Alfred Jamal Kinchen is a student with many talents. A junior at SIU, Kinchen is working on double majors in both Aviation Management and Piano Performance. His dream is to one day be a commercial airline pilot but he hopes he can continue to play piano on the side.
A University Excellence scholar and a recipient of the Steven Barwick scholarship, Kinchen says that if it wasn’t for those scholarships, he would not be enrolled at SIU today.
“My parents said they could not afford to send me to college. The only way I could go was if I received enough scholarships. When I opened that letter telling me I won those two scholarships, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders,” said Kinchen. “I am forever grateful for those scholarships.”
When asked what he likes most about SIU, he could not pick just one thing. “I really like the size of the university. For me, it’s not too small and yet it isn’t too big. I also don’t feel like I’m just another face in the crowd. Everyone in both the music and the aviation programs have been so helpful. I feel like I know everyone – from students to professors. It just feels very comfortable,” he said.
Kinchen encourages alumni to give back to SIU. “It is so hard financially for so many students here. I just hope that alumni remember how they felt when they were a student. A helping hand is what so many students need right now,” Kinchen said.
“I hope one day to create a scholarship specially for disadvantaged students. I’d like to focus on giving back to minorities. I think scholarships would encourage more minorities to receive an education like I have.”
Tom Murray is a man of many accomplishments. From 1967 through 2007, he was employed at Sargent & Lundy, a global consultant to the electric utility industry. From 1993 through 2007, Murray was a senior vice president and an owner of the firm.
Murray completed a full two-year engineering program at Purdue University Calumet Campus in 1964 and became an engineering graduate at Southern Illinois University in 1967. He devoted more than 40 years to Sargent & Lundy before retiring in December 2007 as an executive vice president, owner and director of the company’s Power Delivery Services Business Group. He traveled extensively domestically and to the Middle East and Pacific Rim.
Murray is a registered professional engineer in many states and a member of several professional organizations.
As Murray neared the end of his company career, he and his wife, Jan, decided it was time to give back to others.
“We chose to focus on two areas – SIU and Special Olympics Illinois,” Murray said.
Since 2004, Murray has participated with the Special Olympics of Illinois. He served as chairman for the organization in 2008. He is a member of the board and serves on the executive and development committees.
At SIU, Murray serves on the Industrial Advisory Board of the College of Engineering. In 2012, he was awarded the SIU Alumni Achievement Award.
In 2008, the Murrays decided to establish a scholarship for students pursuing an engineering degree.
“We do not determine who should receive scholarship funding. We only care that the funds get into the hands of those students who deserve the help,” he said.
His desire to help others in need came from his early years at SIU. Times were hard financially.
“When I arrived on campus, it was bursting at the seams. There was not a single room available, so I ended up sleeping on a cot out at a farmer’s house outside of Murphysboro for a while,” Murray said. “I eventually found a space at the Tau Kappa Epsilon house.”
Murray said he thoroughly enjoyed his time at SIU, participating one year as a lifeguard at Campus Lake and working at The Club on the strip in Carbondale.
When he graduated from SIU, the country was at war in Vietnam.
“After graduation, I remember I submitted my application to Sargent & Lundy, but I didn’t hold much hope. Typically, you’d have to have many years of experience before you could be considered for a job at that company but, since many graduating candidates were in process to the Armed Forces and the company was under expansion, I got a chance to have an interview.”
Murray recalled that his interview took a full day filled with back-to-back interviews.
“The owner and the electrical department head of the company was the last to interview me. He looked at my résumé and said I have a question for you,” Murray said. “I see you took a transmission line design class at SIU. Are you familiar with the Maxwell-Boltzmann equations?”
Murray remembered his German professor at SIU explaining those equations so he gave him the answers he was looking for.
“He hired me on the spot and that started a 40-year career. I have reflected on that interaction many times. I am grateful for my education at SIU and how it prepared me for a great career at Sargent & Lundy,” Murray said.
The Murrays have given back, donating $230,000 over the last 10 years to SIU. The Murrays have significantly funded a unique annual scholarship mandating full distribution of the annual donation within five years. The couple has committed to donating $125,000 for the next five years.
Dean John Warwick of the College of Engineering said Murray’s commitment and generosity to SIU are commendable.
“These funds have and will support many accomplished and well-deserving students in our College of Engineering,” Warwick said.
Murray’s advice to students is simple and direct.
“Never give up,” he said. “If you develop a set of goals and a direction in mind, map out your path. As long as you stay committed, you will find success at many levels.”
Dr. Atmesh Sinha brought his family to Carbondale in the early ‘70s to start the department of mining engineering at SIU, and retired 25 years later before moving to St. Louis, where he and his wife, Chinta, still reside.
Sunil, the eldest of their three children, spent many summers in Carbondale while attending school and college overseas and was able to experience small-town life revolving around family, community and helping others. As he grew up and pursued his dream of getting a medical degree, he never forgot the community that raised him.
Sinha and his wife, Rupali ’96, have recently established a five-year pledge at $10,000 a year to support the College of Business.
Upon completing his internal medicine residency in Chicago, he returned to Carbondale and began his career with the Carbondale Clinic (now the SIH Center for Medical Arts) as an internal medicine physician, where he practiced for five years.
“There was a particularly challenging weekend of being on call where I covered for multiple colleagues, which served as a tipping point for me,” he said. “I determined I had to do something else besides patient care, so I set out to get my MBA. Although at the time, it wasn’t clear how the MBA would help, I was confident that it would open a few more doors in my career.”
Prior to the start of each semester he recalls sitting down with his staff and working out his patient schedule to allow him to take the required courses for the MBA program at SIU’s College of Business. The challenge was to make Sinha’s course schedule work with his patient schedule for the two years needed to complete the degree. With the help of his staff and support of his family, he managed to balance both.
Upon completion of his MBA, Sinha accepted a job as the director of primary care with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs hospital in Marion, Illinois. His work there opened the first of many doors in the field of administration, performance improvement and healthcare policy.
He next served as the director of managed care at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs health system in Maryland, and had the additional responsibility of chief quality officer for his network of hospitals covering Maryland, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Various opportunities allowed him to subsequently work for the United States Department of Health and Human Services at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington and as a Medical director for public health policy with Pfizer in New York and Washington.
He returned to clinical medicine first as the vice president for medical affairs at Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, then as the chief medical officer for Chenmed for its operations in Virginia and back to his midwest roots as the vice president and chief medical officer for the BJC medical group in St. Louis.
Though he left southern Illinois in 2001, he maintained ties to the area through family as well as with SIU as a life member of the alumni association and as an external advisory board member for the College of Business administration.
“Getting my MBA from SIU was the foundation for the many changes over my career which have allowed me to experience and positively influence multiple facets of healthcare,” he said.
Sinha also remembers advice he received during his time at SIU that he says he has applied to every career move he has made. He recalls a guest speaker from Chicago came to speak to his class about career advice.
Unlike most of his classmates, Sinha already had a successful career, so he was doubtful he would learn much from the presentation. However, the speaker shared about his first interview and how he hoped to get a job in finance but the job offered was in human resources. But, he knew he wanted to move to Chicago and this was a path to get there. So, he said yes to most of the questions and landed the job in Chicago.
“The advice he gave was something I never forgot. He said if you feel strongly about accomplishing something, the answer is always yes and the rest you will figure out,” Sinha said. “In my career, every position has been new and something I had not done before, but I always knew I could figure it out. And I have – just by saying yes.”
Before the sun rose on Joe French’s first day in the world, he already had several strikes against him.
Born in the Bronx during the 1950s, French grew up in the midst of racial tension and dramatic demographic shifts. Born to a bipolar mother, French himself suffered from dyslexia. French’s father determined his son would leave the east coast upon his high school graduation and enroll at Southern Illinois University during the late 1960s.
“I actually never applied to any other university except SIU,” French said. “As a third-generation family member to attend SIU, no one even considered sending me anywhere but Carbondale.”
French’s grandfather attended SIU when it was known as Normal University
With his one-way ticket to the Midwest, French boarded a plane and arrived on campus. Carbondale turned out to be a great home for French, who knew he would be headed in the wrong direction if he didn’t go west to SIU.
“It was the late 60s and early 70s, and there was the flower power movement and all kinds of drugs. New York and the East Coast were embracing that movement, and when I came to Carbondale, that pace slowed,” he said.
“SIU was this wonderful place to decide who I was going to be and how I wanted to be perceived. I wasn’t somebody’s son; I was just a student along with thousands of other students. I got a great education at SIU, and my degree in psychology helped me throughout my life understand people and what makes them tick.”
French’s SIU education contributed to his success as an entrepreneur. He became a millionaire before the age of 30.
“Psychology came in handy on my very first job. I was the first black kid to be hired at a Jaguar dealership,” he said. “In less than six months, I was their number one salesman. I learned that people wanted knowledge about cars, and I also learned that knowledge was powerful.”
From an early age, French honed his entrepreneurial skills and even put them to use at SIU while he worked on his degree.
“I used to travel back and forth to New York and buy these fancy sports cars and drive them back to southern Illinois where people didn’t have access to such vehicles. Those cars sold like hotcakes,” he said. “Right before graduating, I spotted a tractor trailer bed selling waterbeds. I seized the opportunity and bought them all. In a few days, I resold them and made a quick $16,000.”
For graduation, French received a camera as a gift. He went back to New York City, opened an art gallery and started hanging out with budding photographers such as Paul Caponigro and Ansel Adams.
“We would trade photographs and sell them for about $100 to each other,” French said. “I remember I used to get so mad at Ansel because he was the only one who made us pay $250. I thought he was playing dirty until much later when I sold one of his photographs for $50,000.”
When the art market took a huge dive, he decided to go into corporate art, which led him to his ultimate destination of commercial leasing and real estate brokerage.
French published a limited edition portfolio of Porter’s photographs called “Trees.” French donated one of the 25 sets to the Morris Library’s Special Collection.
During his time selling art to corporations he worked with a number of artists including Eliot Porter, a photographer known for his richly colored images of the natural world. His photographs of nature from the forests of New England to the deserts of Mexico became the iconography of the conservation movement. Today, his works are held in the collections in museums as the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
French published a limited edition portfolio of Porter’s photographs called “Trees.” French donated one of the 25 sets to the Morris Library’s Special Collection.
“I want students to know who Eliot Porter was, especially if they have an interest in photography. I also wanted to give back to the university that set me on the path to success,” French said.
Morris Library’s dean, John Pollitz, says that SIU photography classes have already visited the collection.
“We plan on displaying it in the University Museum this fall where everyone can see these masterpieces,” Pollitz said.
When French was asked about the advice he would give to today’s students, he said he would tell them that they don’t have to be a rap star to succeed.
“What you need to do is figure out what you love and if it can support you in a lifestyle you can live with,” he said. “You have to be realistic in your dreams. You need to be willing to go hard and when doors are shut, see if there is another door that can be opened.”
French has a written a book about his life, “French Lessons,” which will be published in late 2019.
The paths of Zac Winstead, Bryan Jenkins and Dan Corey converged at SIU’s automotive technology program in the late 1990s. All three grew up in small towns across Illinois and Indiana and each had an affinity for automobiles.
When they arrived on campus, they immediately knew it felt right. Jenkins remembers coming down to Carbondale with his parents and feeling that instant connection.
“Back then, the automotive technology program was located in the blue barracks near Carterville, Illinois. Even though it wasn’t much to look at, I knew I was home. I remember thinking if I could get a job in the automotive technology field, I would enjoy going to work for the rest of my days. Turned out I was right, “Jenkins said.
Their introductions to one another came through their vehicles. “At first, we didn’t know each other’s names, but we knew each other’s trucks, “Corey said. “I drove a 1989 Chevy S-10, and Bryan drove a 1971 Chevy C-10 and Zac drove a 1977 F-150,” Corey said. They eventually became close friends, spending weekends together singing karaoke at a Carbondale establishment known as Key West.
“In the 1980s, there was a country music group known as the Highwaymen with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson,” Winstead said. Each of us had our own connection to the group. Although we could not sing like them, we had a great time trying.
After graduation, they began their careers and the work took them on different paths across the country to California and Louisiana and, eventually, Michigan.
“If you are in the automotive industry, most roads eventually lead back to Detroit,” Jenkins said.
The friendship has lasted well over the course of twenty-five years. Their bond has only grown stronger now that they all live in the Detroit area. Winstead ‘01 is a director at Ally Financial. Jenkins ‘01 is a manager of Ford’s hotline department and Corey, ’01 and ’02, works as a service representative for Hino Trucks, a Toyota truck division.
The three also maintain a bond with SIU. Corey often returns to SIU for visits when he delivers trucks to southern Illinois. Jenkins serves on the SIU automotive technology program’s advisory board and Winstead has stayed in touch with many of the program’s leaders, such as Michael Behrmann, chair of SIU’s Automotive Technology Department.
Behrmann says their bond is not uncommon in the automotive technology program and many alumni stay closely connected beyond graduation.
“The careers for Zac, Dan, and Bryan led each to different corporations and different parts of the world. Their ties with SIU Automotive and each other continued over the years. Today, their careers have located them close together once again,” Behrmann said.
While many donors wait until the end of their careers to give back, Winstead, Jenkins and Corey are giving back now. Each is donating $500 every quarter for the next five years. By 2024, they will have funded an endowed scholarship of $25,000. Preference will be given to a student who has demonstrated success in the SIU Automotive Program and who has worked in the automotive/transportation industry. A demonstrated knowledge of the Highwaymen will also be a relevant factor.
“Our goal in setting up a scholarship is not to reward the best and the brightest students. We aren’t necessarily looking for a 4.0 student. We are all fortunate enough to enjoy what we do and want to help other students just like us,” Jenkins said.
Winstead agrees.
“Looking back, those were the best four years of my life and I would go back and replay it all in a minute. SIU was a setting that helped me prepare for real life and real experiences,” he said. “I just want to give that experience to someone else.”
For Corey, SIU changed the trajectory of his life.
“It was a beacon that let our lights shine. SIU gave us all the opportunities to do what we love in an industry we didn’t know existed. In the towns where we grew up, there was no path to get there,” he said.
Behrmann is appreciative of the gift and hopes other Salukis will follow in their footsteps.
“The Highwaymen Automotive Scholarship will encourage our students to continue working hard and striving to become their best while also providing much needed financial assistance. It demonstrates the Saluki family support for their future success.” Behrmann said.
Jeffery Leving ’74 recently donated hundreds of rare naturalist paintings to Morris Library. The collection includes 295 Audubon bird paintings from the Birds of America octavo edition; 67 mammals from the Quadrupeds of North America, octavo ed.; and 13 Redouté prints of flowers from the lily family.
Dean John Pollitz shares that when the collection of boxes arrived and he started opening them, he was overwhelmed with Leving’s generosity.
“This collection is so well suited to our university because we have such a strong relationship with nature. We are surrounded by the Shawnee National Forest, we are in the center of the Mississippi Flyway, and we are in the midst of the land that Audubon roamed finding his birds to draw.”
“This donation is a reflection of how our alumni hold this place dear. Jeffery and I attended SIU at a very special time and our lives were molded by those years. I am thrilled that someone as successful as Leving wants to give back to SIU,” Pollitz said.
The collection will be on display at the library beginning April 23 during Earth Week.
Professors, theater program, scholarship pave the way
Zoe Jensen snaps a selfie outside the the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, the first stop of her ‘Hamilton’ production.
By Jeff Wilson
A couple of years ago, Zoe Jensen was an SIU senior pondering her future. Now, she’s playing Eliza Hamilton, the lead female role in a national tour of the world-famous Broadway musical “Hamilton.”
The path to her dream role started in Rockford, where she took violin lessons at a young age, participated in high school sports and the performing arts. She originally considered journalism as her college major but decided to apply to musical theater programs, too.
“I went to the annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival and decided to participate in auditions,” she said. “It was there that I met Tim Fink, the head of SIU’s musical theater department at the time. He told me all about the program, and I was sold pretty quickly. Tim explained to me how it was a small program at a big school, so I’d get a mix of a private and public school feel. This really appealed to me.”
Jensen received the Stuart Fischoff Excellence in Musical Theater Award, which is a $1,000 scholarship given to students who exhibit great potential for success in their careers. It was that potential Fink and J. Thomas Kidd, current chair of the Department of Theater, saw in her as well.
“Tom gave me my first professional job at the McLeod Summer Playhouse. I always enjoyed working with him because he would give me not only encouragement, but also things I should work on,” Jensen said. “As for Tim, I remember a time my senior year when he called me to his office, asking me what I was planning on doing after graduation. After telling him I wasn’t sure, he said, ‘You should go to New York.’ Before I could answer, he stopped me and said, ‘No, you need to go to New York.’ The confidence I felt from him at that time really impacted me and is partly responsible for where I am today.”
It wasn’t just Fink and Kidd who made an impact on her life and career, Jensen pointed out.
“I was so lucky to have so many supportive professors and mentors,” she said. “The great thing about a small program is that you really feel noticed by every professor. You don’t just blend into the crowd. The quality of SIU’s professors, students and productions is top-tier. My four years with them truly paved the way for my career today.”
A member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, Jensen has many fond memories of her time in Carbondale. She sang the national anthem at her 2017 graduation ceremony and received her bachelor’s degree in musical theater. “There are so many days that I miss walking through the nature-filled campus or exploring Giant City State Park,” she said. “I really enjoy getting to come back and see productions, whether through the Department of Theater or the summer productions at McLeod Summer Playhouse. I strongly encourage anyone with a love of music to head to one of SIU’s shows.”
LIFE AFTER SIU
After graduating, Jensen first worked as an actor at the Children’s Theater of Cincinnati. She moved to New York City shortly after and landed a role in the off-Broadway show “We are the Tigers,” a pop/ rock horror musical.
“From that, we recorded an official cast recording, which has definitely been a highlight of my career so far,” she said.
She made her Broadway debut as a cover for the two principal girls in “Dear Evan Hansen,” which won the award for Best Musical at the 2017 Tony Awards.
“A few days into my first week at ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ I found out I booked Eliza Hamilton, the female principal role, in the national tour of ‘Hamilton,’ which is arguably the biggest and most impactful musical in the world right now,” Jensen said. “To say that I was honored, emotional and so grateful would be an understatement.”
Currently, there are two tours of “Hamilton,” and Jensen is on the Angelica tour, named after another prominent female character in the play, which has done more 1,000 shows nationwide.
“It’s the same production, music and choreography as the Broadway show, we just put it in a few trucks and are bringing it to cities around the country,” she said.
Her tour travels across large swaths of the country, including a six-week stop in May 2020 at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis.
“I am so excited to be able to bring the show to St. Louis, because not only is it a few hours from home, but it’s so close to my alma mater,” she said.
THE SHOW
With music and lyrics written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton” became a cultural phenomenon shortly after its 2015 debut.
Inspired by Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of one of the nation’s Founding Fathers, the show uses hip-hop, R&B and soul, along with traditional-style show tunes. In 2016, it garnered a record-setting 16 Tony Award nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical.
“It’s the most beautiful, touching, difficult, intricate production I’ve ever been a part of,” Jensen said. “We at the company lovingly call it a ‘monster’ because it’s incredibly difficult with its many moving parts, but so, so worthwhile. This production has really taken the world by storm. It is a perfect mix of telling a story of someone incredibly important in American history while also staying relatable and giving it a fresh look with its hip-hop music and dance.
“It is a story of an immigrant who came to this country with a dream of success, worked his way to the top, had a family, made a handful of mistakes along the way, and finished his life with a legacy. That kind of story isn’t just touching in the 1800s.”
“Hamilton” is also well-known for its diverse casting choices; which Jensen believes has only increased the show’s impact.
“I am a proud half-Filipino woman, who as a kid, didn’t really see a ton of actors who looked like me on stage,” she said. “It is an absolute honor to be representing diversity in our theater community alongside my castmates.”
The SIU Carbondale alumnus speaks about being a Saluki with the same amount of pride one would expect him to speak about his many accomplishments.
“When you graduate from SIU, you are a graduate of one of the greatest universities in this country,” Burris said. “You are a Saluki!”
Showing his support for the students at his alma mater, Burris established an endowed emergency fund for students in need. Started in 2008, it benefits full-time SIU students from the Chicagoland area or Southern Illinois (south of I-70) with preferences given to African American students. He returned to campus in April 2019 to meet the most recent recipients of grants made through his gift.
During his time as an SIU student, one of Burris’ housemates was forced to drop out and leave the college because of financial woes. “I never forgot that,” he said. “I said if I ever got in a position to help a student, I would lend a helping hand.”
Burris received a $35-per-quarter tuition scholarship in 1955 that allowed him to enroll at SIU. In 1959, he earned a scholarship to study as an exchange student at the University of Hamburg in Germany. He went on to law school at Howard University. At Howard, Burris received a scholarship as a graduate assistant.
“I got my foundation at SIU in political science that allowed me to do very well,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for scholarships, I wouldn’t have been able to make it.”
Even the shortest version of his résumé speaks for itself. Burris was the first black national bank examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for the U.S. and the first black man elected to statewide office in Illinois, replacing President Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.
He has served as an adjunct professor for SIU’s master of public administration program. In 1997, he was added to the University’s Wall of Fame as one of its 10 Most Distinguished Alumni.
Burris offered sage words of advice to anyone in a position to make a difference in the life of an SIU student.
“Make room for visions of other people and help if you’re able to,” he said. “We have to look out for those who are less fortunate. You cannot believe what a good feeling you get inside to know that you have helped somebody along the way.”
Beth Mueller had been looking for a way to honor her parents’ love of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the surrounding region for several years, but nothing seemed to resonate – until she heard J.D. Tanner, director of SIU’s Touch of Nature, speak about the multi-purpose bike path project at a meeting last fall. Part of the project includes a kids’ pump track, where children of all ages and abilities can enjoy bike riding at Touch of Nature.
“J.D.’s enthusiasm about that project is contagious. When I heard him describe the potential, what a bike path of this size could mean to the university and region, and how it could help foster a love of the outdoors for young people, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to honor my parents,” she said.
Mueller, sister Amy Frerichs and brother Jason Rausenberger were raised in southern Illinois and are all proud graduates of SIU. They recently established a gift of $35,000 in honor of their parents, Alan and Pat Rausenberger, to fund a children’s pump track at the Touch of Nature multi-purpose bike path project. Mother Pat Rausenberger passed away in 2013, and father Alan Rausenberger still lives in the Carterville home where they raised their children.
Jason Rausenberger thinks the project will be a great addition to southern Illinois.
“This will be a really neat place for Southern Illinois, and will give families a great new outdoor activity,” he said.” Growing up, we all spent a lot of time together outdoors. Doing things like this has always been a great way to hang out with my dad, whether it was him coaching our softball and baseball teams as kids, teaching us how to water ski on Crab Orchard Lake, golfing at Hickory Ridge or just hanging out on the houseboat with my parents’ dock friends.”
Mueller said the reason they chose to donate to the Touch of Nature’s bike path project, most specifically to build a kids’ pump track, is to honor their parents’ love for children.
“My mother was a second-grade schoolteacher at Streator Elementary School and Carbondale Winkler and Parrish elementary schools for several years and she related to children so well. She especially loved her grandchildren. She was the kind of grandmother who was quick to get on the floor and read a book to her grandkids in funny voices or spend hours blowing bubbles and enjoying their giggles,” she said.
Mueller fondly recalls coming into her 18-month-old daughter’s bedroom well past bedtime, where she would find her mom reading from a stack of books. Her mother would say, “Just one more book and we’ll quit.”
The Rausenberger family grew up staunch supporters of SIU and attended many Saluki sporting events.
“Our dad is a business owner in Carbondale, and all three of us kids attended SIU. It’s just part of who we are as a family, so it comes naturally to want to help the university and the region,” Mueller said. “My hope for SIU is that we find a path forward that celebrates this fantastic research university and also recognizes the unique surrounding physical environment SIU and southern Illinois offer.”
Tanner is leading an initiative to expand Touch of Nature’s Park and Trail System to over 30 miles of a natural-surface trail. Currently, there is no designated mountain biking trail in southern Illinois, with the two closest being in St. Louis and Indiana.
The trail system would attract outdoor recreation enthusiasts from across the country, increase Touch of Nature’s role in student recruitment and retention and establish the park as an economic driver for southern Illinois. Tanner believes such a bike trail could attract up to 55,000 people each year and bring $7 million in consumer spending to the region.
“We’re so thankful to everyone who shares in our mission – like the Rausenberger family,” Tanner said. “I hope people will see the value in the economic boost that this will bring to southern Illinois.”
Frerichs is looking forward to the project’s completion and says it will hold a special place in her heart.
“I’m so excited to see this come to life. Family meant everything to my mom, and it does to my dad too. My mom would spend hours on our deck in the summertime, watching my girls race their bikes on the trails in our little patch of woods, across the bridge over the creek, exploring our own little forest. I guess you could say that we had our own little kids’ pump track, so this will be really special to me,” she said.
In Bob Barrick’s life, everything has been earned. But it has also been founded on his educational experience at SIU.
To give back, Barrick has donated $250,000, including $100,000 for scholarships, to make a difference for future students. His gift will benefit SIU’s Enrollment Management office. He’s also committed another $150,000, which is yet to be allocated.
“SIU holds a soft spot in my heart,” he said. “It contributed to my success in life. If I can help one or two others in life, then that’s what it is all about.”
Barrick grew up in Lincoln, Illinois, and had family living in Marion. After a short stint at Bradley University, he decided to come to Southern Illinois.
Barrick was the first in his family to earn a four-year college degree, graduating from SIU in 1962 with a degree in marketing. He worked his way through college as a soda jerk at Thompson Woods.
At the time, ROTC service was mandatory for all male students, so Barrick spent three years on an American base in Japan doing financial work after he graduated.
“I was away from home for three Thanksgivings, three Christmases, and three New Year’s. I was extremely homesick by the time those three years were up,” he said.
After his service, Barrick worked for oil companies across the Midwest, ending up in Detroit. Over the years, he has expanded his investment in oil companies through his business, Barrick Enterprises.
“I worked my butt off. No one gave me anything,” he said. “College education is very important. I want to help open the door to get others to go to college. It’d be great to help some kid from Lincoln go to college.”
Barrick, 79, is acutely aware of his good fortune and hopes his gifts to SIU will help others experience a life as fulfilling as his own.
“Life is short. I’ve been blessed more than I should,” he said. “If God lets me get out of bed, it’s time to do something nice that day. You can’t just lay at home all day.
“When I talk to the big guy upstairs, he’s been pretty fair to me.”
By Rebecca Renshaw
By Rebecca Renshaw
“This collection is so well suited to our university because we have such a strong relationship with nature. We are surrounded by the Shawnee National Forest, we are in the center of the Mississippi Flyway, and we are in the midst of the land that Audubon roamed finding his birds to draw.”
Roland Burris is a man of action and passion.
Mueller said the reason they chose to donate to the Touch of Nature’s bike path project, most specifically to build a kids’ pump track, is to honor their parents’ love for children.