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Mortuary Science & Funeral Service
Celebrating life. Caring for the dead. Comforting the living.
Funeral Directors and funeral service professionals are important members of their communities. Funerals often combine tradition, ritual, reunion, mourning, and celebration. Funeral Directors manage every part of a funeral and must be able to fulfill several roles, including informal grief counselor, salesperson, event planner, and keeper of customs.
Southern Illinois is the home to a highly selective program that is just one of five universities in the nation to offer a bachelor’s degree in mortuary science and funeral service. While learning the technical aspects of the industry, our students also access courses associated with business management. This allows our graduates to seamlessly move from practitioner to business owner.
Bachelor’s Degree
We have developed a program focusing on the funeral director’s responsibility to help a family during its greatest time of need, and on the embalmer’s responsibility to disinfect, preserve and restore human remains.
If you are a licensed funeral director and embalmer with an associate’s degree in this field, we have an online program designed for you. We created this pathway for working professionals and are happy to work with you to create a custom plan that will meet your needs.
Accreditation
Accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education, graduates of our program meet the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation licensing requirements.
A Career for Life
SIU is one of just five universities in the nation where you can earn a bachelor's degree in mortuary science and funeral service. We are the only public university in Illinois offering a degree of this kind.
Our program focuses on the funeral director’s responsibility to help a family during its greatest time of need, and on the embalmer’s responsibility to disinfect, preserve and restore human remains.