Category Archives: Staff

Alumna Named New Registrar

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – An alumna of Illinois Wesleyan University has been selected to fill the position of Registrar. Leslie Betz will begin her duties on July 1, taking over for Jeffrey Frick, who has been named the dean and academic vice president at St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wis.

Betz joins Illinois Wesleyan after serving as the associate dean of the graduate school at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.

After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan in 1993, Betz continued her education at Illinois State University (ISU), where she earned a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate in educational administration.

Her career in higher education has included serving as the coordinator of development at Heartland Community College in Normal, and as the academic advisor and coordinator for the M.B.A Program at ISU. During her tenure at Bradley, she assisted in the development of new graduate programs such as the professional master’s degree of arts in “STEM” (science, technology, engineering, and math) education, and the master’s degree of science in quantitative finance.

Students to Help Georgia Flood Victims on Alternative Spring Break

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – On March 13, at 5:30 a.m. approximately 40 Illinois Wesleyan students and four faculty and staff members will embark on a weeklong volunteer trip to Atlanta, Ga., to help with disaster relief in the community. The students are part of Illinois Wesleyan University’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB), an organization created through the Student Volunteer Center to give students the opportunity for a non-traditional spring break vacation.

The ASB students will be assisting in disaster relief after the flooding that took place in Atlanta this past September.

Assistant Dean of Students Kevin Clark is the director of the Student Volunteer Center. According to Clark, “Students will be rebuilding homes but also working in the local community center and helping with job placement of those who were unable to find work after the disaster. All work will be done on a day-by-day basis and we will do whatever is needed.”

Hart Career Center Helps Students Plan Their Futures

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan’s Hart Career Center provides four main areas of support to assist students in planning for their futures. The Center, located in the Minor Myers, jr. Welcome Center (1211 Park St., Bloomington), offers aid in the areas of career guidance, internship planning, graduate and professional school preparation and job search assistance.

Career Guidance

For those who are still unsure of the path they would like to take, the Hart Career Center offers online and in-office assessments to guide students in the right direction. Throughout the academic school year, seminars and programs are held that focus on different careers to highlight options within a given field.

The Center also houses its own library filled with career information resources. The library is open for students to browse reference materials and learn more about career options available to them. According to Warren Kistner, director of the Hart Career Center, the Center provides students with the opportunity to schedule individual meetings with a staff member to discuss possible directions they might take in their future careers.

Short Named to National Advisory Board

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University’s Assistant Provost and Chief Technology Officer Trey Short has been named to the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE).

NITLE is a community-based, non-profit initiative dedicated to helping undergraduate-centered colleges, universities and educational organizations use technology effectively to strengthen undergraduate education.

Short’s two-year appointment will consist of providing strategic advice for the organization. Goals for this year include deepening NITLE’s engagement with specific sectors of the liberal arts community and developing strategic partnerships with other organizations as appropriate.

The Ames Library Offers Resource Gems

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The school year is in full swing and students are aiming to make the best of their campus resources. At Illinois Wesleyan University one of these assets is The Ames Library, which offers a prime selection of well-known resources as well as some “hidden gems.”

The intellectual hub of the campus, The Ames Library is a five-story, 103,000 square feet building which houses approximately 335,000 items with access to 75 on-line databases, 1,100 journals in print and 33,000 journals online. The library also has seating for 500 readers and houses over 100 computer workstations as well as 16 study rooms. Yet some of the best gems are the people behind the desks.

According to University Librarian and Professor Karen Schmidt, one of the library’s best services is that it offers personal research assistance to all students.

“Library faculty provide in-depth research assistance for students and can be the untapped resource that moves a student to excellence and earning an ‘A’ on that challenging research assignment” said Schmidt. She encourages, “look for the AskAmes logo on the Web site or stop by the Information Desk to find out how to access this free and valuable resource.”

The library also offers informational sessions for classes, such as Gateways, to introduce students to the many services provided. Academic Outreach Librarian and Associate Professor Lynda Duke leads many of these sessions. They include introductions to library resources and services, as well as an introduction to the research process.

Epstein in New Role as Associate Dean of Faculty

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Irving Epstein, professor of Educational Studies and former acting director of International Studies, has accepted the position of Associate Dean of Faculty at Illinois Wesleyan. Epstein assumed the position as of August 1, 2009.

As Associate Dean of the Faculty, Epstein manages areas relating to faculty development. His duties include developing orientation programs, professional development workshops, and administering faculty travel and internal grant programs.

Epstein has held several other administrative positions since joining the staff of Illinois Wesleyan in 1996, having served as Department Chair of Educational Studies and as Director of General Education. He has held membership on the Curriculum Council and (CUPP) at the University, and has served as head of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Epstein has also been active in the Scholars at Risk Network, an international network of colleges and universities that provide temporary academic positions to professors, lecturers, researchers and other intellectuals who face threats in their home country because of their ideas and place in society. He has worked with Illinois Wesleyan administration to host two such scholars over the past five years.

Recent Graduate Helps Low-Income Residents Access Fresh Food

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Danny Burke has been pioneering making fresh food available to low-income residents.

Burke, who graduated in the spring of 2009, developed a plan for benefits from SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), to be used at the farmer’s market in downtown Bloomington. Now the Downtown Bloomington Farmer’s Market is one of just nine farmer’s markets in the state of Illinois approved to accept Link cards, which are the cards used to redeem SNAP benefits in Illinois.

“Healthy food is so connected to community development,” said Burke, who earned a double major in environmental studies and Spanish. “If you secure food and nutrition, you help develop a healthier society.”

As a member of the Illinois Wesleyan’s track team, Burke ran through many neighborhoods in Bloomington, and began to suspect several of them were what anthropologists call a “food desert” – pockets in developed countries where no fresh food is available. “Some areas do not have access to grocery stores, only corner stores and gas stations that carry mainly processed food,” he said. Burke decided to focus his senior seminar paper on providing options to alleviate possible food deserts in Bloomington.

Through his advisor Environmental Studies Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and International Studies Abigail Jahiel, Burke discovered the idea of allowing low-income residents to use SNAP benefits at area farmer’s markets. With the help of Jahiel and Deborah Halperin from the University’s Action Research Center, Burke connected with several local organizations, including the West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership, the Heartland Local Food Network, Harvest of Hope, and Downtown Bloomington Association, which operates the farmers’ market. “Danny saw a need and studied and worked to answer that need,” said Marsha Veninga, co-chair of Heartland Local Food Network, who took on Burke as an intern. “He has gone way above and beyond any class project.”

Wesleyan Group Builds Ties With Moroccan Universities

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A group of nine faculty and staff from Illinois Wesleyan University recently traveled half way around the world to help establish ties with a university in Morocco. The participants were part of the Morocco Initiative, sent to the North African nation to explore possible collaborative projects, discuss research and meet with counterparts at Al Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco.

“We came to Morocco to learn, to experience and to share,” said Associate Dean of Curriculum Zahia Drici, who led the group of five faculty and two staff members along with International Office Director Stacey Shimizu. Those chosen for the Initiative were Academic Outreach Librarian and Associate Professor Lynda Duke, Environmental Studies Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and International Studies Abigail Jahiel, Hispanic Studies Chair and Professor Carolyn Nadeau, Associate Professor of Economics Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Associate Professor of Economics Ilaria Ossella-Durbal, University of Communications Staff Writer Rachel Hatch and Career Consultant Robyn Walter.

Before leaving for their weeklong trip to Morocco in June, the group met throughout the spring semester and explored topics of research in a seminar format. Readings and discussions about Morocco included areas such as women’s role in contemporary society, the nation’s environmental challenges, cultural influences of Spain, public higher education and economic relations between the European Union and North Africa.

When in Morocco, the group scheduled several days of talks at AUI, and also set out to experience the people and culture of Morocco, making trips to historic areas of several cities. The group dined with Professor Saloua Zerhouni, who has applied to become a Fulbright scholar at Illinois Wesleyan this fall. A political science professor at Morocco’s largest university, Université Mohammad V – Souissi in the capitol city of Rabat, Zerhouni arranged meetings for the Illinois Wesleyan group with faculty and administrators at Mohammad V.

“This is how we build international bridges,” said Nadeau, who came to Morocco to study the influence that Moroccan Amazigh (or Berber) tribes played on today’s Spanish cuisine. Although she has studied extensively in Spain, Nadeau has never had the chance to cross the eight-mile stretch of water between Spain and Morocco. “I was able to walk through the markets, taste the food, talk with scholars about my research and visit with librarians at both the University of Fez and Al Akhawayn,” said Nadeau. “The physical connection to this part of history was overwhelming, in the good sense of the word.”

Admissions Dean Offers Advice for New Book, “Get Into College”

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – In the world of higher education, April is the time when high school students venture onto college campuses in an effort to find just the right fit. It is a tradition that Illinois Wesleyan University Dean of Admissions Tony Bankston sees as a necessary step in the college process.

“You can view all the Web sites, brochures and catalogs you want, but the best way to get the feel of an institution is to visit,” said Bankston, who was chosen to lend his expertise to a new book, Get Into College (Hundreds of Heads Books, 2009). Bankston was one of the admissions officers of highly selective schools whom editors of the book contacted, including Harvard College, Johns Hopkins University and Notre Dame University. Along with university officers, the book offers additional strategies for getting admitted from parents and high school guidance counselors. Bankston said he was impressed with the format of the book, which places advice in small, conversational tips.

“When you see books like this, it usually only includes tips from the author,” said Bankston, “but this book pulled together ideas from people who are working with admissions every day. I approached it as though I was talking to a family.”

Roy Bailey Wins University Staff Honor

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Roy Bailey, senior desktop specialist at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been named 2009 winner of the University’s Max. L. Starkey Service Award at the 18th annual Recognition Celebration at Bloomington’s Double Tree Hotel on Wednesday, April 1.

The Starkey Award, established in 2001, is presented to a member of the administrative, technical, support, security or physical plant staffs nominated by his or her peers for extraordinary service to the University. The award is named in honor of the late Max Starkey, a 1957 Illinois Wesleyan graduate who was University comptroller from 1957 to 1996.

A 1984 graduate of the American College of Technology, he earned a degree in computer electronics. Before joining the staff of Illinois Wesleyan’s Information Technology Department in 1998, Bailey was a former service manager for Thorn Services International and for STL Office Solutions, both in Bloomington. He was a certified Novell administrator for The Pantagraph, and helped custom build their computer system. Bailey also worked for Watts Copy Systems in Springfield, Ill., and for Tandy Electronics in Downers Grove, Ill.

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