The Automotive Industry Planning Council ranks SIUC’s automotive technology program number one in the country, but the facility that houses the program is one of the worst on campus, several university administrators said.

SIUC’s automotive technology program is housed in a facility that was built in the mid-1930s as temporary headquarters for a munitions factory in World War II and it no longer adequately accommodates the program, said Jack Greer, chair of the automotive technology department.

“There are a lot of problems with the buildings – they’re just old,” Greer said. “Most of the buildings have no insulation. They’re probably some of the worst facilities on campus. We’ve needed them replaced for quite a few years.”

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The State of Illinois released $3.9 million to pay architects and engineers to design a new facility at the Southern Illinois Airport, where aviation technology is located. The new facility will house the automotive program, the aviation flight and management program and the aviation technology program.

“We have a full set of plans,” Greer said. “They were completed in the middle of the summer. It’s plans that can go to a contractor for bid.”

The construction portion of the project, which will cost roughly $56.5 million, can’t begin without state capital construction funds, Director of Plant and Service Operations Phil Gatton said.

“This has been a 10-year process from start to finish,” Gatton said. “We’ve had to be vigilant so it didn’t fall through the cracks.”

The university has not received capital construction funds for nine years.

“Anyone who has been out there can see that the facilities are woefully inadequate,” Gatton said.

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts, including the three programs to be in the new facilities, turned away 619 students this fall, the college’s dean Paul Sarvela said.

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Sarvela said many of the students were turned away because the program cannot accept all the applicants it receives.

“Mr. Greer’s program is a good example of a program that we have that just cannot accept any more students.”

Greer said new facilities could greatly improve enrollment and retention in the automotive technology program.

“The facilities were never meant for use as an automotive laboratory,” Greer said. “Facilities don’t make the program, it’s your students and your faculty. Our faculty and students are great, but these are just old buildings. Once you build a new facility, I think you attract more students. We need it to keep our program alive. “

Sarvela said new facilities would be safer for students and could open doors for more research, including research funded by big-name automotive companies. When these companies visit SIUC, for recruitment purposes, Sarvela said he asks them to consider granting the university research money.

“One year … I had a gentleman from Chrysler, or one of the big three, raise his hand and say, ‘Paul, I couldn’t bring a vice president out here to these facilities and convince him that we should give some money to SIU to fund a research project because the facilities are, quite simply, falling apart.'” Sarvela said. “So, here we have one of the best programs in the country, but we have a facility that just doesn’t match the quality of the educational program we provide.”

Brandy Oxford can be reached at

536-3311 ext. 255 or [email protected]