Universities are sites of our greatest research activity, but innovative applications of basic research findings are limited by scholars’ disciplinary and institutional isolation, and the weak linkages with publics that could apply their findings.
 
Collaborations across disciplinary boundaries and between university scholars and citizens have the potential to bring insights, knowledge, and skills to bear on pressing social issues. Such fertile collaborations existed during periods in the past when great strides were made addressing social problems, particularly during the New Deal and the Great Society’s War on Poverty. Since the 1970s, however, the linkages between Universities and their potential publics have weakened. The Center for Delta Studies promotes broad collaboration among scholars and citizens through strengthening and enlarging collaborative networks through conferences, symposia, and other ventures, initiated by the Center and by researchers and people in the community who draw on its services and expertise. The Center is part of SIU’s commitment to lead in research, scholarly, and creative activities that serve others in our region and the larger world.

The Delta refers to the alluvial plain of the Mississippi River, which stretches from just north of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The alluvial plain and the surrounding uplands share many aspects of their history, geography, and current conditions. The federally established Delta Regional Authority includes 240 counties and parishes in the 7 states that border the lower Mississippi River and portions of Alabama. It includes 16 counties in Illinois, all within Southern Illinois University's immediate region.

The Center for Delta Studies was established February, 2008. This web site is under construction. It will be a resource for those conducting research in the Delta, and those seeking researchers' skills.