Gift facilitated by alumnus Lee Raines

By Jeff Wilson

Incredible corporate partnerships play a vital role in the success of Southern Illinois University students, particularly in the School of Automotive.

“You have a program that students don’t just graduate from, they actually come back and give to the program,” Chancellor Austin Lane said. “Our alumni are out across the country. It really helps when those alumni stay connected because our students can connect and network and get jobs.”

This fall, the school received a donation of nine electric vehicles from Nissan, a gift facilitated by SIU alumnus and Nissan executive Lee Raines.

“Nissan is one of the early adopters for electric vehicles, and our partnership with them has been very strong for decades,” said Andrew Croxell, director of the School of Automotive. “They’ve been extremely generous to us.”

The donation consists of nine new Nissan Leafs for students to work on in the Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center.

“From a pure training standpoint, to have nine examples of anything is really valuable to us,” Croxell said. “Lee Raines at Nissan has been a huge supporter for a number of years. He was instrumental in sourcing these donation vehicles as well as several other components and vehicles over the years.”

Raines, a 1986 alumnus of the school, is the senior manager of aftersales operations for Nissan North America, Inc.

“One of the exciting things that happens from time to time … is the opportunity to provide vehicles to the school so the technicians can learn the latest technology,” he said. “It will allow the technicians to learn about electric motors, transducers, final drive units, along with batteries and battery management systems.”

Beyond his work through Nissan, Raines and his wife, Renee, have established the Lee and Renee Raines Automotive Scholarship.

“Giving back to the university … helps those who really want to succeed,” he said.

To learn more about how you can support SIU programs and students, visit siuf.org.