Bill Text: IL SR0553 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates Southern Illinois University System President Dan Mahony, SIU Carbondale Chancellor Austin Lane, the administration, staff, and faculty on making SIU Carbondale a world-class institution. Welcomes the 2023 Saluki Takeover Tour to Springfield on October 25 - 26, 2023.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2023-11-09 - Resolution Adopted [SR0553 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SR0553-Introduced.html

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SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale was
founded in 1869 as the State's second teachers college and has
grown into a nationally-ranked comprehensive doctoral research
university with six colleges, a school of education, a school
of law, and a school of medicine; the flagship campus of the
Southern Illinois University System offers more than 200
majors, minors, and specializations; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale serves students from all 50 states
and 100 nations, attracting students to the State with its
commitment to affordability and access; for several years, the
university has not raised undergraduate tuition; in 2020, it
launched the Saluki Commitment and the Saluki Transfer
Commitment to close financial gaps for Illinois families,
using AIM HIGH funds, and it has eliminated out-of-state
tuition; and
WHEREAS, In the fall of 2023 and for the first time since
2014, there was an overall enrollment increase at SIU
Carbondale, being the highest percentage increase in more than
30 years and the first time in at least 50 years that it has
had four consecutive freshman class increases; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale launched Saluki Step Ahead through

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an agreement with the Illinois Community College Board,
allowing place-bound community college graduates to complete
their bachelor's degree in select academic programs online and
at a lower cost; so far, the school has four dozen agreements
with community college campuses in Illinois, Missouri, and
Texas; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale is classified by the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Research
University: High Research Activity, the second-highest tier;
it is among the top four percent of U.S. higher education
institutions for research; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale offers several rare and
distinctive academic programs, including Illinois' only
baccalaureate programs in automotive technology, dental
hygiene, and mortuary science and funeral service; it has a
unique partnership with major airlines to fly prospective
students to campus for Aviation Career Day events; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale is one of a few dozen public
institutions in the United States to host both a law school and
a medical school and is one of three public institutions in
Illinois to be a member of the Association of Research
Libraries along with the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses
of the University of Illinois; and

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WHEREAS, For more than 50 years the SIU School of Medicine
has boasted of a nationally recognized MEDPREP program as a
post-baccalaureate academic enhancement program serving more
than 1,000 students since its inception and now has the
Lincoln Scholars Program to prepare and equip Illinois' next
generation of rural primary care physicians; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale was the host to more than 30,000
people for the 2017 total solar eclipse and will be the only
campus in the nation to have the privilege of also being a site
for the 2024 total solar eclipse; and
WHEREAS, In 2019, SIU Carbondale joined other state
institutions as a hub in the Illinois Innovation Network, an
initiative to harness the research expertise of Illinois
universities to drive the State's economic growth; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale continues to serve the community,
including the provision of services through the Office of
Innovation and Economic Development and the SIU Research Park,
cultural enrichment through myriad arts and culture programs,
including through the SIU School of Music and the SIU School of
Theater and Dance, Division I NCAA sports through Saluki
Athletics, WSIU Public Broadcasting, which reaches five
million households and covers two-thirds of Illinois counties

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and parts of five other states, the Paul Simon Public Policy
Institute, and the Head Start Program; in 2015, the university
earned the prestigious community engagement classification
from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching;
and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale's Touch of Nature Outdoor
Education Center is the site that originated and fostered the
idea for what became the internationally acclaimed Special
Olympics; and
WHEREAS, SIU Carbondale reaffirmed a long-standing
commitment to sustainability by becoming one of more than 800
colleges and universities across the nation dedicated to
addressing climate change through research and action in
signing the Second Nature Climate Commitment in February 2020;
and
WHEREAS, In 2021, a new tradition began, Saluki Takeover
Tours; in the inaugural year of the events, university
officials visited Chicago and St. Louis, focusing on alumni
and donor engagement, recruitment and retention, and brand
awareness; each city visit included several events over
multiple days; the tours have continued to expand to
additional cities in Illinois and throughout the country;
therefore, be it

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RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate
Southern Illinois University System President Dan Mahony, SIU
Carbondale Chancellor Austin Lane, and administration, staff,
and faculty on making SIU Carbondale a world-class
institution; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we welcome the inaugural 2023 Saluki
Takeover Tour to Springfield on October 25 - 26, 2023; and be
it further