Global Health Gala on April 3

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – FaceAIDS, Global Medical Brigades, Lamu Center of Preventative Health and Titan Emergency Medical Services will present the third annual Global Health Gala Sunday, April 3 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University in the Young Main Lounge of the Memorial Center (104 University St., Bloomington).

IWU students interested in attending the event can pick up free tickets to the gala beginning March 21 outside Sodexho. Tickets are available for purchase for $30 for community members or $225 for an eight-person table. To purchase tickets, contact Chair of Sociology/Anthropology and Associate Professor of Anthropology Rebecca Gearhart at (309) 556-3921 or at rgearhart@iwu.edu by March 20.

All proceeds from the event will go to the four sponsors of the gala, FaceAIDS for the funding of Paul Farmer’s work in Rwanda, Global Medical Brigades for their annual trip to Honduras, Lamu Center of Preventative Health to fund the center in Lamu, Kenya and Titan Emergency Medical Service to fund local healthcare initiatives.

Sweet Briar’s Green Named New Provost

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Jonathan D. Green, dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Va., has been named provost and dean of the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. In addition to this administrative appointment, he will also serve the University as professor of music. Green succeeds Beth Cunningham, who left the University last year to become executive officer at the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Illinois Wesleyan President Richard F. Wilson announced Green’s appointment, which will be effective August 1, 2011.

“I am delighted to welcome Jonathan Green to the University,” said Wilson. “Dr. Green has a deep and abiding commitment to the liberal arts and brings valuable experience from his eight years leading the faculty at Sweet Briar.”

Green’s selection came at the conclusion of a national search that began in the fall of 2010. He has served as dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs at Sweet Briar since 2004. His previous administrative roles included appointments as department chair and associate dean. Dr. Green joined the Sweet Briar faculty in 1996 as assistant professor of music and was promoted to full professor eight years later.

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.”

John Wesley Powell Research Conference to Feature Pioneer of Acoustical Ecology

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Composer, natural-science researcher and pioneer in the field of acoustical ecology David Dunn will be the keynote speaker at the Illinois Wesleyan University John Wesley Powell Research Conference on Thursday, April 9 at 1:30 p.m. in the Center for Natural Science Learning and Research (CNS) (201 E. Beecher St., Bloomington).

The conference provides an opportunity for students who are pursuing individual research projects to present those projects in a public forum. Students will present academic posters, oral presentations, music compositions and art displays throughout the day. “The level of talent, variety of fields represented, high professional standards, and large number of student participants make this event a wonderful showcase for the university,” said conference chair and Professor of Music David Vayo.

Illinois Sustainability & Wellness Expo on April 9

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Alpacas, solar energy panels and raising chickens in your own backyard – there’s only one place these all fit under one roof, and that’s the Illinois Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo. “Creating Healthy Communities” is the theme for this year’s expo, which will run from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 9 at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center (302 E. Emerson St., Bloomington). The event is free and open to the public.

The expo, which is co-sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) and the Ecology Action Center, offers attendees an enjoyable atmosphere to explore exhibitors, workshops, demonstrations, which provide resources to live more sustainably.

“Sustainable living means to discover ways to live healthier, not just on a personal level, but socially, economically and environmentally,” said IWU Wellness Director Missy Smock. “It is indeed about enhancing the health and wellness of all living things, and learning about the intricate connections between our actions and the planet.”

Denise Wilson ’78 Awarded Nurse Educator Fellowship

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Denise (Williams) Wilson, associate professor of nursing for Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN) at Illinois State University (ISU) was recently one of 18 nursing faculty in the state of Illinois to be awarded a Nurse Educator Fellowship by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

Wilson, who is the sequence leader for the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) sequence at ISU, is a 1978 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan with a bachelor of science in nursing degree. She says she will use this funding “to conduct research on quality of care issues.”

Wilson also received the Graduate Teaching Excellence Award from MCN in 2010, and practices as a nurse practitioner at Medical Hills Internists & Pediatrics in Bloomington. She is certified as both a Family Nurse Practitioner and an Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP) and recently passed the American Nurses Credentialing Center national certification exam to be a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner.

Ahrens’ Corporate Giving Turns into Inspired Living

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – While watching American Idol with his 5-year old daughter, alumnus Justin Ahrens ’94 decided that his life of “suburban dad and entrepreneur,” was not enough. “How can we help in Africa,” asked Ahrens’ daughter. Inspired by “Idol Gives Back”, celebrity Bono’s charitable work in Africa and his daughters words, Ahrens embarked on a new adventure, one that would take him across the globe, into the depths of his soul and would materialize into a lifelong mission.

Shortly after graduating from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1994, Ahrens opened the doors to Rule29, a creative design firm located in Geneva, Ill. “Our desire was to create a firm that would make creativity matter to our clients and to our community,” said Ahrens. Although Ahrens loved his job, he felt something was missing. The firm had previously worked with rock legend and director of Solid Rock Foundation, Alice Cooper. Continuing their work with not-for-profits, Rule29 connected with Life in Abundance (LIA), a Christian-community development organization founded in Africa.

Record Number of IWU Students Accepted to Oxford Program

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A historic number of Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) students will be heading to historic Oxford University with the Pembroke Scholars Programme in the fall.

Seven IWU students have been accepted into Pembroke College of Oxford under a special exchange program that allows them to spend a year with students from universities such as Brown, Bryn Mawr, Boston College, Columbia, Cornell, Duke and Georgetown.

“Competition for the Pembroke Program was unusually intense this year,” said IWU Director of the International Office Stacey Shimizu, who noted IWU usually has one or two applicants selected annually for the program. “I was delighted that we had so many exceptionally qualified students interested in applying, and I’m absolutely thrilled that we will be sending a record number of IWU students to Pembroke. It testifies to the quality of our students and our faculty.”

Henle Named ACS Collegiate Scholar of the Year

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Jeremy Henle, an Illinois Wesleyan University senior from Hanover Park, Ill., has been named the 2011 Collegiate Scholar of the Year by the Illinois Heartland Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS). He will be honored at the annual ACS banquet in Peoria, at a banquet on March 3.

The award is presented to those who actively use chemistry in a positive way. Henle has been engaged in research of sickle cell disease with Assistant Professor of Chemistry Brian Brennan. “Throughout Jeremy’s academic career, he has excelled both in the classroom and in the research laboratory. He is passionate and dedicated to science and truly deserving of this prestigious award,” said Brennan.

Joshua James to Perform at Hansen Student Center

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University’s Student Senate will present folk singer Joshua James on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m. in Hansen Student Center (300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington). Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

The concert is free for IWU students. Tickets are $8 for the public and available at www.ticketweb.com.

Opening for James will be Illinois Wesleyan student Eddie Boyer, a musician from Normal who has competed in IWU Undercover performances.

IWU News Blog

Headlines From Illinois Wesleyan University