April 27, 2007

Firms, institutions provide extern opportunities

by Kathy Dillard

CARBONDALE, Ill. — While spring break means sun and sand for many college students, more than 150 from Southern Illinois University Carbondale spent the 2007 spring break week gaining real-world experience by working as externs for companies throughout Illinois and the U.S.

Established in 1984 by the SIU Alumni Association, the Extern Program matches juniors and seniors with alumni and friends in professional work environments throughout the country to learn about their chosen career fields. Throughout spring break, externs are given the opportunity to apply skills learned in the classroom to a professional setting. They work side be side with cancer researchers, interior designers, engineers, accountants, architects and other professionals.

Students also gain valuable career contacts. Many externs are offered future internship or employment opportunities with sponsoring companies or organizations.

This year, the Extern Program placed students in a variety of businesses and institutions, including Boeing, Wachovia Securities, Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, Kartemquin Films, Chicago Housing Authority, Aldi, ArcVision, Denver International Airport, The John G. Shedd Aquarium, Continental Airlines, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

For more information about the Extern Program, contact Tuesday L. Ashner, SIU Alumni Association director of campus programs, at 618/453-2417.

A list of the 2007 extern sponsoring companies in alphabetical order by location and alumni or University friend follows:

Illinois

Arlington Heights: Daily Herald, Richard Klicki '79

Aurora: Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Brad Anderson

Belleville: Ameren IP, Gina Eberhart '00; Carole Hiatt Interior Design, Carole Hiatt '68; Memorial Hospital, Beth Mueth '85.

Bloomington: State Farm Insurance, Kendra Chaney '04

Carbondale: Arthur Agency, Jon Greenstreet '98 '99; Catholic Social Services, Mary Lou Loos; First Southern Bank, Stephen Schauwecker; Gilbert, Kimmel, Huffman, Prosser & Hewson Ltd., Michael Kimmel; h. michael bohnsack ARCHITECTS, Benjamin Howard; Kerber, Eck & Braeckel LLP, Michael Hobbs; Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, David Gray '82; Old National Bank, Melissa Etherton '92; Southern Illinois Regional Social Services, Jean Alstat '95 '97; Southern Illinois Healthcare, Kristin King; A.G. Edwards, Jeff Rose '02;

Champaign: Horizon Hobby Inc., Greg Doherty; Kemper CPA Group LLP, Jack Wetzel

Chicago: Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, Courtney Krupa; Bernardi Securities, Robert Biondi; BrandScope, Andrew Manocheo; Chicago Housing Authority, Holloway Arthur '80 '82; Chicago Housing Authority, Veronica Alanis; Deloitte Tax LLP, Beth Mueller '94, '95; Field Museum, Sam Burns; Freeman Pictures, Barbara Freeman; Illinois Trade Office, Rick Doggett; JobBound, Brad Karsh; John G. Shedd Aquarium, Carol Rudin; Kartemquin Films, Justine Nagan; Ketchum, Mary Lou Finn; Landrum & Brown, Sara Hassert '97 '99; Morrow Design, James Morrow; Teams Design, Paul Hatch; University of Illinois Medical Center, Andrea Rudser; VOA Associates, Robert Munguia.

Coffeen: Coffeen State Fish and Wildlife Area, Kent Boyles

Danville: Walgreens, Laura Black

Decatur: BLDD Architects Inc., Steven Oliver

Downers Grove: Griffin Pipe Products Co. Inc., Dan Henrie '90; Sentinel Technologies, Penny Clancy '95

Du Quoin: Perry County Counseling Center, Melissa Mitsdarffer '02

Dwight: Aldi, Cindy Perryman

Edwardsville: National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, John Caupert '89 '95

Glen Carbon: Illinois Department of Public Health, Mary Christen '82

Glendale Heights: ETS – Lindgren, Alan Rudnick, Jr. '00

Harrisburg: Kemper CPA Group LLP, Dana Robinson '04

Highland Park: Klein Dub & Holleb Limited, Josh Holleb

Itasca: Prism Retail Services, Tom Dennis '87; Summit Marketing, LeeAnn Schumacher

Lake Forest: Lake Forest Hospital, Cynthia Kirk-Carpenter

Lincoln: Robert's Sysco Food Services Inc., Karen Little '69 '83

Lincolnwood: MB Financial Bank, Darla Jansen '02 '03

Mount Vernon: Walgreens Co., Brian Prost '98 '99

Marion: Ameren CIPS, Michael Abba '89 '90; Clear Channel Radio, Gina Heern '92; Heartland Regional Medical Center, Cynthia York-Camden '95 '98; WTCT - TV 27, Fortune Brayfield

Morton: Star Transport, Brian Perdue

Murphysboro: Jackson County Health Department, Angie Bailey '95 '97; Medwedeff Forge & Design, Cynthia Roth '97 '01; Silkworm Inc., Cynthia Mills; USDA Forest Service, Kelly Pearson

Naperville: Wachovia Securities, Robert Siracusano '95

Northbrook: Design Construction Concepts, Michael Menn

Oak Brook: ECC Insurance Brokers, LLC, Steven Stecker '99; Whitney Inc., Joanne Bunda

Oakbrook Terrace: Automotive Youth Educational Systems, Jim Butcher '92

O'Fallon: Federated Insurance, Mike Pennington

Park Ridge: Maine East High School, Michael Harper '81

Peoria: Kenyon & Associates Architects Inc., Leslie Kenyon; Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, Karen Hutton

Quincy: Blessing Hospital, Mary Reiter

Rantoul: Taylor Studios Inc., Betty Brennan '89

Robinson: Kemper CPA Group LLP, Brian Bradbury

Silvis: John Deere, Andrew Foerderer

Simpson: Dixon Springs Agricultural Center-UIUC Extension, Karla Hart

Springfield: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Carol Manning; Greenview Nursery, David Pence; Illinois Attorney General's Office, Julie Moody '90; Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Kamen Petkov '98 '06

St. Charles: Q Center, Dan McGrath

Urbana: Carle Clinic Association, Susan Brown; University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, Gerald Pijanowski; M.V. Kuper PC, Marcel Kuper '71

California

San Francisco: FusionStorm, Josh Krasnegor

Colorado

Denver: Colorado Environmental Coalition, Courtney Krause; Denver International Airport, Dirk Guenther '04

Florida

Miami Beach: Florida Yacht Charters & Sales Inc., Susan Everhard

Orlando: A.G. Edwards, Michael Peterka '90

Georgia

Atlanta: PM Publicidad, Andrea Gomez

Iowa

Cedar Rapids: Rockwell Collins, Jim Fisher '90

Davenport: Swing of the Quad Cities, Greg Sprott

Indiana

Columbus: Cummins Inc., Tereza Roney '04

Elizabeth: Harrah's Entertainment, Ryan Hammer '99

Valparaiso: Aldi, Marci Palmer

Massachusetts

Cambridge: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Amy Digangi

Charlestown: 890 ESPN Boston WAMG, Len Weiner

Michigan

Allen Park: Ford Motor Co., Service Engineering Operations, Stacy Balzer

Flint: General Motors, Bill Szelag '74; General Motors, Dale Hall '88

Missouri

Clayton: Merrill Lynch, Greg Kraus '90 '91

Imperial: Masterchem Industries LLC, Daren Stoddart

St. Louis: ArcVision Inc., Brandon McGraw '95 '96; Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Amy Schrader; Boeing, Bethany Hays '02; Deloitte & Touche, Reena Chauhan; Hyatt Regency, Timothy Combs; Jazz at the Bistro, Gene Bradford; Logic Systems Sound and Lighting Inc., Chip Self; Mackey Mitchell Associates, Cindy Petzoldt; Metro, Scott Grott '86; Midwest Heart Group, George Vournas; St. Louis Magazine, Angela Pierchorowicz; Trivers Associates, AshleyMcClure '06; Metaphase Design Group Inc., Jeff Feng

Ohio

Columbus: WCBE 90.5 FM, Dan Mushalko

Troy: American Honda Motor Co.,Tim Jones '97

Oregon

Portland: Moventas Inc., Thomas Jonsson

Texas

Austin: South By Southwest, Tami Stout

Dallas: HKS Architects, Kirk Krueger '95

Houston: Continental Airlines, Steve Goepfert '75

Wisconsin

Madison: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Mark Felton