Katie Sill ’13 is teaching in China and having adventures all over East Asia in her spare time.  A link to her blog can be accessed here.

Check out Katie’s amazing adventures!

February 16th is Thank A Giver Day — a day when the Illinois Wesleyan campus community celebrates the generosity of our supporters. We celebrate Thank A Giver Day on February 16th because at this point we’re 70% of the way through the school year. Since tuition covers 70% of the total cost of an IWU education, it’s a fitting time to draw attention to the fact that outside support from alumni and friends of the University plays a key role in delivering the kind of educational experience we expect from our alma mater.

Last year, over 8,000 people made gifts to Illinois Wesleyan University and, regardless of the size, each and every one played a role in keeping Illinois Wesleyan strong. If you would like to take a moment to make your annual gift, we invite you to do so at iwu.edu/give.

Go Titans!

Over the summer, Jenny Prochotsky began a project to distribute free fresh produce to local Bloomington residents. Her efforts, with the help of the community and IWU alumni and staff, have affected  the lives of many families in need.

Here’s an excerpt from the IWU article, highlighting Alex’s involvement in the project:

Alex Kim ’13 built a Veggie Bike in 2012 to transport vegetables from the IWU Peace Garden; Farm to Food Pantry volunteers use it regularly. Volunteers with the IWU Peace Garden, founded in 2012, have supplied produce and helped with the project.

Along with Alex, Jenny has received help from Cheryl (Baller) Philippi ’81; Michael Gorman ’10, Information Technology Project Analyst; Deborah Halperin, IWU’s Action Research Center Program Coordinator; Karin McDowell ’00; Manish Mandava ’14; and Bobby Castillo ’14, Admissions Counselor.

For more on Jenny’s “Pop-Up Produce Stands”, The Pantagraph has also covered the story.

Bloomington-Normal was ranked among the 50 best college towns in America!

Find out where we’re ranked.

Professor of Physics, Gabe Spalding will be featured at the SPIE Optics + Photonics conference in San Diego, August 17-21. He will present research co-authored by recent IWU physics grad “Sunny” Qing Ding ’13, “Optical trapping with pillar bowtie nanoantennas,”.

Ding is pursuing his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbaba-Champaign!

Nick Nichols is now a Systems Summer Intern Speech Program Lead and delivered the keynote address for the Speech Competition Finals and the yearly EDIT Conference for high school students at State Farm.

Congratulations on all your achievements, Nick!

After decades of service to Illinois Wesleyan, Ann Harding retired in June as director of Alumni Relations.

Read more about Ann’s commitment to IWU and its alumni, here.