In April, USI hosted Solarpalooza, a public two-day event centered around the total solar eclipse. According to the National Weather Service, Evansville experienced a total eclipse for three minutes and six seconds at 2:02 p.m. Solarpalooza featured food trucks, animals from Mesker Park Zoo and an educational experience fair. 

Planning for Solarpalooza had been underway since September 2021. The effort involved marketing, administrative assistance, safety measures, ground caretakers and volunteer support. 

Kent Scheller, professor of physics and chair of the Solarpalooza committee, said organizing the event was “smooth” because it could highlight and provide representation for various departments across USI.

He said it was a campus-wide effort, achieved through “a little hard work” and “good cooperation.”

According to the University Strategic Communication RSVP form, USI welcomed around 7,000 visitors from 29 states.

Scheller interacted with visitors from Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, New York and North Carolina. 

“It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime events that you’re glad you were there when it happened,” Scheller said. “It was an exciting day.”

Many of the families Scheller spoke with were visiting USI for the first time. He said several pointed out the campus’s beauty, the helpfulness of the staff and the welcoming atmosphere. 

“It had to be a positive effect when you pull off an event that you ensure safety at, where families can come, where the ages represented were zero to 99, and everybody was comfortable in that spectrum of people,” Scheller said. “Young, old, locals, visitors — everybody felt at home. It had to have a positive effect, and it certainly highlighted the warm nature of the University of Southern Indiana.”