First Gen Faculty Staff

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Last Updated: Jan 16, 2026, 09:58 AM

First-Gen Faculty/staff Advocate Program

This program serves to connect first-gen college students with faculty/staff around campus who have had similar experiences in their respective educational pursuits. Also, this program enables supportive faculty and staff to visually identify themselves to students. The First Saluki Center provides stickers for advocates to hang on office doors making students more aware of whose door they can be comfortable knocking on with a question and showing them a network of support on campus.

SIU's Wil ClarkWil Clark

Wil.clark@siu.edu | (618) 453-4165

Director of Technology Services, Office of Information Technology

Wil Clark is the Director of Technology Services in SIU’s Office of Information Technology. He is responsible for the teams that provide support services to the University community. From his first paying gig writing accounting software for independent travel agencies until now, his focus has been delivering technology to fulfill needed outcomes. IT service management has been the common theme throughout his career from software development to leading complex service delivery portfolios. Wil earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of North Texas. Wil is a recent transplant to southern Illinois and his areas of interest include human factors in computing, sustainability, LGBTQ+ issues, and wandering around SoIL.

carl-franks.jpgCarl Franks

Carl.franks@siu.edu | (618) 453-2935

Admissions Coordinator, Undergraduate Admissions

Carl Franks is a California native and the youngest of eleven children. Carl earned his Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Montana. A former student athlete himself, his career has centered on Therapeutic Foster Care and working as a college football coach at several universities. Carl is currently an Admissions Coordinator at SIU. His hobbies include art, movies, photography, exercise, and watching sports.

SIU's Chancellor Austin A LaneAustin A. Lane, Ed.D.

Chancellor@siu.edu | (618) 453-2341

Chancellor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Dr. Austin A. Lane became chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale on July 1, 2020. A native of New Jersey, he attended Odessa Junior College in Texas on a basketball scholarship and earned a B.A. in psychology from Langston University, an M.A. in human relations from the University of Oklahoma, and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from the University of Alabama

With more than 30 years of experience in higher education leadership, Dr. Lane has held a variety of leadership roles, including president of Texas Southern University (2016–2020), executive vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at Lone Star College System (2015–2016), president of Lone Star College‑Montgomery (2009–2015), vice president for student affairs at Tyler Junior College (2005–2009), and dean of students at the University of Texas at Arlington (1995–2005).

Michelle Freeman

Michelle Freeman

michelle.freeman@siu.edu | (567) 525-9164

Assistant Professor - Classics and History

Michelle Freeman is from Ottawa, OH, and earned her BA in History from the Ohio State University in 2018 and her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2024. Dr. Freeman specializes in the religious and cultural history of the late antique Mediterranean. In particular, she focuses on ancient Christianity from the first through the seventh centuries. Her interests include ritual and practice, the cult of martyrs and their relics, homiletics and preaching, ancient rhetoric, and the senses and emotion in religious experience. She teaches Classics & History courses on Roman Civilization, the New Testament, Ancient Religion, Early Christianity, and Western Civilization. Outside of work, Dr. Freeman enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking with her husband, and reading novels.