Southern Illinois University has committed to expanding its pilot-training program to Springfield.
SIU President Dan Mahony told Illinois Times this will enable future aviators to earn bachelor's degrees without leaving the capital city.
An article in the Springfield Business Journal reported the Springfield Airport Authority Board of Commissioners took its first public action when it voted Tuesday to spend $480,000 to renovate a building to accommodate teaching.
Airport Director Mark Hanna said the program will likely launch in the fall semester of 2025.
Robert Morgan, dean of the College of Health and Human Services at SIU, said the university plans to partner with Lincoln Land Community College. Springfield students would take their first two years of college classes there and their final two at SIU's airport facility.
Initially, two airplanes would be assigned to Springfield for the training.
Mahony also told Illinois Times SIU is exploring opening a branch of its law school in Springfield.
Mahony stressed during his recent interview that the university is in the preliminary stages of determining the feasibility of such an endeavor. He said the main campus of the law school would remain in Carbondale.
