Illinois Wesleyan’s fiscal year end is quickly approaching on July 31. Have you shown your Titan Pride by making a gift this year?

Check out the new Tommymometer to see where we stand by clicking here.

If you have already made a gift this year, thank you! If you have not yet made your gift, there is still time for you to make a difference this year.

By making your gift  before July 31, you will not only add to the Tommymometer for alumni donors, but you will help to keep current Illinois Wesleyan students enrolled and our alma mater strong. The percentage of alumni donors is important to IWU because outside organizations view it as a metric to measure alumni satisfaction. It affects Illinois Wesleyan’s rankings, bond rating, and ability to earn grants.

Thank you for doing your part to fill the Tommymometer before July 31 and keep Illinois Wesleyan moving forward!

Heather has been making a name for herself in L.A. since moving there in 2006. In addition to numerous roles on TV shows like Justified and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Heather keeps in touch with her musical theatre roots with productions throughout the year.

Along with Todd Sherry, Heather co-hosts Up, With a Twist, a monthly cabaret show featuring guest performers singing “songs you know, unlike you ever heard them before”.

Last December, Heather co-starred in Todd & Heather’s Christmas Cheer, an annual tradition since 2011.

Most recently, Heather performed in the Los Angeles debut of The Confidential Musical Theatre Project, in which a group of performers take to the stage and present a musical, having had absolutely no group rehearsal. And the title of the musical is a secret to the audience until show time!

Keep up with Heather’s performances all year!

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 1996 had 38 donors on April 9th and donations totaling $4,590.00.

Thank you 1996 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.

It’s another chance to maximize your support and be All In for Wesleyan! This is the third annual one-day giving challenge featuring multiple opportunities to unlock matching gifts from alumni throughout the day.

In addition to the benefits of the traditional challenge gifts, any gift made to All In today will enter you for a chance to win your name (engraved on a plaque) on items such as the hot spot, the WESN microphone, and more! Like annual gifts, naming rights expire at the end of the fiscal year…but internet photos last forever. Photos of the selected names engraved on plaques, affixed to the items will be published on the last day of spring semester, April 21.

I totally call dibs on the WESN microphone! What item would you like to name? #IWUNameIt.

Make a donation today!

John Ulrich has joined the Rational USA team as the vice president, business unit key accounts North America. The company is the market and technology leader for professional cooking appliances for commercial kitchens.

You can read more about John and his new position at http://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/rational-welcomes-new-vp-ulrich.

A long-time artistic associate at Porchlight Music Theatre, Sarah has landed the lead role in Bells Are Ringing, the upcoming Porchlight Revisits… production. The Porchlight Revisits… series raises the curtain on “forgotten” Broadway musicals.

Bells Are Ringing is set in 1950’s New York, where Ella Peterson, an operator at telephone message service,  “Susanswerphone,” falls for one of her clients, aspiring playwright Jeff Moss, AKA telephone number “Plaza 0 double-four double three.” But Ella, unsure of herself, assumes other identities in an effort to keep the conversation continuing—and the comical plot thickens.

Bells Are Ringing will play October 28 and 29 at Stage 773 in Chicago.

Rachael has spent another great season in Ashland with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This season, she has performed in two productions, as the Baker’s Wife in “Into the Woods” and as Sheriff’s Auxiliary, Muriel Humphrey, Pat Nixon and Ensemble in “The Great Society”. Reviews for both productions can be found through the links.

Now the production of “Into the Woods” (for which Amanda Dehnert (’94) is the director and music director) has been announced as part of the new season at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, where it will run from December 2-21; Rachael’s husband will be performing in the production as well. When the production closes, Rachael and her family will return to Rhode Island where she and her husband are both Resident Actors at Trinity Repertory Company.

David Brown, a ’96 English major graduate, is now managing editor of Defense News, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area. According to its website, “Defense News is the authoritative, independent, professional news source for the world’s defense decision-makers. In print and online, Defense News provides the global defense community with the latest news and analysis on defense programs, policy, business and technology. With bureaus and reporters around the world, Defense News sets the standard for accuracy, credibility and timeliness in defense reporting. The weekly newspaper circulates to top leaders and decision-makers in North America and in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.”

Previously, Dave worked as managing editor of the Navy Times and Marine Corps Times.