Students interested in going to graduate school did not need to look any farther than the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Wednesday.

Twenty schools, including Eastern, were represented at the fair.

Kelly Fox, assistant director of graduate admission at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, said her school predominantly gets interest in its education and nursing programs.

Saint Xavier also provides programs in business administration, computer science and speech language pathology.

She said she has attended fairs in the past because it is a good way to reach out to students.

“By nature, a lot of students at Eastern are from the surrounding areas,” Fox said. “We are based in the south side of Chicago and a lot of Eastern students are from nearby areas or from Chicago.”

Also at the information day was the University of Illinois in Champaign. U of I has about 300 different programs in around 100 different departments of study.

“We have a recruiting effort we want to extend so students can familiarize themselves with whatever graduate program has to offer,” said Andres Fradkin, a graduate admissions specialist for the university. “We have a lot of name recognition in this area, and it is nice to have a face and presence to go along with our school.”

Fradkin said he would discuss strategies for getting admitted along with different forms of funding with students to help potential graduate students succeed.

Bradley University was represented as well.

Bradley University has more than 33 programs with the option of receiving degrees such as a master’s degree, a professional master of arts degree or a doctor of physical therapy degree, along with certificates in various areas.

“We like to let students know what Bradley has to offer,” said Susan Tanner, records coordinator for the graduate school at Bradley. “These fairs are a way to get our name out there.”

April Hay, assistant dean for Indiana University, represented the graduate programs for Indiana University. Hay said the university offers PhDs, master’s degrees and education specialist degrees.

“As a school, we try and break it down to recruiting to Illinois, Ohio and Indiana as well as international schools in China and India,” Hay said. “Sometimes we send graduate students out to recruit for their experience and the school dean, myself and other departments recruit to other schools through graduate fairs and information days.”

Lori Henderson, publicity promotions specialist of Eastern, said the four colleges here offer graduate programs.

“We want undergraduate students to know what programs are available to them here and throughout the region,” she said. “It is a convenient and efficient way to inform the students.”

She said so far there has been a lot of interest in counseling, family and consumer science and biological sciences programs at Eastern.

Shanese Parker, a senior general studies major, came to the fair to look at the different options for graduate schools and the programs that Eastern does not offer.

“I am interested in social work, and I got a lot of good information,” she said. “In fact, I got a whole bag full.”

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale admissions representative Jane Klucker-Boyle speaks to senior graphic design major Candice Collins about graduate degree programs in the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts Wednesday afternoon at the Gradu

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