#GivingTuesday is a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tues., Dec. 1, 2015, groups and individuals around the world are coming together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

As you consider giving this holiday season, please consider giving the gift of bright futures to current Titans. Your gift supports all the things that make an IWU experience unforgettable and unique! Gifts can be made online at www.iwu.edu/give or by calling 309-556-3091.

Thanks for keeping Illinois Wesleyan in mind this holiday season. Go Titans!

Jennifer (Frahm) Jones ’94 recently was named Director of Sales for 3D Cruise Partners, with responsibility for the Midwest, Northeast and Atlantic coast regions. Jennifer’s prior experiences include management roles with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Rosewood Hotels, and Wyndham Worldwide. Jones was featured in a 2007 IWU magazine article highlighting her experience in the travel industry. Congratulations, Jennifer!

Soprano Kimberly Giordano performed Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Cascade Symphony Orchestra on May 9th.

The Cascade Symphony Orchestra recently described Giordano as “lauded for her ‘polished,’ ‘sterling’ and ‘honest performance’ (Seattle Times)” and says she “delights audiences with her shimmering blend of elegance and emotion.”

Giordano’s accolades, accomplishments and awards are extensive and this performance met with positive reviews as well. More information on Kimberly’s performance is available on the Cascade Symphony’s site.

Congratulations to Rachel Harper ’94 who was recently awarded a William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence at the University of Missouri (MU). Harper serves as the Director of the MU Writing Center, Coordinator of the Honors Humanities Sequence, and a faculty member in the MU Honors College.

Kemper Fellowships are awarded to five outstanding teachers at the University of Missouri each year. Nancy West, director of the MU Honors College, shared, “Through (Harper’s) work, students and faculty have learned about the values of different cultures, about what goes into making works of art, about how history is made. She has helped preserve the great accomplishments of the past — and thus has helped those around her understand the world they live in and given them tools to imagine the future.”

Harper earned bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish from Illinois Wesleyan University, and she holds master’s and doctoral degrees in American literature from the University of Missouri. A full press release is available through MU’s News Bureau.

A message from Van Miller ’04, IWU Director of Annual Giving:

“On April 9, Titans of all generations pulled together and showed their pride on the third annual All In For Wesleyan. More than 1,800 gifts of all sizes from 49 states and 17 countries totaled over $500,000 in support of Illinois Wesleyan University and our students. Our collective philanthropy served as an inspiration to the next generation as All In For Wesleyan firmly established itself as an Illinois Wesleyan tradition, both on campus and off. The class of 1994 had 14 donors on April 9th and donations totaling $4,535.00.

“Thank you 1994 Alumni for being “all in” all the time, and for continuing to make Illinois Wesleyan one of your giving priorities. If you have already made your gift this year, thank you! If you have not made your gift this year, I hope that you will join me as a donor and put us one more gift closer to our participation goal. You can make your gift by visiting iwu.edu/give. It is your support that keeps Illinois Wesleyan strong, and develops the next generation of leaders.”

Already by midday, we’ve fulfilled the $75,000 match, putting our total contributions in excess of $157,000! One challenge down!

More than 478 gifts have already been made and we have our first PARTICIPATION challenge of the day. If we can reach 750 gifts, Ed Phelps ’62 will make a $20,000 gift!

Let’s meet this next challenge! Make your gift now and help us reach 750 gifts!

#AllInForWesleyan

Today is All in for Wesleyan 2015!  

All gifts made today will be matched by an anonymous donor (up to $75,000). And this year, there’s a twist!

Gifts to the Wesleyan Fund support student financial assistance and also the little, but essential, things that create the Illinois Wesleyan experience.  So today we’re celebrating these little essentials — the unsung heroes.  Make a gift today and your name could appear next to one of these items for a limited time.*

Give today and your name could be selected to grace the hot spot, the WESN microphone, and other pieces of campus that will be announced throughout the day. Learn more!

Give today and your gift will be matched by an anonymous donor.

Give today and show that you’re proud to be a Titan!

From iwu.edu, Feb. 17, 2015:

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— An Illinois Wesleyan University graduate and two of his colleagues at the Chicago Sun-Times have been awarded one of the nation’s top awards for investigative journalism.

The George Polk Award for Local Reporting will go to Chris Fusco ’94 and fellow reporters Tim Novak and Carol Marin for their investigation of a 10-year-old homicide case involving a nephew of former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. The resulting series “The Killing of David Koschman” led to the reopening of the case, the court appointment of a special prosecutor and a guilty plea by the former mayor’s nephew.

Check out the full article from IWU!

Peter Asaro, PhD, has been appointed Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. Asaro is currently on sabbatical from his faculty position in the School of Media Studies at The New School in New York City.  He was also an Affiliate Scholar at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society.