On July 17, over 2,500 alumni and friends made gifts to IWU totaling over $450,000. Unless otherwise specified by donors, all the money raised went to student scholarships and financial aid.  The “All in for Wesleyan” challenge began when Illinois Wesleyan Trustee John Horton ’82 and his wife, Joann, offered a gift of $100,000 if alumni and friends could raise $50,000 in one day.  When that challenge was met, several more challenges followed — and each was fulfilled.  Howard ’60 and Sharon ’60 Fricke offered a $10,000 gift if 600 donors participated.  Ed ’62 and Lin Phelps then offered $25,000 for 1,000 total donors.  Korey ’00 and Heidi Coon offered a $15,000 challenge for 1,200 donors.  Dr. Mike Sombeck ’83 offered $25,000 if we could reach 1,500.  Finally, at the end of the day, Dr. Randy ’73 & Jodie Reed offered $25,000 and Ed ’62 & Lin Phelps added $10,000 more to match every new gift, dollar for dollar…up to a total of $35,000 in gifts before midnight.

It was an exciting day to be a Titan.  The challenge became about so much more than numbers and dollars and donors.  It provided our alumni and friends with a chance to share their pride and explain how much IWU means to them.  If you weren’t following these conversations on social media, you can click here to read them now.  THANK YOU to all of our loyal alumni and friends who made July 17 an incredible day for our school and our students.

Sammi Grant, starring in Spectralia Theatre’s touring production of “The Comedy of Errors,” says being legally blind hasn’t hindered her performing career.

Sammi is on the far right

Erika Olsen, is establishing her career as a nurse in the ICU at Unity Point Methodist in Peoria.  The unit is a 14 bed medical/surgical intensive care unit.

Colin Schofield presented papers at the XIII Simposio Internacional de Comunicacion Social (13th International Symposium on Social Communication) January 2013. Schofield’s paper, based on research carried out during his study abroad experience with SIT Chile, was titled: “Etnologia del exito academico: los tres lados” (Ethnology of academic success: three sides).

The conference focused on communication in multiple ways, such as linguistics, medicine, mass media, art, folklore and computational linguistics. It was held at the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment’s location in Santiago de Cuba, the Centre for Applied Linguistics.

Alex Kim created a bike as an environmentally friendly vehicle that can be used for distribution of the Peace Garden’s produce. According to Kim, the Veggie Bike is, “A bike-powered trailer that was created with the intent of aiding the IWU Peace Garden in its efforts to exemplify and maintain sustainable principles through practice. In short, it will help the Peace Garden be as green as possible.”  The Peace Garden, established by junior political science major Ryan Dyar and senior environmental studies and Hispanic studies double major Danny Kenny, is the campus garden created to grow produce for Illinois Wesleyan’s food provider, Sodexo and the Bloomington-Normal community.  Students and faculty volunteer their time in order to help the Peace Garden flourish.

The idea of a Veggie Bike came about during discussions on where the harvested food would be delivered. “There are several places around Bloomington that accept food donations from the garden already, and hopes are that additional places like the Farmers’ Market and places in West Bloomington might be new venues of distribution,” Kim said.

Currently serving as press secretary for the Indiana Senate Republican Caucus, Tracy Lytwyn is responsible for managing all communications and public relations for eight senators from the Northeast and East Central region of Indiana.

Tracy Lytwyn on the Senate floor discussing a project
with Senator Jim Banks (R-Columbia City)

June 4, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Amy Fairgrieve, Class of 2012, has been awarded a $5,000 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship to complete a doctorate program at the University of Minnesota (U of M). She is one of 51 students awarded this fellowship nationally.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi currently awards 51 Fellowships of $5,000 each and six of $15,000 each to members entering the first year of graduate or professional study. Each university-affiliated Phi Kappa Phi chapter selects one candidate from among its applicants to compete for the society-wide awards.

“U of M appealed to me because of how seamlessly the program fits with my research interests. My Research Honors project at IWU focused on Cognitive Literary Theory and I would like to continue work in that area,” said Fairgrieve, an English literature major while at IWU, from North Aurora, Ill.