Robinson Selected as Peace Fellow

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University has announced senior Gwen Robinson as the 2010-2011 Peace Fellow. The Peace Fellows Program, created in 2007 by IWU alumnus John Stutzman and his wife, Erma, annually awards fellowships to students interested in peace, social justice and conflict resolution.

In addition to taking Illinois Wesleyan courses in these areas, students selected to participate in the Peace Fellows Program are required to further explore their commitment to peace by completing an independent study and participating in an off- campus internship in the United States or abroad. The program offers $1,000 to each student in order to help them complete these personal projects.

In her pursuit of the peace fellows program, Robinson has chosen to focus on the violence imposed upon women, a kind of violence that she believes is “quiet, private and cultural.”

“I believe that anywhere women are denied autonomy they are at risk of violence. In fact I would argue that the denial of autonomy is itself a form of violence,” said Robinson. Her independent study will center on exploring the role of women throughout Francophone history and literature. Robinson, who is a theatre arts and international studies double major with a French and Francophone studies minor, is pursuing her studies in Pune, India. “The intense social and economic stratification of society makes India a great place for me to learn about development,” said the native of Elmhurst, Ill.

Grace Named Lincoln Laureate

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Kari Grace, a senior from Winnetka, Ill., has been selected as Illinois Wesleyan University’s recipient of the 2010 Lincoln Academy of Illinois Student Laureate Award. The award recognizes outstanding academic achievement and extracurricular activities among college seniors.

On Saturday, Nov. 6, Grace and fellow student laureates were honored in a ceremony at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, Ill. Accompanied by Chair and Professor of Hispanic Studies Carolyn Nadeau, Grace received a Student Laureate Medallion, along with an honorarium check and certificate of achievement.

Chosen from a pool of qualified Illinois Wesleyan seniors, Grace is a sociology and Hispanic studies double major with a minor in environmental studies. A member of Kappa Delta, she is currently the sorority’s leadership chair. In her four years at IWU, she has been a member of the Sierra Student Coalition and has helped the group organize events on campus.

Since her sophomore year, Grace has played an active role in IWU’s GREENetwork and is currently a co-chair. She is also president of Sigma Delta Pi, the Hispanic Honor Society on campus, as well as a member of the following: Phi Beta Kappa, the Liberal Arts Honor Society; Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society; Phi Eta Sigma, the First Year Honor Society; Gamma Sigma Alpha, the national Academic Greek Honor Society and Phi Beta Delta, the Honor Society for international Scholars.

Professor’s Book Takes Insight From What Lincoln Read

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Historians often recount President Abraham Lincoln’s avid love of learning. The image of a young Lincoln reading late into the night by the dying embers of the fireplace has become an iconic part of Lincoln lore.

Illinois Wesleyan University faculty member Robert Bray is shedding new light on that firelight image of Lincoln. Bray, who is the R. Forrest Colwell Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan, examines the books Lincoln read, and how those books reflect his thoughts and influences in Reading with Lincoln (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010).

“I like to think of it as looking over Lincoln’s shoulder while he’s reading,” said Bray, who tied the materials Lincoln read to his speeches, writing and political policies.

Bray delved into the world of Lincoln to research the book, reviewing everything from letters he composed for illiterate friends, to books, pamphlets, poetry, plays and essays to which Lincoln was exposed. He spent a year compiling and reviewing materials in places such as the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and Huntington Library in Pasadena, Calif. “I tried to find the editions that would have been available to him,” said Bray. “Not all editions are the same. You find some very interesting things in older editions that are not reflected in contemporary ones.”

Lincoln scholars are praising Bray’s book. According to William Lee Miller, author of President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman, “Robert Bray has not only discovered every book and text and poem and treatise and humorous sketch and Shakespeare play that Lincoln read; he has also read them himself, and he takes the reader inside those readings—and therefore inside Lincoln’s mind—in this excellent book.”

Retired Faculty Member Endows Professorship

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University announced a new endowed professorship recently at the annual Trustees Dinner as a part of Transforming Lives: The Campaign for Illinois Wesleyan University.

Robert Harrington, former chair of the Business and Economics Department and emeritus professor at Illinois Wesleyan, is establishing a new endowed professorship. Endowed professorships celebrate the combined talents of professors who excel in instructional and scholarly activity, and support their efforts to bring research into the classroom.

“I decided to come work at Illinois Wesleyan because I saw the potential in the faculty members,” said Harrington. “I know this professorship will recognize faculty who distinguish themselves as teachers and scholars.”

Illinois Wesleyan Among Kiplinger’s Best College Values

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University remains among the nation’s best values in private higher education, ranked No. 32 among Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 100 Best Values in Private Colleges for 2010-11, to appear in the magazine’s December issue on newsstands Nov. 9.

Kiplinger’s credits these institutions with providing a high-quality education at an affordable price – often with generous financial aid.

Schools on the Kiplinger list were ranked by academic quality and the net price students pay to attend, with quality accounting for two-thirds of the total. Kiplinger’s divides the schools into two categories: liberal arts colleges like Illinois Wesleyan that focus on undergraduates, and universities that include graduate students.

Student Secures Grant from Google Foundation for Local Habitat for Humanity Chapter

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University senior Nick Kogelman had an integral part in helping the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity land a $30,000 grant from Google Foundation (Google.org). The Plainfield native was the main author of the grant, which will help the McLean County branch of Habitat for Humanity create and post ads on Google and all of its affiliate websites.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Kogelman, a business administration major. “It’s great to think you can work and reach out, and that work will mean something to so many other people.”

Kogelman spent the summer as an intern with the University’s State Farm Internship Program. The program pairs students in Illinois Wesleyan’s Action Research Center (ARC) with concurrent internships at State Farm Insurance Companies® and a local not-for-profit organization during the summer. “I came to college with an interest in studying business ethics, so the concept of putting together the corporate world and not-for-profits appealed to me,” Kogelman said of the ARC Program.

When paired with McLean County Habitat for Humanity, Kogelman worked on the organization’s website and helped promote events online. ARC Director Deborah Halperin suggested he assist Habitat with a grant proposal, and he immediately thought of Google.org, the the foundation side of the search-engine giant Google, Inc. “We learned about Google.org in a class I took with [Assistant Professor of Business Administration Sascha] Vitzthum,” said Kogelman. The course also introduced him to AdWords, the program Google uses to place advertisements. “It’s the program that allows sponsored ads to be matched with certain search words that are entered into the engine,” he said.

Professor of Physics Wins Award to Study Astronomer’s Life

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of Physics Linda French has been named a winner of the 2010 Herbert C. Pollock Award for her efforts to bring attention to the extraordinary life and work of 18th-century deaf astronomer John Goodricke.

The Herbert C. Pollock Award, bestowed by the Dudley Observatory in New York, provides encouragement and support for an innovative project in the history of astronomy or astrophysics. French won the award with her paper titled, “Hearing with the Eye: The Astronomical Education of John Goodricke.”

French, who has been a member of the Illinois Wesleyan faculty since 2002, is known for her work in astronomy, and is often invited to the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory near La Serena, Chile, to study asteroids. She became intrigued by the amateur astronomer Goodricke, who died in 1784 at the age of 22 of pneumonia.

“I’ve always been curious about him,” said French. “How did he live? How did he get interested in astronomy? How did he do his observations?” According to French, Goodricke and his neighbor Edward Pigott discovered and measured the period of variation of stars by observing in the skies above their homes in York, England. “These stars are terribly important in modern astronomy,” said French.

Senior Receives NABA Awards, Scholarships

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – This summer, the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) named Illinois Wesleyan senior Phil Adeleye the NABA man of the year and NABA student of the year. Adeleye is an accounting major with a minor in economics and a native of Osu-Accra, Nigeria.

In June, Adeleye attended the NABA national convention in Houston, Tex. and was awarded a $10,000 scholarship. He also gave a speech at the scholarship luncheon and had the opportunity to join one of the founders of NABA in a book signing.

“It was a great learning experience. I was honored to get such an opportunity and plan to utilize my learning experiences to improve Illinois Wesleyan’s NABA chapter,” said Adeleye, who also in June attended the Chicago Scholarship Banquet and was awarded a $2,500 NABA Chicago chapter scholarship.

Professor’s Book Explores Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – In the 1970s, scientists worked out how to move genes across species. The world buzzed with possibilities for recombinant DNA. This breakthrough led agricultural scientists to eventually develop genetically modified (GM) seeds in the 1990s, which was hailed as a potential step to ending hunger by creating plants that might withstand adverse weather. Soon after, however, widespread protests of “Frankenfoods” emerged, along with a highly political debate about genetically modified organisms (GMO) that continues today.

In his new book, Fighting for the Future of Food: Activists versus Agribusiness in the Struggle over Biotechnology (University Of Minnesota Press, 2010), Illinois Wesleyan Professor of Political Studies William Munro has joined Rachel Schurman of the University of Minnesota to explore the debate over genetically modified seeds.

According to Munro, the main focus of the books is to “go beyond labels” of those involved in the debate. “These are two different adversaries from two different life worlds,” he said. “They did not and do not meet and speak to each other. I think the two sides would get better traction with one another if they understood each other, rather than label one another.”

Environmental Author, Alumna Speaks, Donates Papers to Special Collections

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Environmental author and activist Sandra Steingraber returned to her alma mater at Illinois Wesleyan University on Monday, Oct. 18 to donate her papers to a new special collection at The Ames Library, and to discuss her writings that bring awareness to the link between cancer and the environment. The struggle is a personal one for Steingraber, who not only is a noted biology researcher, but is also a cancer survivor.

Fighting a ‘chemical trespass’

Steingraber, a 1981 Illinois Wesleyan graduate who is the author of two books with a third to be published in 2011, led the audience in Hansen Student Center on a very personal journey. She condemned manmade toxins in the environment as a threat to her children, and all children. She called toxins, such as the chemical herbicide atrazine used heavily in Illinois as a corn herbicide, a “chemical trespass” and “violation” of the safety of children.

“There is a crisis arising,” said Steingraber, who is a scholar in residence at Ithaca College in New York, and is traveling around the Midwest to help promote a new documentary that follows her professional and personal challenges in battling cancer. “It is really a crisis of family life, which is robbing parents of the right to keep their children safe from harm.”

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