The largest gift in the history of Southern Illinois University Carbondale will lead to plenty of enhancements at the SIU School of Law.
The University reports a $10 million gift from John and Jayne Simmons will impact generations of SIU-Carbondale law students and strengthen the law school’s ability to serve its students and the region.
After the news conference Monday announcing the record-making donation, WSIU's Brad Palmer spoke with the Dean of the SIU School of Law, Camille Davidson, about the importance of a major investment like this and how this money can be utilized.
In honor of the generosity of John and Jayne Simmons, the law school will be named Simmons Law School, pending approval from the SIU Board of Trustees in April.
The Simmons’ legacy at SIU, which includes a $10.2 million commitment to the Simmons Cancer Institute at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. Their most recent contribution comes as a major step in the ongoing $500 million Imagine SIU 2030 fundraising campaign.
John Simmons has served two stints on the SIU Board of Trustees, the first from 2004 to 2015, and he was appointed again in 2019 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. He has previously functioned as the board’s secretary and chairman. He earned his law degree from Southern Methodist University and previously served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer.
In 1999, John founded Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation’s largest plaintiff’s law firms.
