{"id":4275,"date":"2025-02-27T09:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2025-02-28T13:55:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T13:55:30","slug":"sims-endows-inclusive-scholarship-for-siu-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=4275","title":{"rendered":"Sims endows inclusive scholarship for SIU students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SIU Donor Story: Dr. Cynthia Sims\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4dHrCo9nQ94?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Jeff Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Cynthia Sims has been on many sides of the college student experience, and one thing has remained a constant \u2013 the clear need for scholarship access for all students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was a college student, I really didn\u2019t qualify for many scholarships,\u201d she said. \u201cI was a committed student. It made me feel a little less than. I didn\u2019t feel that I fit in. I didn\u2019t feel that I was valued as a student.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sims was born in raised in Chicago. She left home for the first time to attend the University Louisville. She earned master\u2019s degrees from DePaul University and the University of Chicago. She received her Doctor of Education from Northern Illinois University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first time I received a scholarship was when I went to graduate school at DePaul,\u201d she said. \u201cI jumped up and down. I was so excited. I felt like I belonged to the university immediately. They wanted me there. I felt valued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her Saluki story begins when she was offered an assistant professor position at SIU. She recently retired from the College of DuPage where she served as associate vice president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked at SIU for 14 years, and I loved it,\u201d she said. \u201cI am still in contact with many of my students. They invite me to their weddings and baby showers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Sims was committed to student recruitment and retention. She started two mentoring programs for high school students in Southern Illinois. One was the SIUC Mentorship Academy, which included a \u201cTake Your Mentee to Class Week,\u201d allowing high school students to shadow SIU students for the day to learn about college life. Another program was the \u201cEnhancing Minority College and Career Preparation Service-Learning Mentoring Program,\u201d which included college tours to Historically Black Colleges and Universities with SIU student mentors.<\/p>\n<p>She established the Dr. Cynthia Howard Sims Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship at Southern and wanted to ensure that it benefits students who may not otherwise feel supported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided to start a scholarship without a grade-point average attached or extracurricular requirements,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel that\u2019s important because it\u2019s inclusive. When they complete the essay application for my scholarship, students should be focusing on ways to express themselves and use other strengths to complement their academic strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For years, Sims has seen her mother give back to her community any way she can, and that serves as a major inspiration for her philanthropic outlook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother is big on giving back. She not only donates her time, but she\u2019s always giving money to organizations and causes,\u201d Sims said. \u201cShe probably doesn\u2019t know that I have watched that for years. I like to do that, too, but I wanted to expand it with this scholarship. I wanted to impact more students with this scholarship. My mother modeled that for me, and I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Encouraging other alumni \u2013 particularly Black alumni \u2013 to follow in her footsteps, Sims notes the impact that scholarships play on retention and graduation rates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI benefited so much from my education, and I want others to benefit as well. Too many stop because of lack of funding,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a person of color, I have a responsibility to support other students of color. Call someone at the SIU Foundation. Ask someone at your college or within a specific program what they need. You just need to take the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To make a gift to the Dr. Cynthia Howard Sims Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Endowment Fund, visit siuf.org. To speak with someone at the SIU Foundation about endowing a scholarship, call 618-453-4900.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeff Wilson Dr. Cynthia Sims has been on many sides of the college student experience, and one thing has remained a constant \u2013 the clear need for scholarship access for all students. \u201cWhen I was a college student, I really didn\u2019t qualify for many scholarships,\u201d she said. \u201cI was a committed student. It made &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=4275\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sims endows inclusive scholarship for SIU students<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories","category-philanthropic-women","category-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4289,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions\/4289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}