[MUSIC] >> Coming up on the impact report.

>> This is just one of the coolest experiences of their lives and certainly myself.

>> This is just a stepping stone into something that's bigger and greater.

>> Students from SIU's Able Flight program earn their wings at the world's largest air show.

How this team overcame challenges to achieve their dreams.

Plus, a record breaking fundraising year for the SIU Foundation leads to new facilities, major campus renovations and scholarships for students.

How Saluki supporters are shaping the future.

And this month in the lab.

>> What happens when you put a neurocircuit under a microscope?

We're at SIU School of Medicine to find out.

>> But first.

>> There you go.

>> Summer on campus may seem quiet, but inside the dining and in residence halls.

Crews have spent weeks preparing for students to arrive.

We go behind the scenes with the SIU housing Department.

The impact report starts right now.

[MUSIC] Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of the Impact Report brought to you from inside the Tedrick Welcome Center, home of the SIU Foundation at Southern Illinois University.

I'm your host, Anna Twomey.

We're excited to kick off season two of The Impact Report with some fantastic Salukis stories.

We begin this show with lots of excitement and energy on campus.

Right now, students are moving into their dorm rooms ahead of the fall semester, which begins on August 17th.

The Tedrick Welcome Center has been busy hosting events to support students and families, including the football team's welcome dinner move in day and class.

Registration is just the final leg of what has been months of preparation.

Crews have been making repairs to residence halls, stocking up the dining halls and training the newest team of resident assistants.

SIU Foundation Chief Marketing Officer Britni Bateman joins us from the Towers on East Campus, with more from the dedicated team of Salukis who reopened campus to students.

>> We are so excited to welcome students to campus for the fall semester.

Soon, hundreds will be filling the dorm rooms and making memories that last a lifetime.

>> Summer has been really busy for us.

>> Hey, everybody.

Hey, how y'all doing?

Good.

How are you doing?

Good, good.

>> When Salukis show up to move into their dorm rooms, they'll be the first to experience the hard work.

SIU Housing and Residence Life team has put into making campus a home away from home.

>> Right now, we're in the middle of hall director training, getting ready for those RAs to come in and we're working on the early recall of bringing our dining staff back.

>> For University Housing and Residence Life director Kendra Bumpus.

August is game time.

>> They're cleaning the floors, they're cleaning the bathrooms.

They're making sure everything's sanitary.

Um, you know, doing all the things.

So that way when students come in, they just feel that nice, warm sense of home.

A lot of times it is first looking at what needs to be fixed.

So our trades will get in and they'll fix any water pipes, any holes in the walls, any broken windows or things of that nature.

>> Kendra says the housing department has made significant upgrades to both East and West Campus, investing about $1 million into updates that have enhanced both dining and residence halls.

>> This is when the spaces that got a little bit of a retouch and remodel.

So some of our students hopefully will notice the new tile that we have down.

>> For Kendra, creating an amazing experience for students is all about the details.

>> If everybody cares just a little, it makes so, so great of an experience for our student.

We actually just did a whole training with our staff.

So they went to Saint Louis to get trained by a professional butcher who's been doing meat butchering for 37 years.

>> Good luck to all of our incoming freshmen and returning students this fall semester.

I know our viewers are wishing you well.

Once a Saluki, always a Saluki.

Reporting from the towers, I'm Britni Bateman.

>> In the weeks leading up to the fall semester.

SIU Foundation staff had the honor of hosting several new student orientation programs inside the Tedrick Welcome Center.

New student orientation is a one day event for admitted students and their families that allows them to meet fellow Salukis and learn about the different student organizations and programs to get involved in.

We're so happy to see so many smiling faces on campus.

[MUSIC] Hundreds of Saluki women are gearing up for the fifth annual Salukis Women's Weekend on campus.

This two day event in September is a fantastic opportunity for Salukis to network, participate in professional development and have some fun.

The event is hosted by the SIU Foundation's Women's Leadership Council.

This year, the event will celebrate women in agriculture in recognition of the International Year of the Woman Farmer.

All Salukis are invited to attend.

Those who came last year say it's an event they'll never forget.

>> One of my biggest takeaways from attending Saluki Women's Weekend last year was just seeing other women in our community support each other.

Every woman, whether it was someone that ran a huge organization to someone trying to create change in their community to a small business, everyone was there to support each other.

>> And every time that I attend, I meet someone new.

I meet someone in a space that I'm in, and I always meet a network of a person that can help me with something that I'm always questioning, right?

>> Salukis Women's Weekend is supported by Premier sponsors, and the SIU Credit Union events will kick off Thursday, September 10th with a welcome reception at hangar nine on the strip.

This event will feature line dancing lessons from Urban Cowboy line dancing out of Nashville, Tennessee.

The Empowerment Conference portion of the weekend begins on Friday morning at the Tedrick Welcome Center.

Festivities will conclude with a mentor and mentee brunch for those involved in the Women's Leadership Council program.

A huge thank you to the sponsors who make this event accessible for the entire Saluki community.

I'm looking forward to attending and meeting some incredible Salukis.

You can find all the details about Saluki Women's Weekend, as well as a registration form online at SIUF.org dot org.

When Salukis support Salukis, amazing things happen.

An SIU professor is honoring the legacy of a former student by publishing a book focused on leadership.

The book, co-authored by Dr.

Bruce DeRuntz, is called Work Ready.

Work Ready was inspired by the leadership philosophy of the late William Bushelle, who was an SIU alumnus, a Navy Seal and a mentor whose influence continues to shape student leaders today.

Will passed away in a car accident in 2014.

Net proceeds from work ready will help support a scholarship created in Will Bushelle's honor.

Dr.

DeRuntz and supporters of the book hosted signing events in Carbondale and in Florida.

Where will Bushelle's family currently lives Will's parents, Bill and Paula Bushelle, visited campus to celebrate the launch of Work Ready.

Bill is also a Saluki and a veteran.

We spoke with Bill and Paula about what it means to see their son honored and his legacy celebrated.

>> We couldn't be more pleased that there's a book and that it includes our son.

>> It's very special to me because SIU has always been very special.

>> Bill and Paula Bushelle remember their son Will, as a man who was dedicated, determined and had no problem making friends.

>> I know that Will would be looking down and, uh, and be very happy that we were doing this because he loved people.

He made friends all over the world.

>> Will graduated from SIU in 2004 amid a successful career assigned to Naval Reserve Seal Team eight in Illinois.

At SIU, Will formed a friendship with Leadership Development professor Dr.

Bruce DeRuntz.

DeRuntz says Will shared how his experience in the military shaped his approach to his career, civilian life, and service.

>> We're all sad that Will left us too early.

If it wasn't.

If it wasn't for his leadership principles, we wouldn't have a book.

>> Dr.

DeRuntz's recently co-authored a book based on Will's leadership philosophy called Work Ready, and says net proceeds from the book will go to support the Will Bushelle Scholarship at SIU.

>> As part of the teaching profession as well.

Right.

We're we're gifted with this responsibility of of trying to make an impact on students lives and trying to make their lives better for the future.

Why wouldn't we continue to pay it forward and, and create scholarship opportunities for other, other students?

>> Each year, the Will Bushelle Scholarship supports a Saluki who is active duty, a veteran or active ROTC with a major in engineering, computing, technology or mathematics.

>> I love young people and I love meeting the young people who's been the recipient of the scholarship?

>> Bill and Paula have been longtime supporters of the scholarship alongside dozens of fellow Salukis.

They say their time spent at SIU left them with memories they will never forget.

>> Our memories from our time here at SIU are tied to people.

People we met.

People who became lifelong friends.

>> Thank you so much to Bill and Paula Bushelle for all they have done to support SIU and honor their son's memory.

You can learn more about the Bushelle scholarship and the Work Ready book by looking for this story on SIUF.org dot org.

>> We are deeply honored when I go out on that runway and I see that Able flight, when I see our partners that are out there.

It is absolutely amazing.

And when we see our pilots be able to achieve what they're achieving, it touches my heart.

>> A celebration of dedication, perseverance and honor.

Five graduates from SIU's Able Flight Program earn their pilot wings at the largest air show in the world in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Able Flight is a national non-profit program based at SIU that offers people with disabilities the opportunity to earn their pilot's license.

Students complete this training in just one summer.

The wing pinning ceremony in Oshkosh is the final celebratory step.

Chancellor Austin Lane and Doctor Bob Morgan, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, attended the ceremony to congratulate the new pilots on a very challenging but rewarding summer.

>> I just got my wings pinned and it was amazing.

It's been a great experience coming into Oshkosh with all these planes and everything.

It's almost a bit overwhelming.

>> It is just incredible.

It's just this whole program, I have to say, it's it's life changing.

>> I am proud of what I've accomplished, especially given the challenges in my way.

So I'm I'm proud of it this year.

>> Able flight is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

SIU is proud that Able Flight has chosen our campus as its home base.

Learn more about Able Flight by looking for this story on SIUF.org.

Salukis and aviation are truly everywhere.

While attending the Able Flight graduation at the Oshkosh Air Show, we caught up with 2013 alumnus Curt Lewis out at the Warbird section of the air show.

Curt is a talented pilot who flies a C-47 called the Wabbit Express.

C-47 planes were used in World War Two to transport troops and supplies.

Curt is a pilot full time for a major airline, but when he can, he flies the Wabbit Express around the country so others can learn about its history.

Curt says his time at SIU gave him the skills he needed to fly.

>> We're here at my favorite place on earth Oshkosh, Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture.

I've been coming here since I was four years old in 1994 and haven't missed a single one.

And I'm blessed to be able to fly the Lambert Express, a C-47 today that, uh, honoring the veterans of World War Two would have been used in World War Two to drop paratroopers or tow gliders or haul cargo around and is, uh, kind of commonly referred to as one of the five things that won us the Second World War.

Being able to go to sea was awesome.

I grew up in Rockford, Illinois, so it was the perfect distance from home.

Um, I just, I loved everything about it.

I hustled and was able to get a four year degree in three years, which I kind of regret because I didn't get to spend the full four years down there like a lot of my friends did.

>> We had so much fun meeting Curt and taking a look inside this historic aircraft.

Cheers to all of our Salukis in aviation doing amazing things.

Sean Boyle has been a professor at SIU for 30 years, teaching automotive technology to generations of students.

Sean's teaching covers everything from automatic transmissions to electric vehicles.

He's the first faculty member in the automotive program to make full.

Professor Sean is one of our amazing SIU faculty on the front lines.

Here's his story from inside the automotive program at the Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center.

>> Hi, my name is Sean Boyle.

I teach in the Automotive Technology program here at SIU.

Recently, I got promoted to full professor.

I was the first automotive professor to ever get promoted to that position.

So we focus on rebuilding, uh, diagnostics, problem solving, troubleshooting, and pretty much everything that has surrounded the service industry, from writing diagnostics to training to fixing a car and diagnosing it.

So my research kind of revolves around that.

I try to bring anything and everything that I research back into the classroom.

Recently, I was able to go to Australia over the summer in July, which is their winter.

But I'll be honest with you, it was beautiful there, so I couldn't imagine how hot it would be in the middle of the summer.

they have this big new influx of electric vehicles.

So these shops are kind of getting into these.

And so on.

One day I did a presentation on just basic electric vehicle technology, and on another day it was later on in the week, I did a presentation to the Victorian government there on electric vehicles and their safety.

What I like the most about SIU and teaching here at SIU.

I love the freedom that we have here.

If you're interested in something, if you have that question, it's like, how does this work?

How does that work?

What kind of research can I do to support that?

There's nobody saying that it's a bad idea or don't bother with it.

>> We're so thankful for Sean's dedication to SIU.

If you'd like to learn more about his work, be sure to check out the SIU automotive page on YouTube, where Sean's educational videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

Coming up.

>> Really, the meat of what we.

>> Do.

>> Is to then dive into the brain and look for these very specific changes in neuronal activity.

>> We go inside a behavioral science lab at the SIU School of Medicine.

How their research could lead to new treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Stay tuned.

[MUSIC] Welcome back and we hope you're enjoying the show at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, health care leaders are conducting groundbreaking research that is having a positive impact on communities across the country.

Inside Doctor Ben Richardson's lab.

He and his team are studying neurodevelopmental disorders.

More specifically, they're looking at genetic and environmental risk factors in hopes of developing new options for the treatment of disorders such as autism, addiction and depression.

Much of the resources in his lab are dedicated to studying the brain and behavior.

SIU Foundation Chief Operating Officer Jeff Gleim heads into the lab with Doctor Richardson to observe his research in real time and discover how his work could lead to new treatments in the future.

>> We're here at the capital city of Springfield, Illinois, at SIU's Medical Campus.

And with me is Doctor Ben Richardson.

So, Ben, tell our audience a little bit about who you are and what you do here.

>> So I run the neural circuits lab here at SIU School of Medicine on the Springfield campus, and we try to look inside the brain and understand a little bit about what's happening in the context of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.

>> I think we're going to go take a tour of the facilities.

>> We'll see the lab, see some students in action.

>> Okay.

We're just now going to take a look at my brain, though, right?

>> Only if you really want to.

>> Okay.

Okay.

>> Yeah.

So we're on the third floor of our research building here at SIU School of Medicine.

What we focus on is trying to understand how certain risk factors that are associated with disorders like neuropsychiatric disorders and especially neurodevelopmental disorders.

We want to know what these risk factors do to the brain to then shape the way an organism might change the way they process information or behave differently.

So one of the things we do here is record the activity of an individual neuron in its circuit within the brain.

So you.

>> Use the.

>> Word circuit or circuits.

Yeah.

>> What is.

>> What.

>> Is that.

>> So the brain's wired a lot like a circuit board on a computer or the circuit that runs power to your house.

The really the heart of what we're trying to do here is identify those very specific changes at either an individual neuron level or in a circuit level.

One of the main areas that we're working in is, is in this area of autism spectrum disorder, right?

So again, we have an animal that's missing one of these key genes that we know when it's missing in people.

Those people very often, at least 80% of the time get diagnosed with autism.

>> Or the circuits that malfunction or whatever.

Are they fixable?

>> That's the hope, really.

The meat of what we do is to then dive into the brain and look for these very specific changes in neuronal activity and how they change, how neurons change the way that they're communicating with each other.

Because if we can, then we can identify a very specific molecular change that's potentially druggable.

So this is actually a cell of an animal that has a genetic manipulation.

We take that tissue sample and we put it here in this well plate right here.

>> What we're looking at is a healthy cell and it's performing the way it's supposed to.

Is that the third grade version of this?

>> It's pretty accurate.

>> Well, hey, third grade, I got it.

Why are we doing this?

>> These types of neurons transition from behaving very regularly to very irregularly.

And this is something that Iqra Ahmed.

So she's also a second year graduate student in our program has been working on.

And so she's looking at pattern expression in very specific brain circuits as well.

>> So we are actually trying to identify that if these molecular patterns are different in stress mice compared to the ones that are non stressed.

>> And as Iqra said, what we're trying to do here is see if there's a pattern change in what an individual neuron might express or, or might have present inside of it.

That would correspond to some of the changes we see using that functional assessment.

>> What are you in hopes of trying to solve?

>> So in an ideal world, we're able to come up with new treatments, new avenues for treatments for diseases like autism, spectrum disorder, ADHD, anything related to negative outcomes that occur in response to early life stress.

>> Ben, thank you so much.

>> It was great to have you.

>> We appreciate it.

Hope everybody learned something today.

And back to you in the studio, Anna.

>> Thanks, Jeff.

What a fantastic and very educational visit to Springfield.

We're so impressed by the work the SIU School of Medicine is involved in.

Learn more about the school by heading over to SIU med.edu.

Coming up, the stories behind record breaking numbers how the biggest fundraising year in the SIU Foundation's history has been the catalyst for major change on campus.

Stay tuned.

[MUSIC] Welcome back and thanks for watching the impact report.

The SIU Foundation is celebrating a huge milestone.

During this last fiscal year, we witnessed the most successful fundraising period in our organization's history, raising $54 million for SIU.

This record breaking total will have a profound impact on future Salukis.

Joining me now in our East Lobby studio is SIU Foundation CEO Matt Kupec.

Matt, thanks for joining us as a guest today to talk about this amazing news here at the Foundation.

How does it feel to make history?

>> It's pretty spectacular.

Anna.

And just think about that $54 million.

That's 40% increase over the year before.

And you know what?

It's just a testimony to a lot of people, starting with the leadership of the university Chancellor Lane, and the great leadership we have here on campus and through our incredible foundation staff.

What I do believe we have the best team in America here.

You know, Alicia Keys had a great story, a great song, because this girl's on fire.

We like to say this university is on fire.

And the $54 million is a big, big example of the great things that are going on in the university that people want to invest in this place.

>> Yeah.

Matt, you're talking numbers.

Let's walk over to our data board here and really break down this 54 million, right?

I mean, such an impressive number, like you said, 40% increase over the previous year.

That's fantastic.

Almost 7 million of that 54 million was scholarships.

And I know that's really special to you.

That's direct aid to students.

>> It's a big part of 54 million.

You got to humanize it.

You got to personalize it.

You mentioned that means $7 million.

That's over $1 million more than we gave the year before.

Think about it.

Two out of ten students at SIU receive a foundation scholarship that's changing lives.

Think about it.

That's giving opportunities.

That's giving young people a chance to buy a book.

Maybe who couldn't afford it, you know, to come to school.

You'll get this great education and it leads to then us as a university being a high opportunity, higher access university.

Students come here, get a great education, then they go on and lead productive and meaningful lives, you know?

And that's philanthropy is, you know, the accelerator to the university.

>> Absolutely.

A real dollars having real impact.

Matt, I'm going to walk us over to our hologram board, which is showing video from some of the events that were hosted, celebrating gifts that are part of that $54 million.

And it's you know I love watching the video because you see all these smiling faces.

The chancellor there all the excitement at these ribbon cuttings.

Can you talk to us about some of these projects.

>> We're looking at Charlotte Thompson Suhler right there, a pioneer in the field of advertising and Marketing, a graduate of this school giving back.

And that money supports our faculty and our students.

But what a message and what a reminder the impact of our university.

>> Yeah, like you said, Matt, we're a university on fire.

And that's all thanks to our alumni and supporters.

And to wrap us up here, you know, any final message you want to give to them about the impact they're having here at SIU?

>> You're making a difference.

You know, there's we have a great expression.

We love to the world.

You may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

So think about that.

No matter what the gift size is, it could be a $200 book fund.

It could be a full scholarship.

But to the student receiving it or the faculty getting the word, you become the world because you're changing their lives.

So we think about that each and every day we change lives here.

So as you're an alum, a donor, you're giving to this place.

What a, what a great legacy to leave.

People love this place.

What a great way to give back.

Change a life because that's what you're doing.

>> Matt, that was excellent.

Thanks so much for coming on today and congratulations on this big news.

So many amazing things happening on campus.

We'll continue to cover it here on the impact report.

And we'll be right back after this short break.

>> Every day, Salukis make a difference in classrooms, hospitals, farms, boardrooms, laboratories and communities around the world.

Together, they represent Southern Illinois University as one of only 21 universities out of 4000 in the nation, recognized as both a research one and an opportunity University.

SIU is driving discovery, expanding opportunity and preparing the next generation of leaders.

On one day, we come together, help paint the map maroon by representing your state or country with a gift.

Together, we'll celebrate the worldwide impact of the Saluki family.

We ask you to join us by making a gift during the 11th SIU day of giving at SIU day.

SIU.edu.

[MUSIC] >> Welcome back.

Let's check out a moment from this month in SIU history, courtesy of our friends over at Morris Library Special Collections.

As we celebrate our students moving in for the fall 2020 semester, we had to do a throwback to August move in of decades past.

These amazing photos from Morris Library show new student move in from as early as 1955 all the way through 1990.

It's so fun to see the changes in what students decided to pack for college through the decades.

Alumni often ask us if the towers are still standing.

They are, and they've been updated through the years.

We'll wrap up this episode of The Impact Report by serving up some good Salukis news from the SIU Rec Center.

The director of the SIU rec center, Corne Prozesky, will be competing in the Pickleball World Cup in Vietnam later this month.

What an incredible accomplishment.

Corne is a double graduate of SIU 2002 and 2004, and was on the swimming and diving team.

He's worked at the rec center for more than 20 years.

Good luck.

Corne.

Thank you for watching the impact report hosted inside the Tedrick Welcome Center.

You can find all the stories we covered and more at SIUF.org.

We'll air a new report once a month, and if you miss it, you can find it on the SIU Foundation's YouTube channel.

Take care and we'll see you next month.

Go, dawgs!

[MUSIC]