Jon Robinson ’05 has recently finished writing a book. He was quoted on his LinkedIn as saying: “Finally wrapped up my last pandemic project. My book You Are Not an Artist: A Candid Guide to the Business of Being a Designer will be available for pre-order next month. I look forward to sharing all the things I think, or know, or think I know, with my fellow designers, students, and the design curious.”
Steven Lucas ’05 was named athletic director at Plano (Ill.) High School in March 2022. Steven previously served as the dean of students at Plano and Batavia (Ill.) high schools. Prior to those roles, he served as a business education teacher at West Aurora (Ill.) High School for six years. Steven has a combined 11 years of coaching football and previously helped guide Plano to back-to-back state titles in 2006-07.
Morris ’75 and Linda (Brown) ’76 Tammen are using their retirement years to launch a new business with two of their children, Katrina Tammen Reber ’05 and Evan Tammen ’09. Artesia Brewing, located on their farm outside of Thawville, Illinois, opened its doors last fall and features varieties of hard cider, mead, and beer made with the fruits and honey from their farm.
“Two of our bestselling beers are named after a special IWU memory that my husband and I share,” Linda recently said. “I am sure I have told customers the story at least 50 times since we opened last fall. It always gets such a great reaction.”
Learn more here.
Congratulations to Jonathan Charak for making the Hot 100 from Insurance Business America!
Curator Angie Glasker ’05 discussed the Bullock Museum’s exhibit, “Not Alone: Working Together in the Fight Against Human Trafficking.” She was also interviewed on KXAN-TV to talk about the exhibit as it travels around Texas.
Congratulations on the exhibit launch, Angie. This is excellent and truly important work!
Our very own Doug Pietrzak recently returned to Hansen Student Center on November 11, 2021 to address his fellow Titans in a talk entitled: “Resilience and the Value of a Liberal Arts Education.”
Doug is an English Creative Writing alum from ’05 with a Master’s in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard. He is currently a Product Manager for Internal Education at Google and is the founder of Freshcognate, an educational media and design company with a passion for storytelling. In his free time, Doug is an avid touring cyclist, beer brewer, and trombone player with the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band in Somerville, Massachusetts.
David Varel ’05 is the author of The Scholar and the Struggle: Lawrence Reddick’s Crusade for Black History and Black Power, published by the University of North Carolina Press, which won a 2021 Colorado Book Award, presented by Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book. The work was also recognized by the African American Intellectual History Society as one of its “Best Black History Books of 2020.” In addition, David’s earlier book, The Lost Black Scholar: Resurrecting Allison Davis in American Social Thought, published by the University of Chicago Press, prompted the University of Chicago to organize an annual symposium in honor of Davis, with future plans to endow a professorship and postdoctoral fellowship in his name. The book’s TV and film rights have additionally been purchased by AMC Studios. David, an affiliate faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver, has additionally published articles in The American Historian and Perspectives on History reflecting his work in the areas of Black scholarship and history.
