PAUL SIMON TO HEAD SIU THINK TANK

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Sen. Paul Simon says he will seek the involvement of Republicans, Independents and Democrats when he becomes head of a newly formed think tank at Southern Illinois University.

The institute's goal, he said this week, "will be public service, not partisan service."

Simon, a Makanda Democrat who will retire from the U.S. Senate in January 1997, will be the first holder of the Paul Simon Chair in Public Policy at SIU.

Simon's first teaching assignment in SIU's new public policy institute will start in the spring semester of 1997 with courses in journalism and political science or history.

Simon, 66, a two-term U.S. senator with almost 40 years in national and local politics, said a number of colleges and universities contacted him.

Simon said he would also continue to do some writing and occasionally make speaking engagements.

Simon started his career as a newspaperman, before turning to politics. He taught journalism at Sangamon State University in Springfield (now the University of Illinois at Springfield) for two years after failing to win the Democratic nomination for governor in 1972.

Simon's first taste of politics came when he was elected to the Illinois House in 1954, following a two-year stint in the Army counter-intelligence corps. Before going to the Army, he operated a newspaper at Troy, Ill.

Simon was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1962, and to lieutenant governor in 1968.

He served in the U.S. House 10 years and was elected to the Senate in 1984, narrowly defeating three-term Republican Sen. Charles Percy.

Simon was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, briefly, before giving up the campaign.