Dear Colleagues,

October represents the mid-point of the fall semester at SIUE. It is also the month in which seasonal changes become most apparent. Temperatures drop, hours of daylight shorten, and leaves change color and drop from the trees. October 2021 has brought welcome news to the campus. The high rate of vaccinations among SIUE students, staff, and faculty, social distancing requirements, and face mask requirements in indoor spaces have successfully prevented the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

In October we pause to reflect on, honor, and acknowledge Indigenous peoples and their experiences. In the first week of the month, a virtual conference examined indigenous knowledge and sustainability in the St. Louis area. 

Read Dean Leonard's full letter.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 48 million people in the United States have trouble hearing with at least one of their ears. Although hearing aids are the most common treatment for hearing loss, the small electronic devices are often costly, meaning many Americans go day-to-day with impaired hearing. 

Tackling this issue is SIUE’s Jacqueline Butler, an integrative studies major, who made use of her senior assignment to help those with hearing loss locally. On Saturday, Sept. 25, she hosted the 2nd Annual Miracle-Ear Mission, a charity drive held at Busch Stadium with the goal of testing, fitting and donating 300 free Miracle Ear brand hearing aids and service to residents in the Saint Louis and Metro East area who don’t have the resources to get hearing aids. 

Read the article. 

The SIUE Graduate School has honored George Diak with its 2021 Outstanding Thesis Award. A Granite City native, Diak earned a master’s in history in December 2020. Having developed great interest in both history and German in high school, Diak was able to explore both at length while pursuing an advanced degree in the College of Arts and Sciences.

His thesis entitled, “Gorleben Soll Leben! German Anti-Nuclear Power and Waste Protest through Images and Artworks in the Wendland 1977-Present,” focused on the town of Gorleben and its fight with the German government to prevent nuclear waste being stored in its community.

Read the article.

The use of nuclear energy and its effects on the environment is a rising topic discussed in modern politics and by environmental conservationists globaly. Since the testing and ultimate use of the atomic bombs dating back to the 1940s, the fight for nuclear power and weapons has been growing by the decade.

Abbey Hepner, assistant professor and area head of photography and digital media in the Department of Art and Design, photographs and discusses these issues in her newly published seven-part book The Light at the End of History: Reacting to Nuclear Impact.

The book includes over 80 color photographs, three distinct maps and a foldout list of every nuclear testing detonation on U.S. soil.

Read the article.

The University Museum at SIUE was awarded a two-year $153,459 grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of their Museums for America program. With the funding from this award, the Museum will improve its collections stewardship by implementing the second stage of the Museum Collections Inventory Project, during which museum staff, graduate assistants and grant funded research assistants will inventory approximately 10,000 objects from the ethnographic collections from the continents of South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.

The project will include identifying and recording undocumented objects found in these collections, completing digital photographic documentation, improving basic storage stabilization, and gathering condition information for each object inventoried. It will also provide a foundation for increased intellectual control and preservation of the Museum’s ethnographic collections and expand the accessibility of the collections and associated data for both research and educational purposes.

Read the article.

Throughout history, the kingdoms of Africa fostered world centers of learning, wealth, art and technology. However, when Africa is covered in history courses throughout the United States, this rich history is often ignored with curriculum focused on the slave trade and colonialism. An upcoming SIUE Sankofa Lecture and Dialogue Series presentation will examine the true history of Africa and discuss the drastic misconceptions surrounding the continent.

The ongoing series features robust conversations surrounding the history of slavery and its lasting legacies, and is organized through SIUE’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, specifically its membership of the international Universities Studying Slavery consortium.

Kathleen Vongsathorn, PhD, assistant professor in the CAS Department of History, will present “Forgotten Narratives: Why We Don’t Learn About Africa’s Impressive History” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 via Zoom. Registration is required.

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: 

• Bill Land, TV play-by-play announcer for the San Antonio Spurs
• Abbey Hepner, assistant professor in the CAS Department of Art and Design and area head of photography
• Marina Bluvshtein, PhD, director of the Center for Adlerian Practice and Scholarship at Adler University in Chicago

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