November 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of Chemistry Ram Mohan has received a research grant for his work in green chemistry from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company. The grant consists of $5,000 earmarked for green chemistry research and education and an invitation to speak about his research at next year’s Green Chemistry Symposium to be held at the Pfizer St. Louis site.

Green chemistry focuses on the development of processes that reduce the use and production of hazardous chemicals.

The Pfizer-St. Louis Chemistry Research Grant originates from Pfizer’s annual Green Chemistry Symposium. In this symposium awards are presented to Pfizer teams who have emphasized green chemistry in their work. Winners of these awards have grants awarded to different academic institutions each year, Mohan was chosen as the recipient this year.

Mohan plans to use the grant to purchase specialty chemicals and pay a student researcher this summer. His research students will also be able to attend the Green Chemistry Symposium next fall to learn more about green chemistry and meet chemists to discuss their work.

“I feel students are the most important component of all my research and so most of this money will be used in ways that can enrich their experience and raise awareness for the environment,” said Mohan.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Over the years Bruce B. Criley has been with Illinois Wesleyan University, he has seen many advances in the field of biology. “What is terribly exciting about being a biologist is there is so much growth and change in the field,” said Criley. “No matter how long you teach it, you feel as though you are part of something dynamic and alive, because you are – with discoveries from DNA to genetic research.”

Criley, chair of the Illinois Wesleyan University Biology Department from 1971 to 2002, will be retiring at the end of this semester after 37 years. A winner of the University’s top teaching prize, Criley has been the George C. and Ella Beach Lewis Endowed Chair of Biology for the past 29 years.

During his tenure with the University, he has watched the Biology Department grow. “Our first years here, we could invite the entire Biology Department to our house for a get together,” said Norma Criley, Bruce’s wife and a fellow Illinois Wesleyan biology instructor who retired in May. “These days we would not even have room for the seniors majoring in biology.”

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> Read reflections from the Crileys

> Symposium Honors Crileys

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Millions of Americans watched the results of the history-making election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African-American to the Presidency of the United States on Nov. 4. Many of those Americans were overseas, including the 61 Illinois Wesleyan University students studying abroad, from England and France, to Argentina and Oman.

Obama was favored to win in many European polls, and Illinois Wesleyan students studying in Europe watched the excitement for the election build, and the jubilation of many people when the results were announced. At the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Mark Kasperczyk attended an election party in one of the residence halls. “It was surprising how many people cared about the election here,” said Kasperczyk, a senior physics major. “The party was huge, with people overflowing into the sidewalks until around 3 a.m.” Kasperczyk estimated about 200 to 300 people stayed for most of the night.

Many students studying in Illinois Wesleyan’s London Program stayed up all night to watch the election coverage, even to hear Obama’s acceptance speech at 5 a.m. London time. “It was on the front page of every London newspaper that I saw the next day,” said Carolyn Leonard, a sophomore psychology major. “All of our British teachers were very excited that we stayed up to watch, and very understanding of how tired we all were.”

Sophomore Katie Bayles, an anthropology major, said the world was watching the election closely. “The tension that had been building from the extended coverage over the week came to a peak Tuesday night on the [British subway] Tube. I realized that everyone’s faces were pressed into the papers, reading about the upcoming election, what time the coverage started, even when California’s polls would close,” said Bayles, noting they understood the importance of the West Coast polls.

Nicholas Kogelman grew up in Hyde Park, Obama’s neighborhood, and said he felt a special tie to the election. “It was difficult not to be able to go downtown for his rally, but truly amazing to watch from an outside perspective,” said the senior business administration major. “It put the election in a global perspective and reinforced the magnitude of the ramifications of this election. After the election – and many of my fellow classmates share this opinion – that this was the proudest we have been as Americans in London.”

Watching from Spain, senior Ann Chang also found it difficult to be away from home during the election. “It was my first time voting, and not being able to witness people our age joining together to actually vote and show their American pride was rough,” said Chang, a mathematics and Hispanic Studies double major, who still called the chance to witness the election through the eyes of the Spanish “incredible.” The morning after the election, Chang said headlines were splashed across every newspaper she could see. “Talk of him is everywhere. And right now I can hear my Spanish neighbors saying how happy they are that he won.”

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Wesleyan University students, faculty and staff join the rest of the world in anxiously awaiting the results of the 2008 election. A collection of campaign memorabilia dating back to 1904, which is on display in The Ames Library rotunda (1 Ames Plaza, Bloomington), offers a reminder to campus that win or lose, political campaigns are historic in their own right.

More than 100 buttons, ticket stubs and other campaign items make up the display, from a time when holographic imaging was the latest technology. Campaign buttons span the last 25 presidential contests, documenting the unsuccessful - Barry Goldwater ‘64, the Rev. Jesse Jackson ‘88 - and the victorious - Clinton-Gore ‘92, Bush-Cheney ‘00 - in equal measure.

The collection belongs to Steve Peterson, a member of Illinois Wesleyan’s Physical Plant staff and self-proclaimed “political junkie.” Peterson, who spent 18 years as a political commentator on a local radio station, inherited the first pieces from his grandmother but said the advent of eBay has made his collection balloon to more than 300 items.

“I used to pick up these things one at a time. I’d go into an antique store in New Orleans, and I might spend 80 dollars on an inauguration press pass,” said Peterson. “Some collectors pay thousands of dollars for a spoon used by Andrew Jackson,” but Peterson likes his postcard from former President Theodore Roosevelt just fine.

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