The College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences has a profound impact on the students it serves and on people across our region and far beyond. We lead research on important issues of health and wellness, such as nutrition and obesity. We provide strategic direction that helps feed the economic vitality of area agriculture and forestry. And we are a guiding force for the sound stewardship of priceless natural resources.
Of course, the heart of the college’s mission is the work of education: preparing our students for life — and for great lives. Professors in the college encourage their students to be hands-on — in the field and the forest, the lab and the greenhouse. They monitor test plots, organic farms and specialty crops. They conduct groundbreaking research alongside faculty mentors. They come to us with careers on their minds, and we feed their curiosity and help them build the skills to achieve success.
As a community, we emphasize the importance of leadership, responsibility and service. Our students host FFA, forestry, and other workshops and competitions, bringing hundreds of high schoolers to campus. They manage the bull sale at the Bull Test Station that we operate as part of the University Farms and also cater university events. They commit themselves to volunteer service in countless forms.
For more than 60 years, our college has served its students with an unfailing spirit of support. As alumni, these students have then reached out to those who follow, helping them take their own places in the broad array of agricultural industries – sustaining all of our lives along the way.
At the College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences, we take pride in the many ways our students and faculty contribute to new knowledge — and the way they put that knowledge to work, uniting theory and practice. For example, today faculty and students in the college are
- Helping protect and improve Illinois’ most important crop — soybeans — by unlocking the secrets to disease-resistance within soybean genes.
- Developing training programs in food safety for area small-scale produce growers and food processors, while also testing the use of infrared and ultra-violet light to reduce food waste and improve nutritional analysis.
- Investigating wild animal populations and their health across the state, helping shape Illinois Department of Natural Resources management policies affecting species such as whitetail deer and river otter.
- Examining ways to protect our waterways from agricultural runoff, improve weed management, and sustain soil fertility—measures with a far-reaching impact.
Our seven-year campaign goal is to secure new philanthropic investment to advance the progress of the college by funding initiatives in several areas of immediate priority.
Increased Scholarships
Our students arrive at the College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences with grit and determination, ready to get their hands dirty, immerse themselves in lab work, or pitch in behind the scenes at agriculture events. However, to afford the opportunity of an SIU education and to make the most of that opportunity, they need our support in the form of scholarships.
Scholarships help free our students from some of the burden of paid employment, providing more time for hands-on learning — students like undergraduate Lacey Armitt, who monitored digestion in artificial stomachs at midnight and again at 6 a.m. every day for weeks, or graduate student Casey Bryan, whose impressive weed suppression study proved equally time-intensive.
The college has long been committed to supporting enterprising students like these. Our funds, however, fall short of meeting the full need we see. Our campaign goal is to close this gap significantly by increasing investment in both undergraduate and graduate student support.
Expanded Opportunities
Hands-on learning stands out as a defining strength of our college, whether it’s through our forestry field school, research assistantships, University Farms internships or work-study projects. Our goal through this campaign is to expand funding for all these programs, allowing more students to take part in even richer experiences. One key priority is our Ideas to Investigation internship program, or i2i. The program pairs students with faculty mentors for hands-on learning that goes well beyond the basics, including original research projects with practical applications.
Enhanced Facilities and Resources
Agriculture — and agricultural education — are resource-intensive enterprises. As a result, investment in the right facilities and equipment is key to sustaining a top-level program. With this reality in mind, the college is seeking campaign funding to replace our existing teaching greenhouse and to move forward with infrastructure improvements at University Farms — projects both essential to ensuring that our students learn in the kind of settings where they will soon be employed, building the real-world skills that will make them competitive in the job market and effective in their work.
