October 17, 2017

Ryan, Sambursky to speak at Emeritus Faculty Lecture

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Two members of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees will be guest speakers at the Emeritus Faculty Lecture at SIU Carbondale on Nov. 1. 

Dr. Marsha Ryan and Joel Sambursky will each make brief presentations and then open the program for questions during “A Conversation and SIU Trustees Marsha Ryan and Joel Sambursky.” The program is at 9 a.m., Nov. 1, at the Transportation Education Center, located at Southern Illinois Airport between Murphysboro and Carbondale. There is no cost to attend the Emeritus Faculty Organization presentation and the public is welcome. 

Sambursky was appointed to the SIU Board of Trustees in September 2013.  He founded Liberty Wealth Management in 2012 during his fifth year as an LPL Financial adviser.  Before that, he was the youngest executive director in Carbondale Chamber of Commerce history while completing his master’s degree in business administration from SIU Carbondale. Sambursky received his bachelor’s degree in finance from SIU Carbondale in 2005. In college, Sambursky was SIU’s quarterback from 2002 to 2005 and led the Salukis to three straight conference championships and NCAA National playoff appearances. He played in 49 consecutive games, became the first Saluki voted by teammates the “Toughest Saluki” for four straight years, and set many SIU quarterback records. He was a first-ballot inductee into the Saluki Hall of Fame in 2012.

Sambursky is on the board of directors for the Carbondale Community Arts and is the past president of the board of directors for the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. Sambursky and his wife, Samantha, a four-year letter winner for the Saluki Women’s Golf team, have four children and live in Carbondale.

Ryan was appointed to the SIU Board of Trustees in January 2017. Ryan practiced general and breast surgery in Carbondale for 36 years before retiring this year. For 10 of those years, Ryan was also an SIU School of Medicine physician employee. Ryan earned her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma and finished her residency in general surgery at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She practiced general surgery and breast surgery in Carbondale for 36 years until her retirement in 2017. For 10 of those years, she was an SIU School of Medicine physician employee.

Ryan received her law degree from the SIU School of Law in 1987 and taught there as an adjunct professor for 30 years until 2017.

She has held several medical staff appointments at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, serving as chair of the department of surgery and chief of staff. She served on the Southern Illinois Healthcare Board of Trustees and then on its foundation board, serving a term as president. She has been medical director of the SIH Breast Center and continues to be co-medical director of SIH’s Cancer Institute. Ryan has been involved with SIU on its Foundation Board. She served as president and was the campaign chair for the foundation’s capital campaign. Ryan has also been a long-term member of the Carbondale Community Arts board and several SIU arts boards.

Ryan and her husband, John, a member of the SIU School of Law first graduating class, live in Murphysboro. The couple’s two children are also SIU graduates.

For more information about the presentation, contact Carolyn Wagner Snyder, emeritus faculty organization chair, at csnyder@siu.edu.