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 2009 had 46 donors on April 9th and donations totaling $2,168.09.

Thank you 2009 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.

Your partner in support,

Van Miller ‘04

Director of Annual Giving

On Monday, April 13, 2015, Derrick successfully defended his doctoral dissertation to earn a PhD in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University. His dissertation is titled, “Sexual Identity Label Adoption and Disclosure Narratives of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer (GLBQ) College Students of Color: An Intersectional Grounded Theory Study.” and he will participate in commencement on Sunday, May 10, 2015.

Additional great news – Derrick’s fourth book chapter was published. The full citation is:
Tillman-Kelly, D. L., Kitchen, J. A. & Strayhorn, T. L. (2015). Socialization matters: A mixed-methods study of U.S. college admissions counselors. In V. Stead (Ed.), International Perspectives on Higher Education Admission Policy: A Reader (pp. 379-387). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

Enjoy a good challenge?

Here’s one for you – make a gift at iwu.edu/challenge today to support the things we love about Illinois Wesleyan. As an added bonus, this year, you could win the naming rights for the hot spot, WESN mic and more! What piece of the IWU campus would you name? #IWUNameIt

Jessica Hunter Pearce, ‘09, has been accepted into the doctoral program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She will pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in French horn beginning in August 2015 as a student of Bernhard Scully, a member of the Canadian Brass. Jessica is the guest principal horn of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-2015 season, assistant principal of the Illinois Symphony and principal of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Her website is www.jessicahunterpearce.com.

We are pleased to announce Adriane Powell as the Director of Alumni Relations at Illinois Wesleyan University. Adriane has been an adopted Titan since 2010, and has lived in the Bloomington-Normal community for over 30 years. She loves to meet IWU alumni where they live, work, and play. Adriane has experience working with a diverse group of IWU alumni and is looking forward to continuing to connect with Titans all over the world!

Aaron Gierhart ’09 will publish an article in Spring  2016 in the New Teacher Advocate. This article focuses on curriculum mapping and is targeted toward new teachers. Aaron is a third-grade teacher at Millikin Elementary in Geneso, Ill.

The memoir by Katie Heaney ’09, Never Have I Ever, was a semi-finalist for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Humor. You can read a preview of her memoir or check where the book is sold on the Goodreads website. Great job, Katie!

Crain’s Chicago Business featured Allison (Hebron) Heddon ’09 on their recent list of ‘Twenty in their 20s’. Read more about Allison’s accomplishments with her start up firm Resonance Medical, LLC  – an early-stage medical device company that is developing a suite of technologies focused on hearing restoration and preservation, including novel brain-machine interfaces and drug delivery technologies.