The Rev. Hope N. Luckie Named University Chaplain

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—The Reverend Hope N. Luckie, minister of the Lexington United Methodist Church in Lexington, Mass., and an adjunct instructor at Andover-Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., has been named university chaplain at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Luckie’s appointment was announced by Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kathy Cavins. She succeeds Dennis E. Groh, who retired in December of 2006 as university chaplain and professor of humanities and archaeology at IWU.

“We are thrilled to have Hope join our campus community and excited about the direction she will take in building on the strengths of Denny Groh’s chaplaincy. Our students are eager to make some new connections with our chaplain and explore new ways to develop spiritually while they study at IWU,” said Cavins.

A resident of Somerville, Mass., Luckie received her Master of Divinity degree from Boston University in 1997, where she was the recipient of a Merit Scholarship in recognition of her scholastic achievement and was also awarded the Howard Bonniwell Warren Scholarship. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree at Boston University and is working on a dissertation called “The Art of Saying Goodbye: Issues of Discernment, Pastoral Role and Liturgical Responses to Leave Taking and Transition in Parish Ministry.”

TV Anchor, Alumna Addresses Commencement

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Award-winning television reporter and Illinois Wesleyan alumna Demetria Kalodimos urged graduates to “question everything” in her speech at the University’s 157th Commencement ceremony Sunday, May 6 on the Eckley Quadrangle.

“Question everything until you are satisfied that your truth has been revealed,” said Kalodimos speaking to the 518 graduates amid the brisk breeze that swept the Quad. “Question everything until you know where you need to go, and how best to get there. Question everything. Then do the work and put in the time to find the answers.” Read her speech.

Kalodimos encouraged students to take an active role in their future. “Write the first draft of your story after Illinois Wesleyan,” said Kalodimos, who graduated from Illinois Wesleyan in 1981 with a degree in music education, then went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A news anchor at WSMV in Nashville, Tenn., Kalodimos has been awarded 15 Emmy awards, two National Headliner awards, the Investigative Reporters and Editors National Award, and a national citation from American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. She recently won an award from the Society of Environmental Journalists and was chosen the 1996 Tennessee Associated Press Broadcaster of the Year.

“You know, in all my years of news reporting, I’ve been exposed to some bad guys, been caught in a shoot-out, talked face-to-face with a serial killer, even witnessed the Olympic bombing. But I have to tell you, nothing tops a commencement speech for pressure,” said Kalodimos in her often humorous remarks that looked back on her days on the Illinois Wesleyan campus 26 years ago. Her main message, however, spurred graduates to pursue the questions that face them. “If we’re persistent, focused and a little lucky, our questions lead to answers, and action,” she said.

New Study Highlights Latina Perceptions of Health

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Spanish-speaking immigrant population is growing at staggering rates in the United States, climbing more than 50 percent in 10 years according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers. And healthcare professionals are looking for different ways to communicate the idea of a healthy lifestyle to this burgeoning patient segment.

Work by Illinois Wesleyan University’s School of Nursing Director Donna Hartweg and Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Christina Isabelli-Garcia that gives healthcare communication a boost is drawing international attention. An ongoing study by the two women is asking Latina women the question: What does it mean to be healthy?

“If healthcare workers better understand what women feel when they come into this country, they will be able to better guide them about a healthy lifestyle,” said Hartweg, who compiled data based on focus groups led by Isabelli-Garcia.

Works by Ginter, Wiesener and Shaw at Merwin, Wakeley Galleries

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The work of artists Sandi Ginter, Catherine Wiesener and Peggy Shaw will be displayed May 8- May 29 in Illinois Wesleyan’s Merwin & Wakeley Galleries (6 Ames Plaza West, Bloomington).
The exhibits are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 12-4 p.m.; Tuesday evening, 7-9 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 1-4 p.m. The galleries will be closed for Memorial Day on Monday, May 28.
On Thursday, May 10, there will be an opening reception from 4-6 p.m. in the galleries as well as a gallery talk with the artists at 4:30 p.m.
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Kumler Receives Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Todd Kumler ’07 has been awarded the Kathleen Greey Fellowship by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. The Fellowship will enable Kumler to pursue a Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University.

This honor counts Kumler among 100 students nationwide to receive the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship and Award of Excellence. Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship Program supports deserving students in their first year of graduate study.

The Kathleen Greey Fellowship was created in 2000 to honor the memory of the late Kathleen Greey, a longtime Phi Kappa Phi chapter officer at Portland State University, who provided funds for this purpose in her estate plans. The selection process for the honor is based on the applicants’ undergraduate academic performance; leadership and service on the campus and in the community; evidence of graduate potential; personal statement of educational perspective, purpose and objectives; and the evaluation reports from three individuals who are in a position to attest to the student’s performance, citizenship and character.

An economics and mathematics double major at Illinois Wesleyan with a political science minor, Kumler was valedictorian at Elgin’s Larkin High School in 2003.

Demetria Kalodimos to Address Illinois Wesleyan Commencement

Demetria Kalodimos, a 1981 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and an award-winning news anchor at WSMV Television in Nashville, Tenn., will deliver the University’s Commencement address, “Question Everything or Question Everything!” as 526 seniors will participate in the ceremony on Sunday, May 6.

The University’s graduation ceremony in its 157th year will take place at 1 p.m. on the Eckley Quadrangle. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at the Shirk Center (302 E. Emerson St., Bloomington). The ceremony also will be Webcast live online.

Kalodimos will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree along with author and human rights activist Marjorie Agosín, a professor of Spanish at Wellesley College (Mass.).

Verdict Handed Down in Mock Trial

Illinois Wesleyan students garnered a $7 million verdict for a plaintiff in a simulated trial Wednesday based on an actual court case.

Associate Professor Robert Kearney’s business law class argued the real pending lawsuits of two families against Comcast cable company and a subcontractor in the case of the Chicago “cable murders” in the very real courtroom of the McLean County Law & Justice Center (115 E. Washington St., Bloomington).

In the actual lawsuit, which has not yet reached court in Chicago, families were seeking to hold Comcast and a subcontractor accountable for employing the man who is accused of raping and murdering two women while in their homes to install cable systems.

The jury, comprised of 12 volunteers from the community, heard arguments from students who took on the role of lawyers for the plaintiffs and defense. After deliberating an hour, the jury found only the subcontractor responsible, awarding the family of one of the victims the $7 million decision. Student plaintiff attorneys argued the subcontractor was negligent in failing to remove the cable installer from duty after the first murder. The volunteer jury found Comcast not negligent in the case.

Professor’s Work Selected for Annual 10-Minute Play Festival

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – An original play written by Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of Greek and Roman Studies Nancy Sultan has been selected to be produced at Heartland Theatre in Normal as a part of their annual 10-Minute Play Festival.

Sultan’s work, titled Pas de Deux, is one of eight finalists chosen from 165 submissions through three phases of blind judging, the last of which was judged by a published New York playwright. The theme for this year’s festival is “One Shoe.”

Pas de Deux is about the life of a homeless couple and how it is transformed into a wonderful fantasy world when the wife finds a discarded shoe. The performances of the piece will be at the festival, which will run through the weekends of May 31- June 17.

Five Students to Study in China Through ASIANetwork Grant

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Five Illinois Wesleyan students and one faculty member have been awarded the ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows grant, and will travel to China for several weeks this summer for a research project. It is the fourth time the University has received the ASIANetwork grant. Other recipients have taken students to India, Indonesia and China.

The nearly $22,000 grant will allow the group to study aspects of city planning in China that took place in the years immediately following the Chinese Revolution in 1949 by traveling to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

“In the late 1940s, there was widespread hunger, a high percentage of illiteracy, homelessness, and inadequate sanitation and medical care,” said Thomas Lutze, associate professor and chair of the History Department at Illinois Wesleyan, who will lead the students in the study. The students will each take on an aspect of city planning that was implemented after the Revolution.

Phoenix Theatre Offers Students Opportunities, Involvement

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Although the workload for an Illinois Wesleyan student can be heavy even without extracurricular activities, some opportunities are too good to pass up. For members of the School of Theatre Arts, the Phoenix Theatre offers this kind of opportunity, which allows the students to put on plays of every genre or style, to work independently of IWU professors and to put to practical use their abilities in acting, directing, design and stage management.

Founded over 20 years ago, the Phoenix Theatre houses about 20 productions each school year, about four of five times the amount of productions that took place five years ago.

Located in the “Underground” next to the coffee shop in the Memorial Center, the Phoenix Theatre is a small “black-box” theatre which seats only 50 people at the maximum, equipped with lighting instruments, a lightboard, furniture and prop pieces. Every semester, students are allowed to put in an application to the Phoenix committee, a group of eight students and faculty led by Phoenix Coordinator Charles Haugland, a senior theatre arts and English major from Aurora, Colo. If the proposal is accepted, the student will be allowed to use the theatre space for rehearsals and performances as needed and will also be provided with a small stipend upon request.

Each semester, students put on a wide variety of plays and performance pieces ranging from light-hearted musicals as in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change to classical drama as in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Different clubs and groups have also used the Phoenix as a place to perform including the Musical Theatre Society that put on a full-length musical, Zombie Prom in the fall of 2006 and the Shenanigans theatre group who performed Death… or Something in the fall of 2003. Approximately 20 productions take place every school year, about four or five times the amount that took place just 5 years ago.

Since first-year theatre students do not perform in department plays or musicals and instead focus on production aspects of a performance, the Phoenix offers these students an outlet to act during their first year on campus. Also, the theatre gives all students the opportunity to be exposed to a large number of plays of a variety of genres at no cost.

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