Author Archives: Ann Aubry

Campaign Gifts Announced at Homecoming, Including Alumni Gift of More Than $1 Million

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Several major gifts to Illinois Wesleyan University’s capital campaign were announced during Homecoming festivities. The gifts, all from alumni, include a promise of more than $1 million. Gifts announced included those from Howard and Sharon Fricke, and Kent and Sue Wallace.

Howard and Sharon Fricke, both 1960 Illinois Wesleyan graduates, have pledged a gift of more than $1 million toward the University’s Transforming Lives: The Campaign for Illinois Wesleyan. The gift was announced at the annual Alumni Awards Lunch.

According to the Frickes, the goal of the gift is to make an impact. “I can make a difference by giving. I can make a difference by not giving,” said Howard Fricke. “I can make a difference by helping someone, or not helping someone. If we all became ‘they’ and decided not to give, this would not be a world most of us would want to live in.”

Alumna Performs in New York Musical Theatre Festival

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As the sunlight sneaks through the blinds of Casey Clark’s apartment in New York City, the 2004 Illinois Wesleyan graduate is already up, navigating her way between play scripts, music and books strewn across the floor. Clark is on her way to rehearsal in midtown Manhattan for her upcoming production of composer Jay Alan Zimmerman’s autobiographical, The Incredibly Deaf Musical, where she plays the role of the artist’s supportive wife, Lisa. The musical is part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, which will run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 10.

Checking her watch, she swiftly snags her duffle bags full of clothes, make-up, and hair-styling amenities. Clark then leaves to catch the subway just a few blocks away from her apartment.

Today, she will work with choreographers to prepare a dance routine for two songs in the show, which are about Zimmerman’s life. The production describes Zimmerman’s journey to New York City, and the struggles he encounters launching his music career. His principal adversity being — he begins to go deaf in his 20s and 30s.

In between choreography practice and an evening class with a casting director, Clark will make her usual stop at Starbucks to refuel. Then after class, it’s home to practice her lines. The following morning she will return to the theatre to continue preparing for the production.

Legacy Students Make IWU a Family Affair

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – This year, Illinois Wesleyan University welcomed 587 first-year students to campus. Of those students, 32 have siblings, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and generations farther back who call Illinois Wesleyan their alma mater. Often referred to as legacy students, this year represents the largest class of such distinction in the University’s history.

Craig Rapp, class of 2004, called attending Illinois Wesleyan “a family extravaganza.” With his two older brothers having already attended IWU, and his father Randall Rapp being a member of the class of 1973, he had spent a fair amount of time visiting the University prior to becoming a student. Choosing IWU was an easy decision and a gut instinct, he said. Although his father was happy he had selected IWU, he still encouraged his son to look elsewhere.

“My dad pushed me to look at other schools to make sure this was the right fit for me,” said Rapp. “He was delighted that I was looking at IWU, but he was also very firm that he would be fine with whatever school I chose.”

AAUP President to Discuss Academic Freedom

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), will speak to Illinois Wesleyan faculty and staff Thursday, Oct. 21.

His talk on “The Future of Higher Education,” which is free and open to the public, will be at 4 p.m. in room C101 of the Center for Natural Science (201 Beecher St., Bloomington).

Nelson’s visit is at the request of Joerg Tiede, IWU associate professor of computer science and president of the school’s AAUP chapter. Nelson will discuss the importance of preserving academic freedom in American universities, the central point of his latest book No University is an Island (NYU Press).

Nelson highlights trends in higher education such as a lack of tenure-track professorships and diminished faculty governance over areas such as curriculum. He believes these changes are damaging to academic excellence.

Student Composition Performed in Germany

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – – Illinois Wesleyan junior and music composition major Scott Keegan will have one of his pieces performed by a professional group in Hanover, Germany, on Oct. 17. Keegan’s composition, Episodes, was chosen from many scores presented to the performers, Plathner’s 11.

According to Professor of Composition and Theory David Vayo, the highest achievement for a composer is having their music performed in concert by musicians.

“This is one of the few times in my 20 years of teaching at IWU that a current student has had one of their compositions performed at a professional venue, and the very first time that a student’s work has been performed internationally.”

Vayo credits Keegan, a St. Charles, Ill., native, not only for his talent, but also for his professional savvy. “For some time he has made a point of entering competitions and seeking opportunities to send his music to interested performers.”

Helicopter to Appear in Tribute to Fallen Alumnus

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — This year would have marked the 15th reunion of Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Ryan Beaupre, the first Illinois soldier killed in action during the Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As a special tribute to Beaupre, the U.S. government has granted permission for a Blackhawk helicopter to land in the practice field near Illinois Wesleyan University Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. The helicopter will remain in the field for three hours, and will be open to the public for viewing and photo opportunities. It will take off just before the 2 p.m. kick-off of the Homecoming game that will pit the Illinois Wesleyan Titans against North Park University.

Beaupre will also be honored with the annual Ryan Beaupre ’95 Memorial Scholarship Run/Walk, which will begin at 9 a.m. at Wilder Field (400 Titan Drive, Bloomington). Proceeds from the run go to support the scholarship for an Illinois Wesleyan student. Immediately before the run will be the annual Kids Fun Run, which also pays tribute to Beaupre.

Environmental Author, Activist, Alumna to Speak on Campus

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Environmental author and activist Sandra Steingraber will return to her alma mater at Illinois Wesleyan University on Monday, Oct. 18 to talk about a new documentary, Living Downstream, that follows the struggle to bring awareness to the link between cancer and the environment. The struggle is a personal one for Steingraber, who not only is a noted biology researcher, but is also a cancer survivor. The talk will be from noon-1 p.m. at the Hansen Student Center (300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington). The event is free and open to the public.

Steingraber originally published her celebrated book Living Downstream in 1997, and it propelled her to national attention. She is eagerly sought as a national speaker, invited to communities all over the U.S. and across the Atlantic Ocean to speak on the silent dangers of environmental toxins – from Alaska where chemicals poisoned a salmon stream, to Ireland where farmers inadvertently poisoned their water supply with insecticides. She has earned many honors and accolades along the way, including being compared to environmental crusader Rachel Carson.

Stroyan Named as Candidate for ALA Presidency

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University Information Services Librarian Susan Stroyan has been named as one of two candidates for the 2012-13 presidency of the American Library Association (ALA).

Founded in 1876, the ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with members in academic, public, school, government and special libraries. It serves the more than 122,000 libraries in the United States, working to strengthen libraries, the profession, and the public’s access to information.

“I am honored, humbled, and excited at the possible opportunity to serve ALA as President,” said Stroyan. “I’m inspired by our colleagues around the country that have achieved high levels of success by leading their communities to new heights of library awareness in these difficult economic times.”

International Colloquium Bridges Cultures

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – An idea knows no language. A thought does bend to borders or nations. Yet to share ideas, we must work to transcend such human challenges as location and language. This sharing of ideas was the aim of an international colloquium last week on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. A group of scholars journeyed 5,000 miles from the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU) in Moscow to Bloomington to work together at a colloquium titled, “Childhood and Globalization.”

“We all share a common goal, to understand and describe both our diverse history and the current realities of the childhood experience in a rapidly changing, global existence,” said Illinois Wesleyan’s Isaac Funk Professor of Russian Studies Marina Balina. “Our colloquium provided those colloquium participants and our audience participating with a unique opportunity for the immediate exchange of ideas on this important subject.”

It was Balina’s works that planted the seed for the colloquium. An academic author of books and articles on childhood in the Soviet Union, her publications are printed in English, German, Italian and Russian. It was while working in Germany that Russian scholar Professor Vitaly Bezrogov became familiar with (discovered) Balina’s book on children’s literature that was published by Routledge Press in English.

“I ‘knew her’ through her publications on life-writing genres many years before I met her,” said Bezrogov, who is studying the nuances of textbooks and readers designed for schoolchildren. “We began to actively correspond in late 2007, but did not have a chance to meet until 2009.” The two met face-to-face when Bezrogov invited Balina to an interdisciplinary conference in Moscow. It was there they decided they wanted to bring scholars to Illinois Wesleyan with the aim of exchanging ideas on childhood.

16 New Scholarships Announced

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Sixteen new scholarships were announced on Wednesday at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Scholarship Benefactors and Awards Recipients Dinner. The scholarships are part of Transforming Lives: The Campaign for Illinois Wesleyan.

The event, held in the Young Main Lounge and Joslin Atrium on Illinois Wesleyan’s campus, gave students a chance to meet those who impact their lives by giving to scholarship funds. More than 90 percent of all students at Illinois Wesleyan receive some form of financial assistance from the University, which spent $26 million last year on financial support for students. Every six out of 10 students at Illinois Wesleyan receive funds on the basis of financial need – meaning they could not attend the University without the assistance. Scholarships created by alumni and friends meet part of the needed funds for those students.

The campaign has a goal of an additional $30 million to place toward Endowments for Students, which will increase the number and amount of grants and scholarships awarded to promising and deserving young scholars.

At the dinner, University President Richard F. Wilson thanked the benefactors who established scholarships, calling their contributions a “transformation.” He said, “That is our theme as an institution. Lives transformed. Possibilities embraced. Goals redefined. That’s what happens on this campus.” Wilson said he was excited at the opportunity of supporters and students to meet. “This great occasion is of mutual benefit on both sides of the table,” he said.

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