SCCI Construction Milestones

• February 2000 – A proposal for a new cancer institute at SIU School of Medicine is approved by the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees.
• April 2000 – The Illinois Board of Higher Education approves a proposal to establish the SIU Cancer Institute.
• June 2001 – The State of Illinois awards SIU School of Medicine an operational grant of $1 million for planning of a regional cancer institute for central and downstate Illinois.
• July 2001 – $14.5 million is appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly for design, land acquisition and construction of a SIU Cancer Institute facility.  The SIU Board of Trustees approves the selling of $6 million in revenue bonds.
• July 2002 – A $1,525,200 grant is awarded from the U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration for construction of the Cancer Institute research lab, including equipment, in existing facilities.
• June 2004 – Two-plus acres of land are purchased for the site of a new SIU Cancer Institute at a cost of nearly $2 million.
• November 2004 – $100,000 in federal funding for the SIU Cancer Institute laboratory renovations is announced by Senator Richard Durbin and Congressman John Shimkus.
• February 2005 – A preliminary design for a permanent facility for the new SIU Cancer Institute is presented by BSA Life Structures and Hanson Professional Services.
• July 2005 – A groundbreaking ceremony for a permanent facility for the new SIU Cancer Institute is held at the building site in Springfield.
• September 2005 – Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity allocates $1 million of additional support to the SIU Cancer Institute.
• November 2005 – $10.2 million is pledged to fund SIU’s cancer programs by SimmonsCooper LLC and the Simmons Family Foundation.  The institute is named the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU.
• July 2008 – A ceremony is held to observe the completion of the permanent facility for the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU.