Staff

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.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Danny Burke has been pioneering making fresh food available to low-income residents.

Burke, who graduated in the spring of 2009, developed a plan for benefits from SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), to be used at the farmer’s market in downtown Bloomington. Now the Downtown Bloomington Farmer’s Market is one of just nine farmer’s markets in the state of Illinois approved to accept Link cards, which are the cards used to redeem SNAP benefits in Illinois.

“Healthy food is so connected to community development,” said Burke, who earned a double major in environmental studies and Spanish. “If you secure food and nutrition, you help develop a healthier society.”

As a member of the Illinois Wesleyan’s track team, Burke ran through many neighborhoods in Bloomington, and began to suspect several of them were what anthropologists call a “food desert” – pockets in developed countries where no fresh food is available. “Some areas do not have access to grocery stores, only corner stores and gas stations that carry mainly processed food,” he said. Burke decided to focus his senior seminar paper on providing options to alleviate possible food deserts in Bloomington.

Through his advisor Environmental Studies Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and International Studies Abigail Jahiel, Burke discovered the idea of allowing low-income residents to use SNAP benefits at area farmer’s markets. With the help of Jahiel and Deborah Halperin from the University’s Action Research Center, Burke connected with several local organizations, including the West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership, the Heartland Local Food Network, Harvest of Hope, and Downtown Bloomington Association, which operates the farmers’ market. “Danny saw a need and studied and worked to answer that need,” said Marsha Veninga, co-chair of Heartland Local Food Network, who took on Burke as an intern. “He has gone way above and beyond any class project.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A group of nine faculty and staff from Illinois Wesleyan University recently traveled half way around the world to help establish ties with a university in Morocco. The participants were part of the Morocco Initiative, sent to the North African nation to explore possible collaborative projects, discuss research and meet with counterparts at Al Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco.

“We came to Morocco to learn, to experience and to share,” said Associate Dean of Curriculum Zahia Drici, who led the group of five faculty and two staff members along with International Office Director Stacey Shimizu. Those chosen for the Initiative were Academic Outreach Librarian and Associate Professor Lynda Duke, Environmental Studies Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and International Studies Abigail Jahiel, Hispanic Studies Chair and Professor Carolyn Nadeau, Associate Professor of Economics Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Associate Professor of Economics Ilaria Ossella-Durbal, University of Communications Staff Writer Rachel Hatch and Career Consultant Robyn Walter.

Before leaving for their weeklong trip to Morocco in June, the group met throughout the spring semester and explored topics of research in a seminar format. Readings and discussions about Morocco included areas such as women’s role in contemporary society, the nation’s environmental challenges, cultural influences of Spain, public higher education and economic relations between the European Union and North Africa.

When in Morocco, the group scheduled several days of talks at AUI, and also set out to experience the people and culture of Morocco, making trips to historic areas of several cities. The group dined with Professor Saloua Zerhouni, who has applied to become a Fulbright scholar at Illinois Wesleyan this fall. A political science professor at Morocco’s largest university, Université Mohammad V – Souissi in the capitol city of Rabat, Zerhouni arranged meetings for the Illinois Wesleyan group with faculty and administrators at Mohammad V.

“This is how we build international bridges,” said Nadeau, who came to Morocco to study the influence that Moroccan Amazigh (or Berber) tribes played on today’s Spanish cuisine. Although she has studied extensively in Spain, Nadeau has never had the chance to cross the eight-mile stretch of water between Spain and Morocco. “I was able to walk through the markets, taste the food, talk with scholars about my research and visit with librarians at both the University of Fez and Al Akhawayn,” said Nadeau. “The physical connection to this part of history was overwhelming, in the good sense of the word.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – In the world of higher education, April is the time when high school students venture onto college campuses in an effort to find just the right fit. It is a tradition that Illinois Wesleyan University Dean of Admissions Tony Bankston sees as a necessary step in the college process.

“You can view all the Web sites, brochures and catalogs you want, but the best way to get the feel of an institution is to visit,” said Bankston, who was chosen to lend his expertise to a new book, Get Into College (Hundreds of Heads Books, 2009). Bankston was one of the admissions officers of highly selective schools whom editors of the book contacted, including Harvard College, Johns Hopkins University and Notre Dame University. Along with university officers, the book offers additional strategies for getting admitted from parents and high school guidance counselors. Bankston said he was impressed with the format of the book, which places advice in small, conversational tips.

“When you see books like this, it usually only includes tips from the author,” said Bankston, “but this book pulled together ideas from people who are working with admissions every day. I approached it as though I was talking to a family.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Roy Bailey, senior desktop specialist at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been named 2009 winner of the University’s Max. L. Starkey Service Award at the 18th annual Recognition Celebration at Bloomington’s Double Tree Hotel on Wednesday, April 1.

The Starkey Award, established in 2001, is presented to a member of the administrative, technical, support, security or physical plant staffs nominated by his or her peers for extraordinary service to the University. The award is named in honor of the late Max Starkey, a 1957 Illinois Wesleyan graduate who was University comptroller from 1957 to 1996.

A 1984 graduate of the American College of Technology, he earned a degree in computer electronics. Before joining the staff of Illinois Wesleyan’s Information Technology Department in 1998, Bailey was a former service manager for Thorn Services International and for STL Office Solutions, both in Bloomington. He was a certified Novell administrator for The Pantagraph, and helped custom build their computer system. Bailey also worked for Watts Copy Systems in Springfield, Ill., and for Tandy Electronics in Downers Grove, Ill.

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