Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

Date: Mar 17 2011
Major: Chemistry (This Major's Salary over time)
I wandered in off the street in Carbondale back in '83 and was walked into getting a master's degree in chemistry from Jim Cox and Lois Dunkerton-both no longer there. At that time, the chemistry department had some very good people and there were some (then) junior people who brought in a fair amount of grant money. In two years time, the department started its downward spiral. My entire committee left for other universities-some of these people had been with SIU-C for many years. Funding was distributed right along political lines and the department head, when he wasn't drunk, was sleeping with students. In fact, most of the faculty were more or less useless, didn't really want to teach, and their research was so bad , nobody wanted to fund it. I also took coursework in the micro department and thought about transferring there after the exodus of faculty from chemistry but apparently the head of the micro department-soon to be a dean, didn't think I was the caliber of student to be in their department. So I applied to other programs and was accepted at Rice, Stanford, and Chicago. I later was invited to give a seminar there and outside of the new department head (who quit and moved back east)and Cal Meyers, who is still there and still contributing (even his own money), I was treated somewhat rudely by chemistry faculty. And you guess it, the place is always calling me for money. I have never given them a dime nor do I intend to do so. I can well imagine that Southern Illinois would crumble economically if SIU wasn't there but for the most part, I was very unimpressed with SIU as an option for the serious, ambitious student.