Director's Message | Summer Institute | SIU

A Message from Our Director

On behalf of the faculty and staff of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, I want to congratulate you on being selected for participation in the Summer 2016 Study of the US Institute for Student Leaders (SUSI). We are working very hard to insure that you have a pleasant and productive visit to the United States this summer. Our guests this summer will arrive from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Welcome! We look forward to getting to know you!

This Institute is sponsored by the Branch for the Study of the United States, Office of Academic Exchange Programs, U.S. Department of State. Participants in Study of the US Institutes are among the approximately 30,000 individuals who participate in exchanges managed by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) each year. Other ECA exchange programs include the Fulbright Program and the International Visitor Leadership Program. Through a range of academic and professional exchanges, the Bureau seeks to increase mutual understanding between the United States and other countries.

This will be our eighteenth summer to host an American studies institute for international visitors at this University; hence, you can be assured we have the experience to provide you with the logistical and academic support necessary for a successful program. I hope the information in the other portions of this web site will help you to make plans for your trip.

The Southern Illinois University Institute is one of a number of 2016 SUSI institutes on U.S. university campuses with funding provided by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. You were selected by Department of State staff at the U.S. Embassy in your country. The Department of State will arrange your flights to and from the United States. You should be ticketed to reach Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday June 18^th. We will receive flight information, and Summer Institute staff members (look for a sign that says SIU Summer Institute) will meet you at the exit from the security area. We then will bring you to Carbondale where you will be housed in a University residence hall on campus.

If you should happen to miss your scheduled flight on June 18^th, please phone me at one of the numbers below to make alternate arrangements to meet you. Also, please contact me if I can provide any additional information on our program. In the meantime, I look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

John L. Foster

Summer Institute Administrative Director