines within STEM at the student, faculty and professional levels,” Martinez said. “Learning about new techniques and strategies to improve DEI will help us recruit new students, train faculty and create a more diverse pool of faculty and practitioners.”

Read the article.

SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School students had the opportunity to gain knowledge about academic majors and career pathways from SIUE faculty and staff during the virtual CHS Midday Speaker Series hosted Nov. 1-10 by the SIUE CORE T.E.A.M. Department. The presenters shared academic majors, career paths and their experiences in related fields with students to better help them prepare for collegiate academic studies and future careers. 

Kicking off the speaker series was Kimberly Carter, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Social Work. “Social workers are poorly understood, and we are greatly undervalued,” she shared. “A lot of people don’t understand all that social workers do. What are some of the myths? All social workers work in child welfare or public welfare, therapy mental health or case management or with children and families. Some of us do. A lot of us don’t." 

Read the article.

The Graduate School has announced the winners of the 2021 Visualizing Research Impacts (VRI) competition, which encourages SIUE scholars to share the impacts of their research through images.

This year’s recipients are Jocelyn DeGroot, PhD, professor and assistant chair in the Department of Applied Communication Studies, and Emily Petruccelli, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Their works were selected from a pool of 25 student and faculty entries that depicted a diversity of disciplines throughout the University.

• Most Creative Representation of Research Impact: “Octomom” by DeGroot 
• Best Representation of Research Impact: “Pouring efforts in alcohol research” by Petruccelli

Read the article.

SIUE's Lovejoy Library and the SIUE Alumni Association hosted “Behind The Scenes: A Life of Public Service with Congressman John Shimkus, ’97” on Nov. 15. The event highlighted the public service of political science faculty member and former Congressman John Shimkus, whose 24 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives still impacts our community and country today.

“Congressman Shimkus has served our region and the State of Illinois in so many capacities during his career,” said Chancellor Randy Pembrook. “We are honored to have him sharing his experiences as an SIUE faculty member as well as through his congressional papers. This alumni event provided an excellent opportunity for the larger community to learn more about Congressman Shimkus’ life and congressional accomplishments.” 

Read the article.

Segue is a 30 minute radio program airing on WSIE 88.7 The Sound on Sundays at 9 a.m. and is hosted by Kevin Leonard, PhD, CAS dean, as well as Chancellor Randy Pembrook, PhD. This show features interviews showcasing campus and community leaders and discussions about issues and ideas on the SIUE campus and within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Some recent guests include: 

• Susan Kooiman, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology
• Jessica McCaskill, professional and SIUE alumna
• Bill Land, TV play-by-play announcer for the San Antonio Spurs and SIUE alumnus

Listen live at siue.edu/wsie. 
Listen to past episodes at siue.edu/segue.

Do you have any neat projects, important research, department updates, and/or student news/awards/projects? If so and you'd like the story to be featured in a future publication, CAS news, and/or social media, please submit it via email for consideration: cascommunications@siue.edu