March 08, 2006
Wellness walk will support scholarships
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A campus wellness walk will open Southern Illinois University Carbondale's 10th annual benefit aimed at raising scholarships for women.
Registration for the walk begins at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, at Wheeler Hall, with walkers going through their paces from 4 to 6 p.m. The traditional "Celebration of Women" reception, including a program, auctions and refreshments, will take place the following day, March 22, in the University Museum at the north end of Faner Hall on the SIUC campus.
Event organizers decided to bring back the wellness walk, staged for the first time last year.
"It was really fun, and every station on campus had good information to give out," said Linda L. Benz, assistant director of institutional research and studies.
Those interested in walking should canvas support ahead of time. Register by turning in sponsor lists and donations between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Tuesday at Wheeler, then pick up a validation card and a map listing campus stations. Walker-donors with validations from at least four stations can participate in a drawing for a prize at the reception the following day. Those who raise at least $10 will receive a free ticket to the reception. All money raised will go toward scholarships.
While the reception March 22 does not begin until afternoon, interested auction bidders can visit the museum between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for a sneak preview of the goods. At 3 p.m. Shirley Clay Scott, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, will present a free talk about the gifts of writer George Eliot to modern feminists, also in the museum.
The reception itself, which carries an admission fee of $10 ($5 for students), begins at 4 p.m. and features comedy by Janet Donoghue, the film "God Sleeps in Rwanda" with commentary by Assistant Professor of Cinema and Photography Cade Bursell and music by the group Loose Gravel. A silent auction runs from 4 to 5:15 p.m. with a live auction following at 5:45 p.m.
SIUC's Women's Studies Program, the Women's Caucus and the Carbondale branch of the American Association of University Women are sponsoring the event.
Direct questions on the campus walk to Rhonda Seeber at rseeber@siumed.edu or 618/453-1467. For questions on the benefit reception, contact Benz at llbenz@siu.edu or 536-2384.
Strengthening the undergraduate scholarship program is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University is following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019