Category Archives: Features

Academic Advising Offers Students Smooth Transitions

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Very few students come to college with a clear path carved out in their minds. Many questions loom in front of them – What classes should I take? Is my major the right one? What do I need to graduate?

Illinois Wesleyan University’s Academic Advising Center, located in Holmes Hall 110 (1312 N. Park St., Bloomington), is a center point for students to get questions answered, and a key resource for all advising on campus.

“An adviser is an advocate for the students,” said Chandra Shipley, director of Academic Advising at Illinois Wesleyan. “The goal of advising is to help make the college experience smooth and to offer guidance with academic challenges and choices.”

Located in Holmes Hall, the Center provides advising both by appointment and on a drop-in basis. Shipley works in conjunction with faculty academic advisers throughout the campus to help students stay on target toward graduation with a major that reflects their aspirations. “Along with a faculty adviser, Chandra is another voice to help students review her or his options in light of their strengths and goals,” said Interim Provost Frank Boyd.

Thompson ’12 Interns with NYC Media

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – While many students choose to remain on campus during their tenure at Illinois Wesleyan, some students opt to spend a semester outside of the traditional classroom. Kamaya Thompson, a junior theater arts and English double major, chose to do just that. This past semester Thompson traveled New York City and participated in the New York Media Experience Program. She is the second IWU student to take part in the program.

Thompson knew right away that she wanted an out-of state internship in media, but was uncertain how to proceed. She turned to the staff at the IWU Hart Career Center for help. There, Thompson read through one program description after another until she came upon the New York Media Experience Program through Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The program allows undergraduate students to gain work experience with a major media organization in New York City while completing online courses. “This program just leaped off the page screaming pick me,” said Thompson, “so I did.”

The New York Media Experience Program staff assisted Thompson in finding temporary residence in New York City and selecting her online courses, however, Thompson was responsible for securing her internship position. Now residing in the media capital of the world, Thompson had a variety of organizations to choose from, such as television shows and public relations firms. Interested mainly in broadcasting and television, she found her ideal internship at NYC Media, a television network produced through the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “The sole purpose [of NYC Media] is to keep viewers updated with events going on in the city,” said Thompson, “we also produced shows like Eat Out Time Out and Free in NYC which let viewers know about restaurants in the city and free activities.”

Students Finish First Year With New Sense of Self

The first year of college is a time of change, punctuated by triumphs and tribulations, surprises and self-discoveries.

First-year students gather in the fall, (back row, left to right) Arnold Asjes, Melissa Ramirez and Janette Abassi; (front row, left to right) Morgan Latiolais, Matt LaLonde.

The long journey students take over their first year of college is also a time for questions, said IWU Director of Counseling Services Annorah Moorman. “First-year students ask themselves what they want their path to be. It is a time to develop a new sense of identity,” she said. “It can be challenging, and it should be challenging, as all opportunities for personal growth are.”

To talk about overcoming the challenges of their first year at college, five Illinois Wesleyan first-year students agreed to gather several times during the 2010-2011 academic year. Getting together on the Quad, in the DugOut, in classrooms and theatres, the students spoke of their experiences with homesickness, classes, stress and the responsibilities that come with leaving home.

Students to Bike Across the Country for FACE AIDS

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As the school year draws to a close, some Illinois Wesleyan University students are pondering what to do with their summer. Many will choose a summer job or internship, while others will elect to take summer classes. But junior biology majors Michael Henry and Vadim Kogan have chosen to bike over 4,000 miles across the United States to raise money and awareness for the FACE AIDS organization.

This is the fourth year of the FACE AIDS campaign, a not-for-profit student organization whose mission is to mobilize and inspire students to fight HIV/AIDS across the globe. The organization, which works in collaboration with Partner’s in Health, has raised over $2,000,000 since its inception. The money raised provides education, employment and comprehensive healthcare to those affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda.

Henry and Kogan were selected along with four other college and graduate students from across the country to complete the ride, which will begin on June 13, in Half Moon Bay, Ca. and end in Boston in August. By the end of the ride, Henry and Kogan have each pledged to raise $5,000 for FACE AIDS.

“I felt this ride would be the best way to make an impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Henry, the founder of the FACE AIDS organization at IWU. Kogan, who was introduced to the cross-country ride by Henry, felt this experience would combine three of his interests, cycling, seeing the country and talking to people about HIV/AIDS.

Pilot Program Promotes Student Leadership

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A pilot program at Illinois Wesleyan University aims to help students develop leadership skills by exploring personal values, ideas and strengths.

The Titan Leadership Program, which is run through the Division of Student Affairs, is considered the next step in helping students hone leadership skills, according to Dean of Students Kathy Cavins-Tull. “Through students and alumni surveys, we were hearing that students get a lot of content and knowledge in the classroom, but not enough experiences putting that into action,” said Cavins-Tull, who taught classes on leadership through the business administration and sociology departments from 2006 to 2009.

The semester-long program, which enlists 15 sophomores and juniors from campus, combines group discussions, one-on-one meetings, speakers and networking – all with the goal of developing leadership abilities. The inaugural class of the Titan Leadership Program will celebrate graduation on Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m. in the Turfler Room of the Memorial Center (104 E. University St., Bloomington).

“Leadership has usually been a self-guided process for students,” explained Interim Director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs Sara Schaller, who oversees the program. “A student might become president of an organization and only be able to look at what the last president did for guidance. That can be a stressful process. Students let us know they wanted something more in depth.”

With the help of gifts from alumni, the division was able to create the program, which works to build an individual’s strengths and explores ways to bring those strengths to an organization.

Dance Concert Explores Homelessness

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A new dance concert at Illinois Wesleyan University strives to capture the struggles and emotions of being homeless, transforming an IWU faculty member’s interviews of homeless men into expressive dance.

The concert, titled The Monkey Trail, will run from Tuesday, April 5 to Sunday, April 10 in the McPherson Theatre (2 Ames Plaza East, Bloomington). Performances will be at 8 p.m. April 5-9, and 2 p.m. April 10. Tickets for the weekday and Sunday concerts are $10 for the general public, $9 for seniors and $2 for Illinois Wesleyan students, faculty and staff. Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances are $12 for the general public, $11 for seniors and $2 for student, faculty and staff. Contact the McPherson Box Office at (309) 556-3232 or online at www.iwu.edu/theatre. Canned food goods and donations will be collected at the door to benefit the local Home Sweet Home Mission.

The idea for the concert began several years ago, and culminated when Illinois Wesleyan Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Coordinator of Dance Program Jean Kerr spent last summer interviewing homeless people at two shelters in St. Louis. Working with a transitional housing program, Kerr also led the men in workshops of dance and movement as part of the community collabARTive project. “After recovering from a feeling of ‘Who me? Dance?,’ these men experienced the constructs and confounds of dance and movement,” said Kerr, who videotaped the workshops and interviews, pieces of which will appear in the dance performance. “It allows real life to overlap what is on stage.”

McGowan Poetry Comes to Life in Reading, Music

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – “Speak poems or be silent” declared Illinois Wesleyan University Emeritus Professor of English James McGowan in his poem “Prefatory.”

More than 50 years of McGowan’s poetry was honored last week with an afternoon reading of his works titled “Poems in Five Decades: A Retrospective.” Sponsored by the English Department, the event enabled McGowan to choose some of his favorite poems to read. Later that evening, in a special tribute at the New Music Café, Professor of Music David Vayo debuted a suite he composed titled “Sandpails,” based on several of McGowan’s poems.

“Words have a certain music to them,” said McGowan. “Whatever the poem, whatever the imagery, it is the sounds that really reverberate in my mind. The two are intricately connected.”

McGowan, who retired from Illinois Wesleyan in 2000, has been writing poetry since the 1960s, and spent 20 years teaching it to IWU students. He has worked together with Vayo for years. The seeds of the suite Vayo composed stemmed from an invitation in 2003 to visit McGowan’s classroom. “I wanted to talk to the students about the connection between music and poems. David is very good at improvising,” said McGowan. “You can present him with a poem and he’ll just go for it.”

Ryan Lambert ’10 Conducts Crime Survey

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The doorbell rings. You peer outside your window to see if it’s anyone you know. No. It’s a well-dressed young man holding papers….It could be a door-to-door salesman or someone handing out pamphlets. You may choose not to answer the door, but many residents on the west side of Bloomington did, and met Illinois Wesleyan University student, and now alumnus Ryan Lambert ’10.

Lambert was conducting a crime survey as part of his Spring 2010 internship with the IWU Action Research Center (ARC), which coordinates research projects undertaken by IWU students, faculty and staff in partnership with groups in the larger Central Illinois community. A political science and history double major while at IWU, Lambert walked door-to-door, asking over 200 west side residents nine questions regarding crime in their neighborhood.

“The survey focused on why the residents in this neighborhood have a higher rate of fear and anxiety regarding crime and why they have a higher rate of victimization,” said Lambert, who noted that the parameters of the survey were south of Empire St., west of Roosevelt St., north of Oakland St. and east of the railroad tracks in Bloomington.

Although Lambert had no previous knowledge or attachment to the project, he quickly became devoted to his work. “Initially, you hear that the neighborhood isn’t the best and you shouldn’t venture there at night,” said Lambert. “But after getting to see the neighborhood, it’s really just another neighborhood. It opened my eyes to a different part of Bloomington that I didn’t appreciate before.”

Lambert worked in conjunction with ARC Coordinator Deborah Halperin, IWU librarian and Bloomington alderwoman Karen Schmidt, Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science James Simeone, Professor of Political Science Tari Renner, the Bloomington Police Department (BPD) and fellow student Drew Wolschlag ’11 to compile the survey questions. Questions included rating on a scale of 1 to 10 how safe one feels in their neighborhood, whether the respondent has ever witnessed a crime, the type of crime and what crimes are most frequent in their neighborhood.

Alumnus Welcomes IWU Students to Barcelona Study Abroad Experience

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – As he wanders the tree-lined streets of Barcelona, passing cafés and tiendas selling churros and café con leche, Illinois Wesleyan alumnus Rich Kurtzman feels at ease navigating the capital of this region of Spain, a place he has called home since 2002.

Kurtzman, who graduated from IWU in 1998, came to Barcelona to work as a recruiter and adviser for IES Abroad, a study abroad company with a program in Barcelona. Now, eight years later, he is the director of his own study abroad company, Barcelona Study Abroad Experience, which will partner with the Illinois Wesleyan Barcelona Program in the spring of 2011.

Last year the University decided to shift studies in Spain from Madrid to Barcelona. The University saw benefits of situating the program in Barcelona, said Director of the International Office Stacey Shimizu. “With Barcelona, the city’s physical location–on the Mediterranean, close to France–and its multicultural history and nature means a wider range of faculty can design courses that take advantage of its resources, courses that perhaps take a more comparative or cross-cultural perspective.”

Starting in January, 18 IWU students will spend four months abroad with the new IWU Barcelona Program, taking classes through Barcelona SAE. The program will take place each spring semester. According to Shimizu, “Barcelona SAE was able to offer a program much like IWU had administered in Madrid, but addressing all the issues of concern, such as lower-level language classes, housing assistance and financial sustainability.”

How to Survive Finals Week

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – While children across America are “nestled all snug in their beds” having hung their stockings “by the chimney with care,” Illinois Wesleyan students are more likely to be found snuggling next to their fifth cup of coffee as they frantically memorize those last few equations and read the novels that seemed to have slipped away earlier in the semester in preparation for finals.

While some students rely on tradition and superstition to survive finals week, such as Jaclynn Sullivan, a junior psychology major, who eats an entire Papa John’s pizza before taking her first test or Sarah Carlson, a senior nursing major, who has used the same pencil on every final since her freshman year on campus, others look for techniques that are a little more conventional. Bob Rogers, mental health counselor at Counseling and Consultation Services, offers tips to help students achieve their final goals.

• Avoid stressful people

Some people feel more relaxed when they can get others around them to feel stressed or worry with them. Avoid these folks during exam week because they will raise your anxiety and you will become less productive in your study habits. You may even find yourself taking care of them.

• Do Not Procrastinate

Procrastination leads to nothing good. It also increases anxiety and makes you feel overwhelmed. Most people procrastinate because it is a way to avoid anxiety. Anxiety and procrastination go hand in hand. Logically we know that it is not a good idea to cram a whole semester’s worth of information into one night of caffeine induced studying. The way to overcome this is to plan ahead. Attack your hardest exam and seek resources to help you if necessary. Set a schedule and stick to this schedule. Practice the 3 P’s of time management – Prioritize (your hardest exam/or what is most important), Plan (set up a schedule to study) and Protect (stick to this schedule and do not allow distractions).

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