January 05, 2006
Broadcast foundation partners with SIUC
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale students pursuing a career in radio will have a shot at a scholarship and several paid internships under a partnership between SIUC and a leading industry group.
The John Bayliss Broadcast Foundation is providing SIUC with a $5,000 scholarship and five paid internships with top radio companies nationwide for students studying the radio industry. The scholarship and internships stem from the foundation naming SIUC as one of the top radio industry programs in the nation.
Carl Butrum, president of the foundation, said partnering with SIUC as one of the nation’s top radio schools was a “no-brainer.”
“When the board discussed this, SIUC came up time after time. Everybody in the room knew someone from that program,” Butrum said. “It’s the top of the mountain. We knew we had to partner with this University. The Midwest is a great bastion of American radio – St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit. And all those markets have benefited from what SIUC has done.”
Other schools selected by the foundation include Emerson College, Monmouth University, Syracuse University, University of Georgia, Howard University, Northwestern University, Michigan State University, University of Southern California, Ithaca College and Central Michigan University.
The scholarship and internships will be available to students in the radio-television department starting in summer 2006. Butrum said the foundation intends to increase the number of internships and scholarships available at each school in years to come.
Manjunath Pendakur, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said the selection is a great honor.
“We are very excited that the Bayliss Foundation has recognized our radio-TV department as one of the top programs in the country,” Pendakur said. “This is a wonderful tribute to our faculty and staff, who work with our students at different levels. It is also a tribute to the success of our media industry alumni whose involvement in the college helps us enormously.”
Creating friends who understand the University, its mission and its challenges is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University if following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019.