Veena Hamill ’18 has just completed a master’s degree in Biotechnology at Rush University in Chicago, IL

Congratulations Veena!

 Rotary International has awarded Illinois Wesleyan University alum Jia “Muyi” Yang ’18 a 2019 Rotary Peace Fellowship to pursue a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies at Uppsala University in Sweden.

You can read more about it here.

You did it, Titans! You were the key to our success. On April 11, 2,205 donors collectively raised $518,316. And thanks to the generosity of our pacesetter challenge donors, our grand total is $776,316 (and still counting!)

This video captures a few successes from #AllInforWesleyan.  Check out the social media activity and revisit iwu.edu/all-in to see how your gifts made a difference.

Check out the All In Happy Hours taking place around the country. Show your Titan pride by spreading the word about All In for Wesleyan to your personal networks via social media, calls, texts, emails, etc.

You’ll have a great time while encouraging others to make an additional gift on All In and share stories about how IWU Unlocked Opportunities for each of us. Visit our webpage for more information and registration. 

On April 11, alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends of IWU show your pride and support by being All In for Wesleyan. During this 24-hour giving day, let’s unlock opportunities together – you are key to our success!

Be All In, All Day, make an additional gift at iwu.edu/all-in and spread the word on social media using#AllInforWesleyan. Check out our social media toolkit!

Thank-A-Giver Day (TAG Day) is on Monday, February 11. This day provides the IWU campus community with the opportunity to thank the donors who support Illinois Wesleyan. IWU celebrates each year in mid-February because it marks the symbolic point during the academic year – about 70% of the way through – when tuition dollars run out and support from alumni and friends, our endowment, and external grants kicks in for the remainder of the year.

Thank you to all donors who help make the IWU experience possible!

Jackie Salgado, BFA Music Theatre ’18 made her debut at Feinstein’s 54 Below in NYC for her role in Audition Redemption. You can read more about it here.

Juna Shai ’18 is currently serving as the understudy to Broadway’s Ali Ewoldt (Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, The King and I) in the Off-Broadway production of Anne of Green Gables: Part I, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 11, 2019, with Royal Family Productions, located in the heart of Times Square. You can read more about it here.

Brock Thornton ’18 returned to IWU on November 14, 2018 to represent his organization, Memorial Health System, at the Nursing Career Fair. Glad to know this alumnus was contributing his story, advice, and resources at the fair!

Ryan Kaplan ’18 combined his knowledge of finance  as an economics major with his experience as a student-athlete to reveal the multi-million dollar economic impact of IWU’s Department of Athletics on the Bloomington-Normal community.

While examining the various expenditures and sources of revenue generated by IWU’s NCAA Division III Athletics Department, Kaplan calculated that food and gas consumption from five IWU teams alone – football, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s basketball – generated three jobs and $250,000 for the local economy over the course of his four-year study. Additionally, ticket sales from football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball created an estimated economic impact of $750,000 and six jobs over the course of four years. Kaplan generated these figures by running data through The Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II), which – according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis – is a tool used by investors, planners and elected officials to objectively assess the potential economic impacts of various projects.

Kaplan compiled attendance records from ticketed IWU sporting events from 2013 through 2017 and used Google Maps to calculate team transportation fuel consumption. Along with collecting data, Kaplan spent much of his time manipulating Microsoft Excel functions to generate the economic impact statistics before presenting his findings upon conclusion of the fall semester.

“It seems like a lot of work to get a few numbers, but I learned a lot about economic impact,” Kaplan said. “I didn’t realize when you buy something how far that money really goes, how the company takes that, spends it elsewhere, and it creates a snowball effect.”

Kaplan considered his 16-week research project to be just the tip of the iceberg. He hoped his results would prompt IWU Athletics to conduct a full-scale economic impact survey based on expenditure and revenue data from all 22 teams, in order to better grasp the extent to which the department is contributing to Bloomington-Normal’s economy.

Assistant Athletic Director Tony Bankston ’91, along with other IWU Athletics administrators, took interest in Kaplan’s work. Bankston, who attended Kaplan’s research presentation, was impressed by his ability to merge a passion for sports from the field to the classroom. “I think we always talk about how our mission in the Athletics Department is to mesh the academic and the athletic experience, to make it as seamless as possible, to provide the student the opportunity to be as successful as possible on both ends of the spectrum,” Bankston said. “It’s neat when you see a project like this, that literally brings those two worlds together.”

Congratulations, Ryan!

Read this article in the IWU Campus Weekly here.