SIU-C Chancellor to Ag: "We Renew Our Commitment"

BY KAY SHIPMAN, FARMWEEKNOW.COM 

The College of Agricultural Sciences will merge to become the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU-C), but Chancellor John Dunn emphasized agriculture will remain strong at the university.

“For agriculture, we renew our commitment. … None of these moves diminishes the importance of agriculture,” Dunn told FarmWeek at the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Chicago. SIU ag college hosted a reception for alumni and supporters during IFB’s meeting.

The university first proposed reorganizing the Carbondale campus in fall 2017 under the late Chancellor Carlo Montemagno. Then, the university went through administration changes.

The current College of Agricultural Sciences will remain in place through the end of June, according to Interim Agricultural Sciences Dean William Banz. “We are moving forward with campus reorganization,” Banz said.

The university will shift from departments to a college-and-school model, including a School of Agriculture and a School of Biological Sciences.

“Restructuring is important because we do have to move forward,” Dunn said. “Agriculture can be one of the areas that we can grow as we move forward with recruitment and fundraising.”

In recent years, SIU experienced substantial enrollment declines. In fall 2019, the university reported a total enrollment of 11,695, an 8.75% decrease from the previous year. The ag college reported 706 undergraduates and grad students were studying agriculture in 2019.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) approved the SIU-C reorganization, Dunn said, adding IBHE “recognized the need for change.”

Illinois agriculture will continue to need field research and study in southern Illinois, the chancellor stressed. “We recognize Illinois is a long state, and the soil changes,” he said.

Southern Illinois farmers face different opportunities and challenges compared to those in other regions, Dunn said.

Starting in January, the university will start a nationwide search for a permanent dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, according to Dunn. Sometime after that, a search will start for a new director of the ag school, he added. While Dunn wasn’t sure when a search for an ag director would start, he speculated that may occur after a dean has been selected.

As SIU looks forward to change in the near future, the university also honored its history. “We’re celebrating our 150th anniversary,” Dunn pointed out.