Traveling Man Has Never Forgotten His Roots

A representative for an international company that operates 18 luxury canal boats and offers cruises and charters in eight different western European countries has fond memories of SIU.

Mark Bradley, a U.S. Development Consultant for European Waterways, based in Berkshire, England, is a lifelong travel enthusiast. Even after traveling to each of the 50 U.S. states and overseas, the 1977 SIU radio-television graduate says he always feels a strong connection to his alma mater.

Mark's fondness for his alma mater urged him to gift his $250,000 estate to the university, with funds being split between the radio-television department and Saluki Athletics.

"I have confidence in SIU's radio-television department, because it helped me a great deal. Also, I was a student assistant in the SIU sports information department. That was an equally important experience," he says. "I don't have any children. And government funding for education has diminished drastically. It is up to alumni to step up.

"SIU gives everyone a chance ... I have always been taken aback by the number of first-generation students on campus. I was one of them. And makes sense to support a university that has meant so much to me."

Mark initially attended Bradley University, but discovered that it didn't have a radio-television program. The reputation of SIU's program and his desire to follow in the footsteps of a sports broadcasting legend brought him to Carbondale.

"I wanted to be the next Harry Caray ... he was my hero," he says. "So I traveled to Carbondale on August 8, 1974. I did some sports broadcasting in college; but primarily stayed closed to Saluki Athletics through the sports information department."

After graduating from SIU, Mark and his father headed a public relations and advertising agency in the Peoria area. Mark retired from the agency in 2000, and set out to "see the World." He works closely with the U.S. market, educating individuals- including travel agents and tour operators – on canal cruises.

European Waterways offers fully-staffed and all inclusive luxury hotel barges that cruise the inland waterways of nine European countries, along canals, rivers, lakes, lagoons and lochs. Participants are invited to experience life from a unique perspective.

More information can be found at www.gobarging.com.

"Travel is my passion and I had a desire to see the World," Mark says. "The turn of the millennium seemed like the logical time to do it. My goal was to retire at 45 and see the world. And I have been able to do so."