July 20, 2011

Media Advisory -- FAA/ACE Camp Graduation

Barry Cooper, regional administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration's Great Lakes Region, will be among those present later this week at graduation ceremonies for students in the inaugural Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy.

Cooper, Susan Shea, director of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics, and John W. Nicklow, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, will conduct the ceremony.

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to attend the graduation ceremony, which is 11:30 a.m. to noon, Friday, July 22, in room 145 of the Department of Aviation Technologies building at the Southern Illinois Airport. The room is on the west side of the aviation technologies building.

Nineteen ACE camp participants will graduate from the six-day camp, which began Sunday. Cooper, Shea, Nicklow, camp participants, and camp faculty and staff will be available for interviews after the graduation ceremony.

The camp introduces high school students to a wide range of aviation careers, including pilot careers, airport management and airport planning; aviation maintenance, including supply chain management; air traffic control; and safety inspection and management.

SIUC is the only university outside of the Chicago area to offer the ACE Academy in Illinois this year. The camp featured instructors from SIUC, the FAA and the state’s Division of Aeronautics.

For more information, contact David A. NewMyer, chair of the Department of Aviation Management and Flight at 618/453-8898 or by email at dnewmyer@aviation.siu.edu.