Students Awarded Scholarships for Study Abroad

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Two Illinois Wesleyan University students, Brad Tieche and Frank Alonso, have received scholarships that will help offset their Spring 2009 semester study abroad expenses.

Tieche, a senior accounting major from St. Charles, Ill. who will study in Barcelona was awarded a $3,500 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students to pursue academic studies abroad. Such international study is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world. Award amounts will vary depending on the length of study and student need.

Alonso, a junior psychology major from Elmhurst, Ill. who will study in Japan received a $5,000 Freeman Awards for Study in Asia Scholarship (Freeman-ASIA). Freeman-ASIA is designed to support American undergraduates with demonstrated financial need who are planning to study overseas in East or Southeast Asia. Freeman-ASIA Award recipients are expected to share their experiences with their home campuses to encourage study abroad in Asia by others, and to spread greater understanding of Asian peoples and cultures within their home communities.

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.

Alumnus Richard Jenkins Nominated for Academy Award

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this morning that Illinois Wesleyan University graduate Richard Jenkins has been nominated for best actor for his role in the film The Visitor.

Jenkins, who graduated in 1969 from Illinois Wesleyan, has been garnering praise for his role as a widowed college professor who discovers a pair of illegal aliens living in his New York apartment.

Variety’s John Anderson declared “Jenkins has hooked us early and reels us in like fish.” Jenkins had already been nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics Choice Award and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for the role, as well as an Independent Spirit Award, his second after his Spirit nomination for 1996’s Flirting with Disaster. The film also earned him the Silver St. George at the Moscow International Film Festival, and the Spotlight Award from the National Board of Review.

The Visitor marks Jenkins’ first role as a leading man, though he has been seen in more than 40 films, and is known to audiences as the father in HBO’s Six Feet Under. Yet it was his portrayal of Walter Vale in The Visitor that has catapulted him to international acclaim. Director Tom McCarthy — whose first film was the critically-acclaimed The Station Agent — wrote the role of disconnected, discontented economics professor Walter Vale with the 60-year-old Jenkins in mind.

Students to Take Part in Obama Inauguration Parade

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University students Megan Francomb and Andrew Tobin will become part of history as they march in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 20, when President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office.

The two will be playing for the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps, an independent corps out of Dubuque, Iowa. The Armed Forces Inaugural Committee notified the Colts in December that their application to be part of the parade, one of a record number submitted, was accepted by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

“I cannot wait to be there,” said Tobin, an Illinois Wesleyan junior who plays the baritone for the Colts. “This is something I will be telling my children and grandchildren about for years to come.”

Francomb, an Illinois Wesleyan first-year student who plays the cymbals for the Colts, says it will be a “surreal” experience. “This is the first time I could vote, and I will be playing in the Inaugural Parade for the man I voted for. Never did I think that could happen.” Both of Francomb’s sisters are also in the Colts, and will join her in the parade. “We all started playing together, and all of us going to Washington, D.C. together makes it all the more exciting,” she said.

Professor Honored for Excellence in Teaching

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Nancy Sultan, professor and director of Greek and Roman Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University received one of three “Excellence in Teaching” awards given by The American Philological Society (APA) for 2008. Sultan was honored with a certificate, cash prize and public recognition at the Plenary Session of the APA’s annual meeting, which took place on Jan. 10 in Philadelphia.

James Matthews, associate professor of French and humanities nominated her for the award in May 2008.

“This is a really huge and unexpected honor,” said Sultan. I am grateful to my colleague Jim Matthews for nominating me for this prestigious award.”

During the selection process, the APA considers excellence in the teaching of Classics at the undergraduate or graduate level; subject matter that is “classical” in the widest sense, i.e. Greek and Latin language, literature, culture, mythology, history and etymology; and the design and successful implementation of new courses and programs.

“I’m humbled and proud to be among those dedicated and devoted teachers who have won this award over the years,” said Sultan.

University Ranks High in Students Abroad

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University has once again drawn national attention for its Study Abroad Program.

The University moved up six spots on the latest Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Open Doors report, ranking 31st in the nation among baccalaureate institutions for the total number of students studying abroad.

IIE calculates the percentage of students studying abroad during an academic year to the number of students who are conferred degrees that same year. The most recent IIE report, which covers the 2006-2007 academic year, records 313 Illinois Wesleyan students traveling for their studies, whether for a semester, a year or May Term.

Faculty, Staff Chosen for Morocco Initiative

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Seven members of Illinois Wesleyan University have been chosen to travel to Morocco this summer as part of the IWU Faculty/Staff Seminar, also known as the Morocco Initiative. Five faculty members and two staff members will spend a week in June at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, helping to develop cross-continental ties between the universities.

The faculty and staff chosen are: Academic Outreach Librarian and Associate Professor Lynda Duke, Environmental Studies Chair and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Abigail Jahiel, Hispanic Studies Chair and Professor Carolyn Nadeau, Associate Professor of Economics Ilaria Osella-Durbal, Associate Professor of Economics Diego Mendez-Carbajo, University of Communications Staff Writer Rachel Hatch and Staff Counselor Robyn Walter. Those chosen will spend the spring semester preparing for the journey to Morocco through research and readings.

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).

Folse Continues Fellowship Legacy

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University’s Associate Professor of Nursing Victoria Folse has been awarded a State of Illinois Nurse Educator Fellowship from the Illinois Center for Nursing (ICN). The purpose of the Nurse Educator Fellowship Program is to ensure the retention of well-qualified nursing faculty at institutions of higher learning that award degrees in nursing. Folse will receive $10,000 to be used for faculty development.

Earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Illinois Wesleyan in 1986, Folse received her master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1989, and her doctorate from Saint Louis University in 2002. She came to Illinois Wesleyan in 2002, after teaching at Bradley University and coordinating programs for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, both in Peoria.

A member of the Academy for Eating Disorders, the International Orem Society, and the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Folse has been honored as a Leadership for Academic Nursing Program 2008 Fellow from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. She is also a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

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