Category Archives: Events

Global Health Gala, Solidarity Celebration April 19

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The sounds of traditional drums and the aroma of East African cuisine will mark an upcoming fundraiser from several Illinois Wesleyan University student health organizations trying to cure the world’s ills.

The Global Health Gala, which includes a traditional Swahili dinner and West African dance performance, will take place from 5-7 p.m., Sunday, April 19, in Hansen Student Center and will benefit four University groups, which are working toward global health equality. Tickets are free to students and will be available on the steps going up to the Dining Commons. Community members, faculty and staff can purchase tickets for $30 each at The Illinois Wesleyan University Bookstore, the Garlic Press in Normal and Crossroads Global Handcrafts in Bloomington.

The event will also replace the Save a Life, Win A Wii Solidarity Celebration that was originally slated for April 4, on the Illinois Wesleyan University Robert S. Eckley Quadrangle, also known as the Quad.

The event is a joint effort between student organizations, all of which have been established this academic year at Illinois Wesleyan.

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference Marks 20 Years

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As students begin their presentations at the annual John Wesley Powell Research Conference on April 18, they will be following a 20-year tradition at Illinois Wesleyan University. Throughout the past two decades the conference has evolved – expanding in numbers, encompassing more departments and integrating technology. The event, however, remains an example of one of the hallmarks of the University, a chance to celebrate the work of undergraduate research.

“Four-year, liberal arts institutions have the ability to develop students with research they would not experience until the graduate level at a large university,” said Roger Schnaitter, associate provost for academic planning and standards at Illinois Wesleyan, who coordinated the conference during the 1990s.

Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo Promotes ‘Free For All’

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A “free for all” and a statewide panel will highlight the fourth annual Illinois Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo from April 16-18 at Illinois Wesleyan University.

“People often say to me, ‘I know I should be living better, but I’m not sure how to do it,’” said Missy Smock, director of the Wellness Center at Illinois Wesleyan, which is co-sponsoring the Expo with the Ecology Action Center in Bloomington. “The expo does more than show people the problems, it offers them solutions to improve their quality of life.”

This year’s expo, with the theme “Clean Water: The Ripple Effect,” will kick off Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Young Main Lounge (104 E. University St., Bloomington) with a panel discussing the relationship between food and drinking water. “It’s an irony that the food we eat affects the water we drink, and the water affects the choices we have for food,” said Michael Brown, executive director of the Ecology Action Center. The panel titled “Clean Water, Healthy Food: Your Choices Matter” will include members of the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Center, the McLean County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Illinois State Water Survey, as well as professors from Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State University.

University Celebrates 25 Years of Evelyn Chapel, Jordan Organ

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Evelyn Chapel (1301 N. Park St., Bloomington) with a series of commemorative events on Saturday, March 28. The celebration, which requires reservations, is free and open to the public.

Alumni organ recitals will begin at 3 p.m. A reception will be held at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner and a celebratory concert by Marilyn Keiser, 1963 Illinois Wesleyan alumna and retired Indiana University music professor, at 7:30 p.m. After Keiser’s performance, the central Illinois chapter of American Guild Organist will host a reception in the chapel.

Named after Evelyn Sheean, benefactor and friend of the University, the Evelyn Chapel was built in 1984 and houses several campus religious activities, as well as the office of University Chaplain Hope Luckie. In 1985, the chapel received an Interior Architecture Award from the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Comedian, Activist Dick Gregory to Speak at Soul Food Dinner

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Join Illinois Wesleyan University in welcoming the multi-talented Dick Gregory to the annual Soul Food Dinner on Sunday, Feb. 15.

The dinner will be held at center court in the Hansen Student Center (300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington) at 5:30 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., Gregory will deliver his speech, “The World According to Dick Gregory: An Evening of Humor and Humanity.”

Press availability with Gregory is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. in the Student Senate meeting room on the second floor of the Hansen Student Center.

Tickets for the dinner are $10, and IWU students can use their meal exchange privileges. Sponsored by the IWU Student Senate, the keynote speech is free and open to the public.

Throughout his life, Gregory has taken on many titles: comedian, civil rights activist, author, philosopher, actor, nutritionist, recording artist, anti-drug advocate and cancer survivor. However, he is best known for his social satire and comedy, which he first performed while serving in the army in the 1950s. Upon moving to Chicago to pursue a professional career in comedy, Gregory and contemporaries such as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and Nipsey Russell avoided performing minstrel comedy, which pokes fun at stereotypes of African Americans. Their redirection of the comedy scene left white audiences with a new perception of African-American comedians.

Faculty to Perform Rare Repertoire by African American Composers

Associate Professor of Voice Carren Moham, soprano, accompanied by Associate Professor of Piano R. Kent Cook, will give a recital of songs by African American composers on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the performance will take place at St. John’s Lutheran Church (1617 East Emerson St., Bloomington).

The recital, given in celebration of Black History Month, features both art songs and spirituals composed by African Americans, many of which have rarely been performed since the 1940s.

“In the first half of the 20th century, it was almost impossible for black composers to get their music published, and it was even harder for women,” said Moham, who has done extensive research in the past 14 years on the virtually unknown and unpublished art songs of African-American composers. “Many black composers passed their music around to friends.”

Famed Historian to Speak at Founders’ Day Convocation

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – James Horton has lent his expertise to museums across the nation, but has spent his career bringing history directly to people as an advisor, Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and consultant for The History Channel.

An historian emeritus with the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, Horton will deliver an address titled “Abraham Lincoln: Slavery and the Civil War” for Illinois Wesleyan University’s annual Founders’ Day Convocation at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 in Westbrook Auditorium in Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington). Horton’s visit is supported in part by the David and Ann Lawrence Speaker’s Series. The event, which is free and open to the public, honors the 30 founders who signed the charter for the University in 1850.

The Benjamin Banneker Professor Emeritus of American Studies and History at George Washington University, Horton has been on the national and international stage for decades, working toward the preservation and understanding of history. He was the senior Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Munich, Germany, from 1988 to 1989, and has also lectured throughout Europe, and in Thailand and Japan. In 1991, he assisted the German government in developing American Studies programs in the former East Germany. Two years later, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt appointed Horton to the National Park System Advisory Board, and in 1996 he was elected board chair. His work for the board included serving as senior advisor on historical interpretation and public education for the director of the National Park Service.

Gospel Festival Celebrates 19th Year

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University will host the 19th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Gospel Festival Celebration on Monday, Jan. 19, from 3 to 8p.m. in the Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington). This event, free and open to the public, honors the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Founded by the United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington and Normal, a not-for-profit organization, and cosponsored by Illinois Wesleyan, the Gospel Festival was launched in 1991 by the late Corine G. Sims, who served as the executive director of the United Community Gospel Singers as a way to continue King’s legacy. The festival will feature several local choirs including, in order of performance: The United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal, Ill.; The Gayles Memorial Mass Choir from Aurora; The Fantastic Jones Family from Springfield; JAM (Jesus and Me) from Bloomington; and Malcolm Williams and the Voices of Great Faith, from Chicago.

Environmental Activist Jerome Ringo to Speak at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship Dinner

The 19th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship Dinner will feature guest speaker Jerome Ringo, an environmental pioneer and the president of the Apollo Alliance. Ringo will give the keynote speech, “The Color of Green: Dr. King’s Vision for the Future.”

Illinois Wesleyan University, with co-sponsor the United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal, will host the dinner in the Young Main Lounge of the Memorial Center (104 University St., Bloomington) on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m.

Tickets for the fellowship dinner are $13 for adults, and $6.50 for IWU students and children under 12. They can be purchased through the Illinois Wesleyan University Bookstore in the Hansen Student Center (300 Beecher St., Bloomington).

Award-Winning War Novelist to Speak on Campus

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Seventh Annual Ames/Milner Visiting Author Program will welcome novelist Tim O’Brien on Thursday, Oct. 23.

Hailed as “the best American writer of his generation” by the San Francisco Chronicle, O’Brien is the author of eight books, most notably The Things They Carried, a collection of related stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. He received much acclaim following the novel’s 1990 publication and subsequent nomination for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. The book won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Award in fiction, the New York Times named it one of the 20 best books of the last quarter century and noted author John Updike selected the title story for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century.

Following is the schedule for the Visiting Author program on Oct. 23:

• 2 p.m.-3 p.m.: Presentation followed by a question and answer session at the Center Court of the Hansen Student Center (300 Beecher St., Bloomington), Illinois Wesleyan University

• 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Presentation followed by a question and answer session at Braden Auditorium of the Bone Student Center (100 University St., Normal), Illinois State University. A book signing will follow in the Barnes and Noble College Bookstore, also in the Bone Student Center

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