Category Archives: Ames Highlights

In case you missed it, “the annual Homecoming football game at Illinois Wesleyan was spoiled with a 7-2 loss to Augustana.” While we lost the game, there was plenty of fun had throughout the rest of the weekend, so we’re all waking up a bit more slowly this morning. Need a little extra pick-me-up? Check out photos from around campus from this weekend.

We’re officially half way through the fall semester, and things are starting to get busy. There are still study spaces to be found in Ames in the evenings, but make sure you’re getting here early to get your preferred space. Remember you can reserve a project room through the Help@Ames desk for up to 4 hours at a time. Make your reservation now!

Speaking of getting started, do you know what’s going on in Ames this week? Read on to find out.

Today, Monday 10/20, the Writing Center is hosting an Open House to celebrate the National Day on Writing. Did you know the Writing Center recently moved into the library? It’s on the first floor near the Circulation Desk. Make your appointment today!

Instruction Lab, Room 129

• Monday, 1pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway
• Monday, 3pm, Prof. Coleman’s other Gateway
• Tuesday, 9:25pm, Prof. Sibley’s Spanish 102
• Tuesday, 10:50am, Prof. Ferradan’s Spanish 280
• Tuesday, 1pm, Prof. Hoyt’s Business 490
• Wednesday, 1pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway
• Wednesday, 2pm, Prof. Harper’s Biology 217
• Thursday, 9:25pm, Prof. Nillas’s Gateway
• Thursday, 2:35pm, Prof. Nadeau’s Spanish 280
• Friday, 10am, Prof. Connelley’s Gateway
• Friday, 2pm, Prof. Isabelli’s Spanish 303
• Friday, 3pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway

Room 214

• Monday, 3pm, CUPP
• Tuesday, noon, Library Advisory Committee
• Tuesday, 4:30pm, Star Literacy
• Wednesday, 3pm, CUPP
• Thursday, 11am, Assessment Committee
• Thursday, 1pm, IT Sharepoint
• Thursday, 4:30pm, Star Literacy
• Friday, 8am, IT Sharepoint

Beckman Auditorium

• Monday, 7pm, Vanishing of the Bees
• Tuesday, 1:10pm, Battle of Ideas
• Tuesday, 7pm, Food, Inc. – Food, Inc. is the perplexing documentary on America’s food. Delving into various issues such as safety, health, rights, law and business, this film covers how factory farms fit into the American culture. This film is presented by VVV, (Vegetarians, Vegans, Victorious).
• Wednesday, 5:30pm, Boundless Spirit: William Morris for the 21st Century – A public evening event focused on the Garden City Movement and its influence on Morris.
• Wednesday, 7pm, Psychology 369
• Thursday, 7pm, Baron von Munchhausen (1943) – A fantasy comedy of a German folktale about a man who never grows old. This version was filmed under the National Socialists as a distraction. Sponsor: International Film Series
• Friday, 9pm, Nursing 400 Exam

So we’re all back from Fall Break and now it’s raining. But…we’ve got Homecoming to look forward to this weekend! To get ready for this weekend’s festivities, let’s review what’s happening in Ames this week.

Jack Furlong of the Philosophy Department at Transylvania University will present “Reorienting the Question of What We Owe Nonhumans: Beyond Rights Talk Toward Capability Discourse” on Monday at 4pm in the Beckman Auditorium.

On Tuesday, at 4pm, Jennifer McCoy, Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University and director of the Americas Program at The Carter Center in Atlanta, will speak on Venezuelan political culture and the neo-Bolivarian perspective that is spreading throughout the hemisphere. This event is sponsored by a “Recentering the Humanities” grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as well as the Department of Hispanic Studies, the Latin American Studies team of International Studies, and the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice.

On Wednesday, at 4pm, Dr. Caroline Bishoip of Indiana University will present “How to make a Roman Demosthenes: Cicero and the constrcution of a tradition” as part of the IDES Lecture. In both technology and culture, the Romans were great bridge-builders, and borrowed liberally from ancient Greece. The Roman politician Cicero (106-43 BC) was no exception. When Roman democracy ended with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, Cicero turned to Greece for an explanation, particularly Demosthenes, the democratic opponent of
King Philip of Macedon. In this talk, I will explore the links Cicero drew between himself and Demosthenes, and explain how they still influence the way we think about the bridges between their civilizations.

On Thursday, at 4pm, Associate Professor of English Joanne Diaz will read from her new book, “My Favorite Tyrants,” which was named the winner of the 2014 Brittingham Prize in Poetry. This event is sponsored by Tributaries, IWU’s creative arts journal.

Homecoming Events in Ames

• Friday – 1-1:50 – Kris Condon ’84 – 2014 Loyalty Award Winner – “Order in the Court! Or, How I Spent my Summer Vacation at the US Supreme Court”
• Friday – 2-2:50 – Robert Bray – R. Forest Colwell Professor of English – “Making Abraham Lincoln Ours”
• Friday – 3-3:50 – Kyle Pfortmiller ’92 – 2014 Distinguished Alumnus – “Journey to the Met: More than Practice, Practice, Practice!”
• Friday – 4-4:50 – William Jaeckle – Associate Professor of Biology and Student Senate 2014 Professor of the Year – “Living in a bowl of soup and lacking utensils: The many ways that aquatic invertebrates catch their food”
• Friday – around 4:00 p.m., the small tree that sits between the two bays of car spaces in our back parking lot will be dedicated to the memory of Jim McGowan. A space on either side of this tree will be cordoned off around 3:00 p.m.
• Saturday – 8:30-9:20 – Mark Israel ’91 – Executive Vice President, Compass Lexecon – “Mergers and Acquisitions”
• Saturday – 9:30-10:20 – Dr. Sean Parsons ’02 – 2014 Rober M. Montgomery Outstanding Young Alumnus – “1959 in Jazz…It Was a Very Good Year”
• Saturday – 10:30-11:20 – Robert Delvin – Fine Arts Librarian and Professor – “Moments Musicaux: Episodes from 150 Years of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University”

Instruction in 129

• Monday, Prof. Bushman’s Gateway course
• Tuesday, German 101 lab
• Tuesday, Prof. Schwartz’s course
• Wednesday, Prof. Burke’s Socl 230
• Thursday, Prof. Hoyt’s Bus 490

Administrative meetings in 214

• Monday, 9:30am, Network Group
• Monday, 3pm, CUPP
• Wednesday, 3pm, CUPP
• Thursday, 1pm, Web Redesign Workgroup

Events in the Beckman Auditorium

• Monday, 11-3:30, Admissions Open House
• Monday, 4pm, Philosophy film screening
• Monday, 7pm, Prof. Haefner’s Gateway film screening
• Tuesday, 4pm, RcCentering the Humanities speaker event
• Wednesday, 4pm, IDES Lecture
• Thursday, 4pm, “My Favorite Tyrants”

Did you know Ames Library has a Popular Reading Collection? It’s located right next to the Circulation Desk and has dozens of titles from which to choose. Grab one of these for some light weekend reading or just to take a break from all that scholarly work you’ve been doing.

Some of our recent additions to the collection include:

ANGRY OPTIMIST : THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JON STEWART – Lisa Rogak

THE ASSASSINATION OF MARGARET THATCHER : STORIES – Hilary Mantel

THE BONE CLOCKS – David Mitchell

BURN – James Patterson

THE CHILDREN ACT – Ian McEwan

DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS – Julie Schumacher

AN EVENT IN AUTUMN – Henning Mankell

PERFIDIA – James Ellroy

PERSONAL: A JACK REACHER NOVEL – Lee Child

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU – Jonathan Tropper

To see the entire list of Popular Reading titles, click here.

Not a fan of the physical book? Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with various Kindle titles (you can borrow a Kindle from Circulation). A selection of new titles available on Kindles includes:

All the Light We Cannot See   – Anthony Doerr

Bones Never Lie – Kathy Reichs

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami

The Headmaster’s Wife – Thomas C. Greene

If I Stay – Gayle Forman

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State – Glenn Greenwald

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell – Nadia Nashimi

Click here, if you’d like to Suggest a Purchase (ebook, Kindle or print).

Want to catch up on what’s happening in The Ames Library this week? No need to look any further. Remember – if you ever have any questions, all you need to do is call extension 3900 or stop by the Help@Ames Desk on the entry level of the library.

ILLiad – the program used to lend and borrow items from other libraries – is up and running again. Tony Heaton is working through all the requests; if you have any questions or concerns about items you have requested, please contact Tony at x3224, theaton@iwu.edu

Humans vs. Zombies – are you going to be a Zombie, scavenging for human meat? Or are you going to be a Human, desperately trying to survive the IWU Zombie Apocalypse? Either way, remeber that Ames Library is a Safe Zone, which means no attacks can happen within the building. Humans beware, however, it’s a long walk (or run) from the front of Ames to the next safe zone. Make sure you’re carrying plenty of ammo (socks)!

The International Film Series will be screening “Everything is Illuminated,” from 7-10pm on Monday evening as part of the Iron Curtain Symposium. The Mellon Center is also sponsoring a movie screening from 7-10pm on Thursday evening for the Cold War Gateway.

This week in The Ames Library:

Instruction Lab, Room 129

• Tuesday, 9:25-10:40am, Prof. Nielsen’s Art 490
• Thursday, 1:10-2:25, English

Meeting Room 214

• Monday, 3-4pm, CUPP meeting
• Wednesday, 3-5pm, CUPP meeting
• Thursday, 11-noon, Assessment Committee

Beckman Auditorium

• Monday, 9-11am, Nursing 217
• Tuesday, 9:25-10:40am, International Politics, Road to 9/11
• Tuesday, 4-5:30pm, International Studies, Fall of the Iron Curtain, 25 Years After
• Wednesday, 2-4pm, Nursing 385, Exam #1
• Wednesday, 6-8:30pm, Gateway – Utopianism
• Thursday, 9:25-10:40am, Political Science, Terrorism
• Thursday, 10:50-12:05pm, Political Science, Japan’s About Face

Finally, Peoria Christian High School students will be visiting campus on Friday. They’ll be hanging out in the library at different times during the day.

Remembering Jim McGowan

A bur oak has been planted on the Illinois Wesleyan campus near The Ames Library in memory of Emeritus Professor of English James D. McGowan, who died July 20.

As part of the English Department’s Homecoming Reception, onFriday, Oct. 17 at 3:45 p.m., a plaque and the tree commemorating his presence will be dedicated. If you would like to attend this short ceremony, meet at the English House, 1101 N. Main St., at 3:30 p.m. and Anne McGowan will lead us to the McGowan Bur Oak.

Want to know what’s going on in the library each week? Every Monday we’ll highlight events related to The Ames Library and happening in/around the building. We’re calling it the Monday Missive…

Want to host an event in the library or reserve a study room? Find out about how to reserve rooms on our website!

Beckman Auditorium

Are you in the Cold War Gateway? If so, your class will be meeting in the Beckman Auditorium from 6:30-8:30 on Monday. Nursing 217 students will be in Beckman on Tuesday from 6-9. PoliSci 104 has the Auditorium book from 7-9 on Wednesday.

The Internation Film Series will be screening “Cesar Chavez”, on Thursday, 10/2 from 7-10pm in the Beckman Auditorium. This 2014 film will be presented by Eileen Galvez, assistant director of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. It is part of the 3D series.

Instruction Lab, room 129

• Engl 220, Tuesday
• Econ 401, Wednesday
• Socl 290, Wednesday
• Gateway (Roesner), Thursday
• Gateway (Brennan), Thursday
• Span 468, Friday
• Nurs 214, Friday

Administrative Meetings

• 9/29, Information Technology’s Network group is meeting in room 214 (it’s on the east side of the 2nd floor) from 9:30-11:30
• 9/29 & 10/1, CUPP is meeting in room 214 from 3-5pm
• 9/30, OU users will meet in room 129 (the instruction lab) from 3:30-4:30. Rumor has it there will be chocolate shortbread.
• 10/2, Assessment Committee meeting is in room 214 from 11-noon
• 10/2, the Web Redesign Workgroup is meeting in room 214 from 1-2pm

Ames Plaza in the Rain

It’s looking like it’s going to be a pretty rainy day, if you believe the weather forecasters. What to do then?

Spend some time exploring the library, of course!

The Ames Library has little treasures hidden on each floor. We’ve shown you where the most recent Student Art Purchase Award is kept, but did you know there’s student art throughout the library, with the most pieces on the second floor. This award goes back almost twenty years – see if you know any of the artists.

What other hidden treasures does Ames hold? We’ve got a globe from a former Illinois congressman featuring the USSR. Talk about historical! Can you figure out which floor it’s on?

Globe featuring USSR from former Illinois congressman

Here’s a hint – it’s right next to some really comfortable rocking chairs. Want to learn about the congressman who donated the globe, talk to Meg Miner in the Tate Archives and Special Collections.

Historical objects aside, we’ve also got some great spaces for you to kick back in and watch the rain. Do you prefer to curl up? Try and find one of our Sumo chairs. Do you prefer to be surrounded by dark woods and award winning literature and scholarship? Check out the Bates & Merwin Reading Room.

Sumo Chairs – Great for Studying and Napping

Is it too early in the semester to be thinking about in-depth research assignments? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered for that as well. There’s a Popular Reading Collection near the Circulation Desk that’s sure to have stress-free reading for everyone. Check one out, and go curl up in a Sumo chair or find the Bates & Merwin Reading Room. If you’re having any trouble finding anything, though, make sure you ask for help. Help@Ames and the Circulation Desk are both on the first floor.

Bates & Merwin Reading Room