Author Archives: Ann Aubry

Habitat for Humanity Receives State Farm Grant

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan University chapter of Habitat for Humanity has received a $2,000 grant from State Farm Insurance Companies.

The Illinois Wesleyan University chapter applied for and received the grant in competition with numerous other campus chapters across the United States. State Farm, the national sponsor for all Habitat for Humanity youth programs, gave out a total of 28 matching grants to various campus chapters. The matching grants required the chapters to raise an amount equal to the grant before receiving the funds. The IWU chapter raised the amount through a number of fundraisers including Trick-or-Treat for Change and the Power of a Dollar, where each student asks friends and family to contribute a single dollar.

“State Farm has been a sponsor of Habitat for Humanity for many years, encouraging employees and community members to become involved with the program,” says Heather Paul, a specialist in public affairs for State Farm. “As a company, State Farm also holds a commitment toward young adults and youth involvement in the community.” Paul presented the grant to the chapter on Feb. 10 at an IWU Board of Trustees meeting.

Trey Short Appointed Assistant Provost and Chief Technology Officer

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.– Effective March 15, Trey Short will become Assistant Provost and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Short, who currently serves as Interim Associate Vice President of Information Technology (IT), will report directly to Provost and Dean of the Faculty Beth Cunningham.

Cunningham noted in her announcement of the new appointment that Short has strong support from everyone across campus and his calm demeanor and enthusiastic attitude will serve him well in the role of CTO.

“The campus network electronic implementation has benefited from Trey’s direction, first in wiring the entire campus and now in working with the Network Services team on the current network electronics upgrade project. He has collaborated on a daily basis with faculty, students, staff, and administrators on a variety of issues such as web services, telecommunications, IT help desk policies and campus cable television,” said Cunningham.

Oscar Ceremony “Surreal” for Richard Jenkins ’69

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – When 1969 Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Richard Jenkins discovered that he was a best actor nominee for is role in The Visitor, he said he was “surprised, thrilled and a little humbled.” When he attended the 81st Academy Awards as an honored guest on Feb. 22, he said he was amazed.

“It’s a little surreal, the whole thing,” Jenkins said of the Oscar production.

In The Visitor, Jenkins plays the leading role of college professor Walter Vale, who finds that he is sharing his New York apartment with two illegal immigrants. According to 2003 best actor winner Adrien Brody, who introduced Jenkins and was one of five former category winners to present the award for best actor, Jenkins’ performance in the film is a display of “effortless and compelling simplicity.” Brody went on to commend Jenkins for his involvement in over 80 projects since the 1970s.

“I don’t quite remember what he said,” Jenkins admitted. “It’s hard to focus at that moment, but it was very nice. I loved that whole idea of actors talking about actors—I think that’s really a nice way to do it.”

Jenkins’ role in The Visitor has received five nominations from ceremonies like the Screen Actors Guild Awards and four wins in ceremonies such as the Moscow International Film Festival. Though he does not claim a “favorite” project, Jenkins was pleased to be recognized for his performance in The Visitor, which he considers an outstanding professional accomplishment.

“It’s the kind of project I waited for most of my professional life, so this was really special,” he said. “It was a movie I loved, so I didn’t mind talking about it.”

Distinguished Alumna Named Dean of Nursing at Tennessee University

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Wendy M. Nehring, a Distinguished Alumna for Nursing Excellence and former instructor of nursing at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been named dean of nursing at East Tennessee State University (ETSU).

Nehring, who graduated from Illinois Wesleyan in 1979, most recently served as associate dean for graduate education and director of graduate programs at Rutgers University, N.J. She has also held appointments at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Rush University, and the University of Illinois.

“The university is very fortunate to have recruited Dr. Nehring, who is well respected across the nation for her contributions in nursing education and research,” said Wilsie S. Bishop, ETSU vice president for health affairs and university chief operating officer.

With more than 170 publications to her credit, Nehring has dedicated significant time to studying Down Syndrome, the experiences of children with HIV/AIDS, neural tube defects, mental retardation and the use of simulations in nursing education.

German Chocolate Pizza and Other Market Research

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Students from a marketing class at Illinois Wesleyan University looked down upon their research subjects during a recent market survey – but that’s only because they were much shorter.

Nearly 30 Illinois Wesleyan students from Karen Bussone’s course on “Principles of Marketing” visited third graders at Grove Elementary School in Normal, hoping to gain insights on a topic generally loved by children – pizza.

“The goal of incorporating The Pizza Hut Challenge project into the classroom curriculum is to provide students an opportunity to conduct primary research with a given subject in a real world situation. “ said Bussone, a visiting assistant professor of business administration. Bussone asked Illinois Wesleyan students to create marketing concepts that target grade-school children and are geared to make a local pizza company more profitable. To assist them in their research, the students of Julie Swango’s third-grade class offered to take part in group surveys.

The children answered questions ranging from “Who is your favorite cartoon character?” to “If you could put anything on pizza, what would it be?”

“German chocolate on pizza? Yum!” said Kyle Borkowski after one third-grader’s response. Borkowski’s group posed more questions for the children, writing each answer. A junior business major from Crete, Ill., Borkowski said the interaction with the children offers a unique perspective. “We’re not just assuming what the kids like, or saying what we liked when we were kids.”

Graphic Design Class Tackles Social Issues

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University students are used to tackling controversial issues in the classroom, and in Professor of Art Sherry McElroy’s Graphic Design I course they’re doing it through the power of advertising.

Archived at the Student Graphic Arts Collection Web site, the advertisements feature research subjects that illustrate current social, political and economic conditions.

“The objective of the project is to explore visual solutions that best serve to educate, inform or call the audience to action,” said McElroy.

Many students in the class, which welcomes non-majors looking to fulfill a general education credit, chose the theme of gender inequality. “Earning Power,” an ad by senior accounting major Jennifer Daniels that demonstrates the pay inequality between men and women in Illinois, stood out to McElroy as particularly effective.

Underneath a one thousand dollar bill with a his-and-her-style piece cut out in the shape of the state, Daniels writes: “In Illinois, women earn 75 cents to every dollar earned by an Illinois male. … It may seem like just a few cents, but the wage gap between men and women adds up to enormous sums over the course of a working lifetime. Women working fulltime earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. For a female college graduate, that’s on average $1.2 million lost. … For the same work.”

Historian Describes “the American Contradiction”

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As we celebrate the iconic Abraham Lincoln during the month of his 200th birthday, it can be difficult to imagine the monumental task he faced eliminating slavery in America.

“It was not easy to be Abraham Lincoln, especially not easy to be Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States in the mid-1800s,” said James O. Horton. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian delivered an address titled, “Abraham Lincoln: Slavery and the Civil War” for Illinois Wesleyan University’s annual Founders’ Day Convocation in Westbrook Auditorium. Hear his address (mp3)

“Slavery is an old institution, around more than 150 years before there was a ‘United States,'” said Horton, an historian emeritus with the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. “Slavery and race have been part of America from its beginning.”

Students Receive, Give Back Fellowship for Community Work

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University students Sneh Rajbhandari and Danny Burke are the recipients of the Weir Fellowship that honors students who go beyond simply volunteering in the community.

The $1,250 fellowships come through Illinois Wesleyan’s Action Research Center (ARC), which links Illinois Wesleyan students with research projects with not-for-profit organizations. Students chosen as Weir Fellows must have previously worked closely with community partners, and proposed collaborative projects with them.

“Students have so many responsibilities with classes and work, that finding the time to volunteer and become involved in the community can be challenging,” said Jim Simeone, one of the founders of ARC. “This fellowship is intended to pay for the work they do assisting community partners.” Though the money is intended to support students financially as they work on projects for community partners, Illinois Wesleyan students are putting the funds back into the organizations they serve.

Senior Honored by Chemical Society

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Senior chemistry major Matthew Spafford has been selected as a 2009 Illinois Heartland American Chemical Society (ACS) Collegiate Scholar.

Award recipients are chosen based on research accomplishments and grade point average. Spafford’s research focuses on developing environmentally friendly methods for organic synthesis, specifically, the use of bismuth compounds as catalysts. His research findings have been published in the international chemistry journals Tetrahedron Letters and The Australian Journal of Chemistry. He has also presented his findings in the organic division of The American Chemical Society.

What is Lincoln’s Legacy?

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, a man who can arguably be called one of the most important men in the history of the nation. Historians have debated his wisdom, his politics and his intentions for more than a century. But what, in essence, is the legacy Lincoln left behind? Those close to Illinois Wesleyan University offer their insights.

“Without Lincoln, the Civil War would have ended the American experiment on a rather sad note,” said Robert S. Eckley, president of Illinois Wesleyan from 1968 to 1986. Eckley, who served as president of the Abraham Lincoln Association and was honored with their Logan Hay Medal in 2007, is completing a book on Bloomington attorney and Lincoln friend Leonard Swett. “Lincoln was a master politician and strategist. He held us together as a nation and started an emancipation that has not been carried through to finality even to this day, but we are getting closer,” he said.

Lincoln’s efforts as the Great Emancipator have a direct affect on current lives and politics, said Professor Robert Bray, Illinois Wesleyan’s R. Forrest Colwell Professor of English. “I can give you Lincoln’s legacy in one word — Obama,” said Bray, who co-wrote the play Lincoln’s in Town!, based upon Lincoln’s famous “lost speech” given in Bloomington. “Lincoln and his Congress started the road to civil rights, which culminated in the election last November of Barack Obama.”

IWU News Blog

Headlines From Illinois Wesleyan University