By David R. Kazak

Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill, will officially announce today his intentions to teach at SIUC.

The 10:30 a.m. announcement on the steps of Shryock Auditorium, which Gov. Jim Edgar will attend, is coming on the heels of an SIUC publicity boom from last week’s visit by President Bill Clinton and has SIUC administrators excited about his possible arrival.

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College of Mass Communication and Media Arts Dean Joe Foote said Simon’s prominence on the world stage should be more than enough to get anyone excited that he would choose SIUC.

This could be the greatest opportunity in the history of SIU, Foote said. We have not had a man with the depth of interest this man has. He is known around the world for his political courage.

Foote, as well as University Relations Executive Director Jack Dyer, had no comment over the weekend about today’s announcement nor would they confirm that Simon has definitely signed on at SIUC.

Let’s let him talk, Foote said. It’s his day.

College of Liberal Arts Dean John Jackson also would not comment about today’s announcement, but said in an Associated Press story Friday the University will be creating a new position for Simon.

I think if there is a unique niche he has, it is in the area of journalism, mass communication, and that impact on public policy-making and on American politics, Jackson said to the A.P. He straddles both of those worlds very nicely.

Although Foote did not say specifically what Simon would teach, he did say he had a lot of ideas about what Simon could do when and if he comes to SIUC. He said he would talk about those ideas after the announcement.

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Neither Simon nor his spokesman David Carle, would talk about Simon’s future plans. At a fund-raiser Sunday for U.S. Rep. Richard Durbin’s campaign for Simon’s soon-to-be vacated Senate seat, Simon said, Any questions about my future plans will be answered tomorrow.

But Simon’s wife Gene said she is making plans to stay at her Makanda home permanently and is glad her husband has chosen to join SIUC. She said Simon will be starting at SIUC in January 1997.

For 22 years, we have been living at two homes, Gene Simon said. Now we’re here to live permanently. (Paul) is elated and excited.

In 1972, Simon taught journalism at Sagamon State University in Springfield, which is now a part of the University of Illinois school system. He has been active in politics since the late 1960s. Before that he was the owner/editor of the Troy Tribune, a small Southern Illinois newspaper.

Jackson said, I think it’s a big boost to SIU and the Southern Illinois area in general. We are delighted to have one of our own come back and settle here.