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From its humble beginnings as the stateís second teachers college founded in 1869 with a dozen academic departments and an inaugural class of 143 ñ Southern Illinois University Carbondale now ranks among Illinoisí most comprehensive public universities.

Each year, we welcome students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries who take advantage of outstanding academic programs as they pursue associate, bachelorís, masterís, doctoral and professional degrees in law and medicine.

Students flock to our academic programs and while theyíre here, they fall in love with our lush, rural landscapes and welcoming hospitality. Surrounded by forests, fields, lakes and bluffs, SIUC is a regional nucleus of academic, creative and cultural endeavors. The region is an outdoor paradise for boaters, rock climbers, hikers, nature lovers, hunters and horseback riders.

Our faculty, staff and students capture well-deserved recognition for their accomplishments. Some examples:

• The Princeton Review ranks SIUC as one of the Best Midwestern Universities and one of the Best Valued Colleges in the nation.
• U.S. News and World Reports ranked SIUC, alongside Princeton, West Virginia and North Carolina State, as one of the top schools for graduating students with the least amount of debt.
• SIUC is ranked 30th in the nation for economic diversity (enrolling undergraduates with family incomes less than $40,000 per year), joining UCLA, Kentucky, Brigham Young and others in this category.
• Less than one year after graduation, 80 percent of our graduates are employed full time.
• Ninety-three percent of our alumni have either a positive or strongly positive attitude toward SIUC.
• Our student-athletes lead our conference in overall grade point average. And they succeed in competition. Our menís basketball team had advanced to the NCAA Tournament six straight seasons, including two trips to the Sweet Sixteen. The womenís team was Missouri Valley Conference champion in 2007. Football has been ranked in the Top 10 in the Football Championship Subdivision for the past four years. Softball has been ranked in the Top 25 in the nation for the past two years and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament five straight seasons.
• The SIUC campus will be undergoing more than $200 million in new construction in the next few years, including new academic buildings, a student services building and a new football stadium, creating thousands more jobs and further enhancing our campus.

* Information provided by the "Why SIUC?" page on the University website.