(gritty music) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

Why do people go to universities and colleges?

Is it just to get an education, to get a job, or is it about connections?

Well, today's guest, Susan Graham, is gonna talk to us about the connection part.

Yes.

- Yes, I am.

- You are the director of development for the College of Ag, Life, and Physical Sciences at SIUC.

- That is correct.

You got that mouthful correct.

- Do you have, like, two business cards that fold out to put all that on there?

- We kind of abbreviate along the way there.

- In small print, it's fine.

- Director of development, so what do you do?

- So my role, when you think of development, is fundraising, but it's beyond that.

To me, it's about the connections and the relationships and the impact that we're able to make with students, and connect our alumni with our students, and support them in any way possible, whether that's financially, or whether that's of their time and talent, just however we can help benefit students.

And in this situation with agriculture, we're training the next generation, so to continue that pathway of preparing the next generation for the future.

- Okay, I always thought that'd be hard.

The connection part, easy.

Actually hitting people up for the old pocketbook, I always thought that would be hard to do.

- It's really not, because you know there are people, many times there are people that come to us and say, "I wanna help.

How can I help you?"

And it's a matter of having ready, in my mind, and working with our dean to know, what are our priorities?

What areas do we need help financially?

Where can we help a student with a scholarship?

And that's very near and dear to me, is to provide those kids the opportunities with that financial support where we can, but also to connect them then with the people that give them that financial support.

- Is there always some way to try to help a student?

Because a lot of people think, I can't go to university or college.

I can't do that because I, you know, can't afford it.

- Right.

- What do you say to them?

- I say give us a chance.

I always tell students to come to campus.

'Cause I've done the recruitment side before.

So I tell students, give us a chance.

Give us a call.

If you feel like we're not giving you enough or if... I can't promise you we're gonna find the money, but give us a chance to at least look and see what we can do to help you.

Never let money be the reason you do not come to SIU.

Never let that be the deciding factor.

- So you used to recruit too?

- I did.

- What'd you, just to go out and get 'em liquored up and then have 'em sign something?

- Eh, no, not quite, but remember, you're- - Worked for the French Foreign Legion.

- Really?

- I don't know.

- Yeah.

(laughs) (Rob chuckles) No, it's more of handling campus visits.

I didn't do a lot of school visits in my role, but I have done school visits before.

Those are very rewarding.

We recently did a school visit where students were awarded what scholarships they were going to get to come to SIU.

And to see that excitement of them ready to come to campus for that first college experience is pretty awesome.

It's very fulfilling to have that moment.

- You were a Saluki.

- I am a two-degree Saluki, working on my third.

I have to get through prelims for my doctorate, which is my goal for 2026 is- - Dr.

Susan.

- Dr.

Susan Graham, yes.

- Yeah.

So what were the first two?

- First two I did in business.

I did management information systems in the College of Business and Analytics.

And then I did my master's focused in marketing, my MBA.

And my tie to SIU in education was very near and dear.

My grandmother attended SIU in 1926 and 1927, and- - Is there a lot of chicks back then going to SIU?

- There were a lot of them that went in the summers because they would save money and go take classes in the summer, earned enough credits to take the teaching exam.

And then she passed after two summers and taught in a one-room school in Cyprus, Illinois.

- Could you imagine?

- No, I can't.

- That's crazy.

- It is, and I have a photo of her with her friends around the Paul and Virginia statue in front of Shryock Auditorium in the 1920s.

So I was the first one in my family since she attended to graduate from SIU.

So it's pretty special.

- And how long have you been there?

- I have been on campus, it will be 33 years the end of March.

I have been in the agriculture building for 30 of those years.

- My gosh, you look like you're 35.

- Well, thank you.

SIU's treated me well, I guess.

(both laugh) - That's a long time to be there.

I mean- - It is a very long time.

- Either you can't move on, or you're happy with where you're at.

- I am happy with where I am right now.

We have an outstanding group of administrative team.

We have outstanding people on campus to work with.

The students are amazing and- - Are they really?

- They are.

They keep you young.

- Don't you have to say that?

- No, no, for the most part- - Little brats.

- Sometimes they can be.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Can you hit 'em?

- No, we don't hit them.

We may stare them down once in a while, but we don't hit them.

- Oh, okay.

All right.

- Yeah.

Those days are- - Well, by the time- - long gone.

- someone goes to college, they're probably somewhat invested.

- Yes, they are, there's- - So maybe a little bit more of a better attitude than, like, high school.

- A little bit, but it's really also amazing to see them sort of mature and grow while they're in college, through that, well, most of them, through that four years, to be able to see that growth aspect and turn into, from this high school student to this young adult who's ready to go out, they think, and face the world.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) - So yeah.

And we've had so many successful Salukis, so.

And I get to sit back and watch.

- So when you go to... You talked about the connection part of it.

Now explain, you know, the advantages of, like, the connection.

Are you talking networking?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- So there's networking with our alums, with our industry supporters.

I mean, the ag connections are so, there's so many of them and so many people that are there to support our students to be successful, and not just financially but to support them with their career, to be that mentor to them, to be the person that they can go to when they're not sure what to do, or a career decision, or making that connection to get in the career field they would like to be in.

So there's advantages to that network.

And I mean, Salukis, there's just something very unique about Salukis.

It's that community.

There's only one Saluki, so.

- There's only one Saluki mascot.

- Correct.

- In the whole world?

- In the whole world, and that's at SIU.

- It's an Egyptian racing dog.

- Correct.

- Why?

Why?

- It has to do with the legend of, from what I was told, and I need to do more research myself, but it's because Southern Illinois has been named Little Egypt, similar with the two rivers connecting, with the Mississippi and Ohio meeting in Cairo, and then the topography of Southern Illinois, the rock formations.

It's just got that Little Egypt feel.

So it's very fitting that our mascot is an Egyptian running dog.

- I always heard that, but I didn't believe it.

I guess I'm in denial.

De Nile, that's a river.

- Yeah.

- Where were we?

- Talking about students and our programs in the agriculture world.

And our relationships for students is what I feel like makes SIU very unique and brings all Salukis together.

I wish I knew the secret sauce, but I don't really know that I can even define it.

- Southern has always been a bit of a... I always looked at it as kind of like the rebel university, right?

You got U of I, right?

- Yeah.

- And you got ISU that is, like, trying to be U of I. And then you've got Western, and I don't know.

I think they just, like, party all the time.

And then, but Southern, man, we were like the rebels down there.

- Yeah, it's got a lot of history.

- Yeah.

- A lot of things have happened over the years, but Salukis are strong.

And I just think the outlook right now, things have been sort of dicey, kind of uneven for a few years, maybe, off and on.

But right now the future is so bright with everything we have happening.

- It seems like you guys have put a renewed focus on the college of ag and science.

- We have.

- Yeah.

- We have.

- Are you happy to see that?

- I am very happy to see that.

With the merger, when we reorganized, about five years ago now, there was a lot of unknown because it was combining two colleges that weren't sure they wanted to be together.

But the similarities and the way that people are coming together, it takes chemistry in agriculture.

We have biological sciences, zoology, microbiology, where there's a lot of amazing research going on.

And it's all for this, to benefit the future and the wellbeing of humans and individuals, and making sure we have enough food to feed people.

So it's all coming together.

But that renewed push and belief in our ag college and our ag programs has been very enlightening, especially on campus.

From the president to the chancellor, everybody's on board to help us.

- How about you personally, you got any kids?

- I do have.

I have four sons, who are 30 seconds apart.

So they were born the same day.

- You have quadruplets.

- I have quadruplets.

- You have four boys, and you had 'em at the same time.

- Correct.

Two are identical.

Two are fraternal.

- Why would you do that?

- I didn't do that on purpose.

I was three months pregnant before we knew there were four.

I thought there was one.

We did go through infertility treatment.

We were in the first steps with the first drug that did not work the first month, but it worked the second month, really well.

- With a vengeance.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- So I always say God had a sense of humor that there were three, and then he decided that wasn't enough, so he had to split one and make two to have four, so.

- So I didn't know we were gonna do math.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Yeah.

So this was a time when there was a lot of this going on, right?

Because I think they were trying to figure out, like, the in vitro and all that stuff.

- Correct.

- Because you had the quad mom, or the Octomom.

You had the one that nobody could stand.

Her husband breathed too loud.

They had the reality show.

- Kate, right?

- Kate, Kate, yes.

- Yeah.

- "Kate Plus 8."

- Wasn't a fan of her.

- Yeah.

That was right about the time my kids were little when all that happened.

So there was this perception of looking at multiple births in a different way, I think, than we do now.

My kids are 31.

They'll be 32 this year.

So we've seen a lot of changes in that perception over the years.

And I am thankful that they have sort of, I think, kind of perfected or come a long way with the advancement of infertility treatment for women.

Because you shouldn't judge them, in my opinion, because they're just trying to have children.

And this is a real thing, a very emotional thing for women to go through.

So to be blessed with children at all was a huge, huge relief for us.

Now, I wasn't doing it again, but once was it.

I was done.

- Did they offer you a reality show?

- We were offered to go on a couple different shows.

We kind of declined.

Life was a circus enough as it was to add that component to it.

And I've tried to be a little bit protective of my kids, a little bit.

- Because you're a good mom.

- Well, I'd like to think I am sometimes, but yes.

I try to be.

- I mean, those shows, it doesn't matter what, they seem like they just ruin every family that touches it.

- Yeah, and especially back, I mean, 'cause that was many years ago, so even back then, especially, because again, it was just... People would come by our house to see what they looked like, and it's- - Really?

- Yes, it's like, they're babies.

- Did you charge 'em?

- No, it was like, please just leave us alone.

But so this, people, no one knew how to deal with the whole excitement of it.

And I know everybody meant well, but it's just, like, us trying to figure out how to maneuver this lifestyle.

And I went back to work when they were three months old.

I had my SIU family standing behind me and it... It's because I am where I am today because of that support I had through that.

- Well, it had to be kind of difficult, right?

You want kids, and anybody that... You don't understand wanting kids unless you can't have them or, you know, you struggle having them.

- Right.

- It's a kind of a monthly disappointment, and it can be heartbreaking.

So here you are, you have kids.

And then, you know, the awkwardness of having people not understanding what you guys went through, that had to be a difficult time.

- It was a very difficult time because we're trying to absorb having four children.

And most marriages end in divorce.

We're sort of very blessed that we did not end that way.

We're still happily married, at least most days.

And so, and again, I couldn't do even what I do without my husband's support and the support of my family.

My children are very important to me.

But yes, you're trying to deal with all this, and then to be judged on top of it, I think it's made me be very much more careful about judging women, I understand.

I don't understand the full journey that some women have to go through, but I do understand part of it.

And it's a huge emotional roller coaster.

- I can only imagine.

We had four kids that were spaced out, right.

- Yeah.

- Normal.

There's times when, as a dad, I look back, I'm like, oh, not very proud of that moment, You know?

But you- - Yes, yes.

- You always had eyes on you.

- Always.

- If you lost your cool or whatever, you got mad at 'em, they're, oh, well, see, that's why.

- Yeah, I'm glad you don't have my kids here to ask that question.

But no, there were times where it's like, I don't know that I can do this, or, yeah, how are we gonna survive?

I mean, we had the complexity of having one with cancer thrown in there on top of that.

So we had 10 minutes of chemotherapy, with four babies, with one in and out of the hospital.

- Oh my gosh.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- He's completely cured though.

(bell dings) 31 years.

- That's fantastic.

- Yeah.

- Okay, let's get back to Southern.

- Okay.

- Right.

- So opportunities come up for people, young folks that go there.

- Correct.

- Tell me about going to Costa Rica.

- So I have been very fortunate.

We have a study abroad program.

It is a world crops class.

So I actually took the class once, so I went as a student in the PhD program, and then a couple years I actually got to serve as the teaching assistant.

So I got to help organize and keep the students sort of corralled and engaged, and made sure we got them there safely and brought them home safely.

It was an eyeopening experience for me.

It was life-changing.

I had never been out of the country.

So to make it through that process of going out of the country, experiencing the beauty of Costa Rica and their agricultural programs was, it was life changing.

And for me, I was able to see that sometimes students have this barrier in traveling, because they don't know.

It's that fear of the unknown and not knowing how to maneuver travel or how to get on a plane.

Some of these people- - It's intimidating.

- It's very intimidating.

And so to see them overcome that fear and get to experience agriculture from a different perspective is what I absolutely love to do, and so I hope... I don't think we're gonna be able to go this year, but hopefully again next year, we'll be able to go back to Costa Rica with a group of students.

Someday I hope to plan an alumni trip for alumni to have that experience of the agriculture tour.

- Oh.

To Costa Rica, all inclusive, with a pool and a beach?

- We do have a beach day, and it's pretty awesome.

(Rob chuckles) You're on spring break.

It was always during spring break.

So we tried to make sure that the students had a day so they could enjoy spring break while they're still learning.

And I think many of them, if not all of them, walk away with that same feeling of, wow, how life changing it's been.

- I think it's important at that age, too, take advantage of everything like that you can.

Because, you know, then you get into, I don't know, a lot of 'em get out, you got a job where you're just starting, so you can't take time off.

And then you get married.

You have kids.

And then all of a sudden, it's been 10, 15, 20 years before you can have a chance to go and a trip like this again.

- Yeah, correct.

- So I mean, do you push the college kids?

Do you tell 'em, hey, now or never, folks?

- That's pretty much what we do.

I mean, it is a financial burden for some of them to come up with that funding.

We try to get them to start early, save your money a little bit.

It's really not that expensive.

I think our total cost the last year was right around $3,000 for 10 days in Costa Rica.

And that includes all meals- - Flight and everything, yeah?

- Yes, flight, everything, so.

And they also get to do a home-stay program.

So they stay with a host family for about three to four nights while we're in country.

And so they're immersed in the culture to learn it directly from those living there and not just hearing about it, which makes a total difference.

- Yeah.

Emily asked everybody to bring something to put on a desk.

You brought an S780.

- I did.

- Why is that?

- So with the help of my kids, when we had this family discussion about, what would be something that represents me or something that would be a talking point, and one of my kids actually did come up with... Shout-out to Jordan.

(bell dings) He is the second born, and an identical.

But he said, you need to take a tractor because it represents relationships.

And this pretty much sums up who I am, what I do.

I love connecting people.

I love connecting causes.

And this represents one of my relationships is with our John Deere dealer, who graciously assists us with the John Deere program in providing equipment for our students to learn on.

So every year we have received equipment from them with the newest technology, with the newest equipment.

More than likely, probably newer than they have at home on their farm- - Yeah.

(laughs) - to learn on and learn about agriculture so they're able to share that knowledge.

And so, to me, it's all about relationships.

This came from a friend who graciously provided me with this combine.

And I do have the heads in my office at work, but, you know, which one do you bring, so?

- You didn't want to create controversy, yeah.

- I didn't wanna create controversy.

- So this is the big-boy tractor.

So I mean, it's not the X9, but it's the next step down.

So the heads would be pretty big.

- They are pretty big, even without this.

- I only have so much desk.

- Yeah, and I have quite the collection because Farm Progress Show has been an area, a show that I've been able to go to since about 2008 or '09.

And so I have collected the Farm Progress Show additions each year, so.

- It's nice to have green on my desk.

- Oh, I'm glad.

- Yeah, thank you for that.

- I'm glad I picked the right color.

- And the unload auger is longer than the other brands.

So I'm just, you know- - Yeah.

- Read into it what you want.

- (laughs) Yeah.

(Rob laughs) I'm really glad it worked out.

But yes, it's all about the relationships for me and making connections.

- Okay, well, that's great because that goes right in line with what you wanna do.

What are you hoping for the future of Southern?

- I hope we can continue to build on some momentum of things.

We're working on livestock judging team and bringing back some of the traditional ag programs and ag activities for students that maybe has gotten lost along the way.

So livestock judging team, our quarter-scale tractor team coming back online, having the bull test operational again, our ag education program expanding.

We are the servicer pretty much for the District 5 of Illinois FFA.

A lot of events are held on the SIU campus, or we send our ag education students to judge events for our schools out in District 5.

And so we have about four to 5,000 students that come to campus a year with various FFA events.

- Wow.

- And it's exploding with FFA numbers increasing, thanks to our director of agriculture, Jerry Costello, who's an SIU alum.

(bell dings) We appreciate all of their support, but he has budgeted and covers the state dues for FFA members.

So Illinois FFA has gone from 25,000 members to over 42,000 members in a very short amount of time.

And we continue to try to help those students in Southern Illinois with those CDE events, those opportunities, providing career days for them, hosting Greenhand Workshop.

And I hope we can continue to build on that and offer those opportunities for the students of Southern Illinois and beyond.

- Can you play the piano?

- I do.

My fifth child is a baby grand.

- Oh.

- Yes.

- Oh, okay.

All right.

- It was another baby or a piano, so I went with the piano.

- I'd say it's probably a good choice.

- It was a very good choice.

- Yeah, so classical?

- Classical, yes, but I am music minister at our church, so.

- Oh.

- Yeah.

- Do people complain about what music you pick?

- Yes, sometimes, yes.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Just tell 'em, this is what God wanted.

- (chuckles) Yeah, exactly.

Yes, so.

- Does that bring you peace when you play?

- It does.

That's my stress relief is to pull out... I enjoy playing the Baroque period, so I play a lot of Bach, Beethoven.

And it is, when I need to relieve stress, and I have an actual acoustic piano, baby grand, so I'm able to kind of feel that vibration back off the strings.

And that's the way I try to stay stress free.

- But what happens when one of the notes goes out of tune?

Does it drive you nuts?

- A little bit.

I do have a piano tuner.

Now, it does need to be tuned right now, but we're working on that.

- We bought one when my daughter was into it, and I've never... It has a humidifier on it.

- I don't have that, but we leave our temperature in the house pretty much set the same, we don't do drastic changes.

- Is that the key to it?

- Yes, keep the temperature, at least it's worked for us.

- Okay, how do you have time to be a music minister at church.

- By prayer.

No, (laughs) it's time management, a lot of it.

And I mean, it involves, we have gone to technology.

We're a small church in a sort of rural community of Southern Illinois.

But we have started to incorporate technology and look for the future.

- Does your church have drums?

- We do.

- Isn't that kind of like the, I don't know, the heathens versus the whatever?

- I think it used to be.

I don't know that it is so much anymore.

- Our church put the drum behind glass.

- Ours does so you can control the sound.

- Yeah, so- - And you mix it then from the soundboard.

- Sometimes the drummers get a little, the Lord gets in their soul.

- The Lord gets in their soul.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- If people wanna find out more about Southern or what you do, or get ahold of you, where would they go?

- So there's a couple ways.

The easy way to get ahold of me is email at susang@foundation.siu.edu, or they're always welcome to call 618-453- - Something.

- 2469.

- 2469, okay.

- Yes.

- We'll put it down there below.

- Okay, good.

- So don't worry.

- Yeah, I miss having a 628 phone number.

- Do you?

- Yes.

- Well, you could get one back.

- No, it's different.

- Just get a cell number.

- There's no way I'm changing my... I've had that number.

We're sticking with the old 309.

I miss it, but I like, I'm a 309 guy.

- Okay.

- Yeah, it's just- - So what do you miss the most about Carbondale?

- It's beautiful down there.

It really is.

We spent a lot of time going around to, you know, the area, the Garden of the Gods and the national park down there.

It's just, it's absolutely gorgeous.

It's the prettiest part of Illinois, in my opinion.

And yeah, I miss it.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And Winston, the bagel guy.

- Yeah, now, the bagels have come back.

Winston is no longer- - He's no more.

- Yeah, but we do have bagels.

They're really good.

In fact, the students have him come once a semester, at the beginning of semester, sort of a celebration, a student appreciation, and he will set up outside the building, and we all get to enjoy bagels.

- That's the reason.

- And they're amazing.

- That's the reason to go to Carbondale.

Susan Graham, thank you.

- Come to the bagels.

Come for the bagels.

- Thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

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