Speakers

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Bestselling author, speaker and consultant Lindsey Pollak will offer tips on finding employment in these rough times with a talk, “Getting from College to Career: How to Get a Good Job in a Bad Economy,” on Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Hansen Student Center (300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington).

The event is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow. This event is rescheduled from January.

Specializing in Generation Y career and workplace issues, Pollak has a decade of experience teaching young professionals how to build successful careers. She also works with advising organizations, helping them to maximize the potential of the new workforce.

A graduate of Yale University, Pollak is the author of two books, Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World (Harper Collins, April 2007); and The Saavy Gals’ Guide to Online Networking (or What Would Jane Austen Do?) (Booklocker, October 2007), that she co-authored with Diane K. Danielson.

Pollak’s advice has been featured in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNN.com and National Public Radio and NBC Nightly News.

“Lindsey Pollak is an engaging speaker with a wealth of knowledge about the career issues of Generation Y,” said Warren Kistner, director of the Hart Career Center at Illinois Wesleyan. “She is a perfect blend of approachability and experience with the added benefit of knowledge in the world of social media, specifically LinkedIn, used by many job seekers today.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – It was a day top celebrate the new and honor traditions past at Illinois Wesleyan University during Founders’ Day on Wednesday. This year marks the 160th anniversary of the 30 founders who gathered to sign Illinois Wesleyan’s charter.

At the Founders’ Day Convocation, President Richard F. Wilson said he believes the University is on course to fulfill the vision of the founders. “We must keep in mind their admonition which appears on the Founders’ Gate: ‘We stand in a position of incalculable responsibility.’ That instruction requires us to be vigilant about our work as teachers and scholars,” said Wilson.

In carrying on a responsibility to the founders, Wilson announced University alumnus and benefactor Byron Tucci has established a new endowed professorship for Illinois Wesleyan University. The 1966 graduate has created the Byron S. Tucci Endowed Professorship in honor of the faculty who assisted him. “Byron views this gift as a way to acknowledge the caring faculty members who make students the center of their attention and whose accomplishments over an extended period are key to the stature of the University,” said Wilson.

Speaking in Westbrook Auditorium on Wednesday as part of the Convocation, Dorceta Taylor connected struggles for sustainability with the history of inequality in the United States.

Hear her remarks (mp3)

“To have a sustainable society, one has to have a just society,” said Taylor, an associate professor of environmental sociology and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, who helped to develop one of the nation’s first environmental justice programs.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Dorceta Taylor, environmental justice activist and program director for the Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative at the University of Michigan, will be the speaker for the 2010 Founders’ Day Convocation at Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington).

Taylor’s talk entitled “Environment, Social Justice and the Challenge of Sustainability,” is free and open to the public. The event honors the 30 founders who signed the charter for the University in 1850. In celebration of Founders’ Day, an anniversary cake celebrating the University’s 160 years will be served from 3-5 p.m. at Joslin Atrium of the Memorial Center. The Ames Library will hold its annual exhibit highlighting the documents from the University’s founding, including Illinois Wesleyan’s “birth certificate.”

Named in 2007 to Who’s Who Among American Teachers and Educators, Taylor has spent her career shedding light on the connections between nature, race and gender, making her a pioneer studying environmental justice. An associate professor of environmental sociology and Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan, she helped to develop one of the nation’s first environmental justice programs at the university.

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For two decades, voices have been lifted in song as a tribute to the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Gospel Festival on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University on January 18.

Founded by the late Corine Sims and her husband, the Rev. James E. Sims, the festival found a home at Illinois Wesleyan, and attracts gospel choirs from all over the state. The University was seen as a fitting place for the festival, as it was the place that King graced twice.

“[In the early 1990s then-Illinois Wesleyan] President Minor Myers, jr. said Wesleyan would be the perfect place to host the event, because of Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. spoke at the University,” said Barbara Sims Malone, daughter of James and Corine. “He saw the festival as a special opportunity to invite the community to Illinois Wesleyan.”

King came to speak at Illinois Wesleyan at two important junctures during his short but illustrious life. The first in 1961, when standing on the cusp of international recognition, and the second in 1966, when his reputation as a proponent of non-violent protest for the Civil Right Movement was known throughout the world. King’s visits to Illinois Wesleyan reveal the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement and his place within it.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As celebrated author Louise Erdrich read from her story The Red Convertible Thursday night at Illinois Wesleyan University, her voice rose and dipped with the humor and emotion infused in the tale of a Native American mother and daughter, and carried the audience at Westbrook Auditorium along with each word.

“What if, just as sure as we are pulled toward Earth and destined to go down into it at last, we are also at the same rate pulled toward heaven. No wonder we are stretched top to bottom, pulled at both ends of our being. No wonder the soul cannot decide where to wedge itself,” read Erdrich, who called The Red Convertible a “love story about middle age and the difference between generations.”

Part of the eighth annual Ames/Milner Visiting Author Program – a joint venture between The Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan University and Milner Library at Illinois State University – Erdrich’s Thursday evening reading was followed by a question and answer session, and an autograph session at The Ames Library.

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