<h2><img height="22" border="0" width="176" alt="Feature Story" src="/id0904f67a8017e921" /><br /><br /></h2>
<h2><img height="145" border="0" width="532" alt="SIU System to Inaugurate Seventh President" src="/id0904f67a8012a7a5" /></h2>
<h2><br /><br />SIU System to Inaugurate Seventh President<br /></h2>
<p>The Inauguration of Southern Illinois University’s seventh president, Glenn W. Poshard, will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, in the SIU Arena on the Carbondale campus</p>
<p>Activities slated to take place on each of SIU’s campuses—in the two weeks prior to the main event—will commemorate the special occasion.</p>
<p>First on the agenda, President Poshard will be honored during A Showcase of Success: Past, Present, Future from 10:30-11:20 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the East St. Louis Center. That night, he will attend the annual SIUE Foundation Heritage Dinner, Celebrate Our Heritage of Giving, from 6-8.</p>
<p>The SIU School of Medicine in Springfield will offer an open house in President Poshard’s honor at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, and a community reception from 4-6 p.m. the same day.</p>
<p>Celebrate SIU: A Town Hall Gathering, a question-and-answer session for students, faculty and staff to address the new president, will take place from 10-11 a.m. and again from 1-2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, in Meridian Ballroom, on the first floor of SIUE’s Morris Center.</p>
<p>The following day from 12:30-3:30 p.m., the SIU School of Dental Medicine in Alton will conduct the Advanced Care Wing Dedication ceremony.</p>
<p>The president’s formal Inauguration, Honoring Our Past…Forging Our Future, will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, at SIUC, in the SIU Arena. The Inauguration will be open to the public.</p>
<p>Poshard, who has been a public servant in Southern Illinois for more than 40 years, earned a bachelor’s in secondary education in 1970; a master’s in health education in 1974, and a doctorate in higher education administration in 1984, all at SIU Carbondale. While earning a master’s, Poshard was a high school educator and coach.</p>
<p>In 1984, he was appointed to the Illinois State Senate and was officially elected to the post later that year, winning re-election in 1986. He was elected a U.S. Congressman to the 22nd District in 1989.</p>
<p>In 1998, Poshard clinched the Democratic nomination for governor of the state of Illinois, but lost the general election. During the election, he was known for refusing to take donations from political action committees.</p>
<p>Poshard and his wife, Jo, founded the Poshard Foundation, which raises money for abused, neglected and abandoned children. The couple’s efforts led to the building of a $600,000 women’s shelter in Cairo in December 2003. A new shelter is being built in West Frankfort.</p>
<p>He served as chairman of the SIU Board of Trustees prior to being selected from candidates in a national search to fill the shoes of the late SIU President James Walker.</p>
<p>For more information about the events, visit the Web site: <a href="http://www.siu.edu/pres/inauguration/index.html">www.siu.edu/pres/inauguration/index.html</a>.<br /><br /></p>
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