WSIU-TV program focuses on Troutt-Wittmann

The sparkling, newly complete Troutt-Wittmann Academic and Training Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale takes center stage on Friday, Oct. 7, in an edition of "SIU Connections: The Future Is Now" on WSIU Television, the University's public broadcasting station.

SIUC Chancellor Walter V. Wendler and his guest, Paul Kowalczyk, athletics director, will lead a guided tour of the new facility, which involved a $4.5 million addition to Lingle Hall, which is adjacent to the SIU Arena. The new facility houses a fitness center, academic study areas and other facilities and services for SIUC student athletes.

The dedication of Troutt-Wittmann took place on Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 1.

The Troutt-Wittmann tour is the latest in a series of programs highlighting campus building and renovation efforts. The first offering in the series came in August when the spotlight was on historic Altgeld Hall, SIUC's oldest building.

A $13 million expansion and renovation project added 20,000 square feet to the building and provided new and vastly improved facilities without obscuring the tradition and history of the 1896 building.

Currently SIUC is in the midst of $172 million of completed, ongoing and planned building and renovation projects.

The episode on the Troutt-Wittmann center will air at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7.

An episode on the Student Health Programs facility begins at 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4.

Future episodes will highlight Morris Library, the new SIU Cancer Institute at Springfield, the Transportation Education Center, Southern Illinois Research Park, classroom improvements, the Wall Street/Grand Avenue apartment complex and the new Saluki Way campus development plan.