Postnet.com. News Commentary. Sep. 14, 2000 | 7:01 p.m.
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) -- Southern Illinois University's new president will lead a delegation of faculty, researchers and state officials on an "educational mission'' to Cuba, a university official announced Thursday.
James E. Walker, who will officially become president of SIU on Oct. 1, and the other members of the delegation will head to Cuba in November. Participants are expected to hold a series of meetings with Cuban educators, government officials, farmers and health care workers during the goodwill
tour.
"This is a very opportune time to embark on this mission,'' Frank Horton, SIU's interim president said in a written statement. "Building strong relationships ... will pay dividends for SIU in the form of cooperative research and other partnerships.''
Among those scheduled to make the trip are former Democratic Sen. Paul Simon, who heads a political think tank at the SIU Carbondale campus, state Rep. Edgar Lopez., D-Chicago, and Keith Sanders, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. An SIU student also may participate in
the trip, which is still in the formative stages, officials said.
Last October, Gov. George Ryan led an entourage of more than 40 people for a five-day visit to Cuba in becoming the first U.S. governor to visit the country since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959.
AP-CS-09-14-00 1956EDT | 