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Message from Dean Kenneth Teitelbaum
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| (L-R) Ph.D. Graduates Mohammed Al-Nofli, Meagan Musselman, Janet Followell, Crystal Shelby-Caffey, Corey Bradford, Denise Vaughn, Nicole Davis, Beverly Love, Thomas Hovatter, and Francie Shafer. Also (L-R) Mark Dixon; Denise Vaughn and Clora Mae Baker; and Heewon Yang. |
I’m guessing that this was an end of a semester (academic year) that won’t soon be forgotten by members of the COEHS community. Of course, as is often the case, one takes the good with the bad.
The good was that our PhD Graduates Dinner took place on Wednesday, May 6, in the Friends Room at the Touch of Nature Environmental Center. About 60 people enjoyed a delicious meal, formal remarks by Mark Dixon of the Rehabilitation Institute (“The Life of a Scholar”) and Heewon Yang of the Department of Health Education and Recreation (“The Life of a University Teacher”), and comments from dissertation chairs about each of the ten 2008-2009 doctoral graduates who attended. (Thanks to Carol Reynolds, Angie Randolph, and Pam Battaglia for their help in orgainizing the dinner!) The following evening, in Shryock Auditorium, our May 2009 PhD graduates were hooded – and can now officially be called “Doctor.” On Friday morning in the Arena, dozens of master’s students from our eight academic units were presented with their degrees. Anyone who was there knows that it was a special event for me, as I was on stage to “greet” my daughter Emily, who graduated from our Higher Education/College Student Personnel program. (Referring to the number of master’s degree candidates from our College, one of the other campus administrators commented to me, with just a hint of hyperbole, that there would not be a graduate school at SIUC without our College.) All was going well, even when a severe thunderstorm came through town as we left the Arena.
At 1:00 several of us gathered on stage in Shryock Auditorium for the first of two COEHS Undergraduate Commencement Ceremonies, this one starting at 1:30 for the students from the Department of Kinesiology, Rehabilitation Institute, School of Social Work, and Department of Workforce Education and Development. Our Alumni Achievement Award recipient and Commencement Speaker, Dr. Edgar Roulhac of Johns Hopkins University, was present, as was Provost Don Rice, Vice Chancellor Larry Dietz, alumna Dede Ittner, our student speaker (Jenny Mae Bingham of the Rehabilitation Institute), associate deans, department chairs, faculty, students, families and other guests, etc. The auditorium was filling up quickly – and then at about 1:20 we were told to take shelter in the basement and in enjoining buildings and . . . well, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the rest. An “inland hurricane” or “meso cyclone” that one newspaper called “vicious” visited southern Illinois with a ferocity rarely seen in this area. After an hour, we came back to the auditorium to find the power out and people being told to vacate all buildings. We quickly had the graduating students come up on stage and, with the help of Chancellor Sam Goldman, conferred their degrees. That was it for our ceremony, though we did manage to have photographs taken of the students as they left the stage. When we got outside and milled around, it was sunny with a blue sky – and we were all stunned by the devastation on the Shryock quad. Our 4:00 ceremony was cancelled, as no events can take place in campus buildings when the power is off.
Of course this experience was very disappointing to those of us on the stage – and no doubt even more so for the COEHS graduating students and their families and guests, many traveling from a far distance to attend these celebratory events. At least those in the first group were able to enjoy a kind of (very) abbreviated ceremony; for the 4:00 folks (from the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Psychology and Special Education, and Health Education and Recreation), nothing was provided at all. In the end, while the afternoon did not produce the wonderful memories that we expected, it was certainly “memorable.” As of this writing, I am expecting that we will be able to invite all interested May graduates to walk at the August commencement ceremony. The issue of academic regalia (and its associated cost) is still being addressed.
Red Oak damaged on north side of Wham Building
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Uprooted trees in front of Morris Library |
Tree limbs down in Pulliam parking lot
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Unfortunately, many returned home to find that the destruction of the storm had hit local communities as well. Massive trees were uprooted, sturdy power lines were demolished, and houses and cars were smashed. Electricity was unavailable for several days or longer, as was hot water for many of us. As is said, it could have been (much) worse, though I know that is of little comfort to those in our College who literally lost their homes and/or cars (and, in at least one case I know of, their pets).
So I say a farewell to the 2008-2009 academic year that had so many good things happen – many of which have been described in this newsletter – but whose ending was, in the parlance of “the sixties,” a real bummer. I do thank all of you – faculty, staff and students – for making our College such an inspiring and productive one in which to work, a college that continually allows me to feel such great pride in being its Dean.
I know many of you will be teaching and researching, or working in our offices, during the summer months. Still, I hope you are able to take some time for yourself, to enjoy being with family and friends, to swim and hike and play sports, to lay out in the warm sun, to read books for pleasure, to relax, and to re-energize yourself for the 2009-2010 academic year. Remember that we will again have a Welcome Back Picnic (for all faculty, staff and students) in late August. Hope to see you there (if not before)!
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