September 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War.

Before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, artists decorated the western side with graffiti of protest, while the eastern side remained untouched.

“The city of Berlin [which was separated by the wall] has been holding celebrations all year, leading up to the anniversary on November 9,” said Sonja Fritzsche, associate professor of German and Eastern European Studies at Illinois Wesleyan, who was in Berlin working on research at the Humboldt University in Berlin this summer.

Illinois Wesleyan University will honor the anniversary with an international film series on the wall and talk by Visiting Professor Bill Brown from Oct. 4-8, following German Reunification Day (which is Oct. 3). Details are available on the German Studies site.

The Berlin Wall amounted to more than 80 miles of concrete and wire built in 1961 under the Soviet leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. Constructed to stem the tide of emigration from the east, the city of West Berlin was encircled by the wall. In 1990, the former Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) reunified on October 3, nearly a year after the fall of the wall.

Now that 20 years have passed since 1989, it might seem as though the events of that November could be relegated to the pages of history. Like all history, however, the ramifications of an event reverberate through time.

More

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The music group ONIX Ensamble will be the featured guests at Illinois Wesleyan University School of Music’s annual Symposium of Contemporary Music. The Symposium will be held from Oct. 2 to Oct. 3 and is free and open to the public.

Established in 1952, the Symposium of Contemporary Music brings prominent guest composers or performers to campus for a two-to-three day residency. The Symposium’s goal is to involve students directly in performing new compositions by contemporary composers while also participating in discussions on the aesthetics of the works. Recent guests of the Symposium include the Orchid Ensemble, Roderik and Annelie de Man, Stephen Paulus, New York New Music Ensemble, and Louis Andriessen.

ONIX is a group of musicians from Mexico that plays Latin American contemporary music. The group consists of Alejandro Escuer, Edith Ruiz Zepeda, Fernando Dominguez, Abel Romero, and Edgardo Espinosa. All members of the group have experience as soloists, have an international career, and are all professors at the National University of Mexico. Founded by Escuer in 1993, ONIX has released 50 musical works and is a non-profit organization striving to use educational and community projects to enhance and redirect the role of music in society.

More

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Post-graduation plans vary for every Illinois Wesleyan student; some will enter the workforce right away, while others will continue on to grad school, but for recent graduate Christy Ivie, these plans include a two-year commitment to the Teach for America Corps.

Ivie, originally from Galesburg, Ill., graduated from Illinois Wesleyan in 2009 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. She will spend the next two years teaching first grade in Greenwood, Miss. as a part of the Teach for America Corps.

“My sophomore year of college I took a sociology of education course with Dr. Evans-Winters, and it opened my eyes to the inequalities that exist in the United States education system,” said Ivie, who comes from a family of elementary school teachers, both her mother and her grandmother teach lower level grades. “I remember a quote that one of my professors, Dr. Teddy Amaloza, had on a mug in her office: Teach for justice, not for privilege. The more I thought about it, the more I became excited to spend some years in the classroom. When I began looking for options for after graduation, Teach for America just seemed like the right fit.”

More

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – For decades, scholars have reported how the Soviet culture emphasized that happiness could be found in the utopia of a collective society. Yet how was collective happiness pursued? A groundbreaking new book, co-edited by Illinois Wesleyan University’s Isaac Funk Professor of Russian Studies Marina Balina, explores the concept of happiness as defined by Soviet culture in Petrified Utopia: Happiness Soviet Style (Anthem Press, 2009).

“These essays redefine the preconceived notion of Soviet happiness as the products of official ideology imposed from above and expressed predominantly through collective experience,” said Balina.

Featuring articles by leading specialists in the study of Soviet culture from the United Kingdom (UK), the United States, Germany and Italy, the book is part of the publisher’s series on Russian, East European and European Studies. The goal of this collection of essays is to introduce the Western reader to the most representative ideas of happiness, and the common practices of its pursuit that shaped Soviet everyday life and cultural discourse from the early post-revolutionary years to the later period of Stalinist and post-Stalinist culture.

The book’s essays explore the idea of happiness as portrayed in paintings, architecture, films and posters, which contributed to our understanding of the “Soviet Self.” Along with her editing duties that she shared with Evgeny Dobrenko of the University of Sheffield, UK, Balina has co-authored an introduction and contributed an essay on the concepts of happiness as portrayed in children’s literature titled, ”It’s Grand to be an Orphan!’ Crafting Happy Citizens in Soviet Children’s Literature of the 1920s.”

More

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Irving Epstein, professor of Educational Studies and former acting director of International Studies, has accepted the position of Associate Dean of Faculty at Illinois Wesleyan. Epstein assumed the position as of August 1, 2009.

As Associate Dean of the Faculty, Epstein manages areas relating to faculty development. His duties include developing orientation programs, professional development workshops, and administering faculty travel and internal grant programs.

Epstein has held several other administrative positions since joining the staff of Illinois Wesleyan in 1996, having served as Department Chair of Educational Studies and as Director of General Education. He has held membership on the Curriculum Council and (CUPP) at the University, and has served as head of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Epstein has also been active in the Scholars at Risk Network, an international network of colleges and universities that provide temporary academic positions to professors, lecturers, researchers and other intellectuals who face threats in their home country because of their ideas and place in society. He has worked with Illinois Wesleyan administration to host two such scholars over the past five years.

More