On March 5, 2013 Neil Baldwin was one of the five 2012 Illinois Heartland Section American Chemical Society (ACS) Collegiate Scholars honored.  ACS awards the honor to recipients based on their grade point average, contributions to research in the field and overall involvement in activities.

Baldwin worked with Professor of Chemistry Ram Mohan since the second semester of his sophomore year, which concluded at the end of his junior year. He has worked on developing environmentally friendly organic synthesis using iron compounds. Iron compounds are relatively non toxic, easy to handle and inexpensive. In particular, his work has focused on converting alcohols to esters. In the past, many corrosive or toxic catalysts have been used for the same transformation.

Jordan Kuhns, a senior business marketing major from Winterset, Iowa, recently was a runner up in the National Hazing Prevention Week CAMPUSPEAK poster contest.

CAMPUSPEAK and HazingPrevention.org teamed in 2012 to launch the inaugural, not-for-profit National Hazing Prevention Week poster contest as a way to empower people to stop hazing in university student groups

Kuhns, who is an alum of the Sigma Pi fraternity, wanted to incorporate his love for design by participating in the poster contest and began creating his poster to spread his message with simplicity. “Hazing is a hard thing to deal with if you have ever witnessed or experienced it, so I came up with a simple poster to make people feel at ease when informing others about hazing and also preventing it in their communities,” said Kuhns.  The poster has a three-color scheme of green, orange and blue and across the center are three colored bars with the slogan, “Know, Decide, Act.” Each text has a corresponding illustration.  “The word ‘Know’ has a light bulb, which symbolizes the necessity to understand what hazing is. ‘Decide’ has a ‘Fork in the Road’ sign, symbolizing the need to decide whether or not your organization is hazing. ‘Act’ has an arrow which symbolizes the need to act on what you’ve just witnessed without delay,” said Kuhns.

The trust is founded by Japanese businessman and honorary Illinois Wesleyan trustee Kenji Tanaka and honors those who are committed to promoting and improving international relations around the world.Illinois Wesleyan University senior Sarah Takushi has been named the 2013 recipient of the Technos International Prize through the Tanaka Ikueikai Educational Trust in Japan.

Takushi, an international studies and biology double major from Skokie Ill., was unanimously chosen by the International Studies Steering Committee to receive the prestigious award due to her high academic standard and contribution towards raising international awareness on campus.

Dedicating her time to being an active and well rounded student, Takushi has volunteered as an interpreter for Global Medical Brigades in Honduras along with working as an intern at the Western Community Outreach Center in Bloomington, where she interpreted for families from Cuba, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. She has also volunteered her services at the Community Health Clinic where she worked with underprivileged immigrant populations.

Takushi also completed a semester abroad in Ecuador, where she worked with the Comparative Ecology and Conservation program. Her academic experience in Ecuador resulted in the creation of her special project on the local ecology as well as her recent research honors project on current cultural and political issues.

Beginning on June 1 of this year, based on her academic record, Takushi will take part in a special internship that will be in an immunology laboratory in Germany, where she will work on medical issues related to HIV.

On Saturday, April 20, Sarah Carlson ’13 and Maria Klingele ’13 were presented the inaugural Phi Beta Kappa Liberal Arts Scholar Award at the 24th annual John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference luncheon. According to the Illinois Wesleyan chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, this award fosters and celebrates student research that “engages, translates and bridges academic disciplines and/or crosses traditional academic boundaries.” Each applicant for this award submitted a research paper, either a senior seminar paper, honors research paper, or senior-level independent research paper; a work of art, music composition, film, collection of poetry or research that stemmed from experiential learning.

“The Phi Beta Kappa motto is “Love of learning is the guide of life.”  My last four years at Illinois Wesleyan have taught me to strive to embody that message in everything that I do,” said Carlson, a senior anthropology major from Galena, Ill.On Saturday, April 20, Sarah Carlson ’13 and Maria Klingele ’13 were presented the inaugural Phi Beta Kappa Liberal Arts Scholar Award at the 24th annual John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference luncheon.  According to the Illinois Wesleyan chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, this award fosters and celebrates student research that “engages, translates and bridges academic disciplines and/or crosses traditional academic boundaries.”  Each applicant for this award submitted a research paper, either a senior seminar paper, honors research paper, or senior-level independent research paper; a work of art, music composition, film, collection of poetry or research that stemmed from experiential learning.

Carlson’s paper explored the cultural significance of personal adornment for the Ilongot peoples of the Philippines, a project she began over the summer as an intern at The Field Museum in Chicago. Examining these ornaments also led her to an analysis of how the “historical context and racial climate of the collecting culture is an important component in understanding the stories these objects have to tell” and the necessity for museums to practice “active engagement with members of the culture that produced the objects and with museum visitors to display the meanings that objects can communicate.”

Klingele, a senior French and francophone studies major from Glen Ellyn, Ill., analyzed Maryse Condé’s autobiographical fiction Le cœur à rire et à pleurer.  The novel details Condé’s journey from childhood to adulthood and the societal contradictions she experienced living in both the Caribbean and Paris. In her paper, Klingele focused on Condé’s contributions to psychoanalytic theory, feminist literary criticism, and post-colonial theory in her rejection of the society’s discourse of the “Other.” Klingele argued that “through rejecting these marginalizing theories, she inhibited écriture féminine, a revolutionary form of feminist writing.”

“This research taught me about myself and I hope that others can benefit from the message that Maryse Condé conveys. I think it relates to everyone as it discusses the multiple oppressions working within our society,” Klingele said.

Illinois Wesleyan 2013 graduate and former basketball player Michelle Bilek has been named Director of Basketball Operations at Division I Columbia University in New York City.

Bilek’s hiring was announced by Columbia women’s basketball head coach Stephanie Glance, who was at Illinois State until accepting the job with the Ivy League Lions earlier this spring.

Bilek’s responsibilities include coordination of travel arrangements, assisting in the organization of practice, budget management, alumni relations video coordination and special projects.

“Michelle is a great addition to our staff,” Glance said. “She is a person of strong character, has great work ethic and a passion to be in the coaching profession. She is a young, talented, highly skilled individual who will be a tremendous asset for Columbia women’s basketball program.”

June 2013

Illinois Wesleyan senior Tara Clemens has been elected to the first team of the Capital One Academic All-District® 7 women’s track & field/cross country team and has been elected to the second team of the Capital One Academic All-American® squads for women’s track & field/cross country. Clemens is the 115th Illinois Wesleyan Academic All-American® since the program began in 1970, a total that is 12th among all participating colleges and universities.

The 2013 Capital One Academic All-District ® women’s track & field/cross country teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) at their current institution.  The District 7 team includes athletes from Division III schools in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

Jacob Starcevich’13 and Thomas John Laughlin ’14 coauthored an article with Ram Mohan, the Wendell and Loretta Hess Professor of Chemistry at IWU, titled “Iron (III) Tosylate Catalyzed Synthesis of 3, 4-Dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)- ones/thiones via The Bignelli Reaction,” which was published in the peer reviewed journalTetrahedron Letters in 2013.