ENCOURAGE
& inspi re
• 2015-16 President’s Report
Choosing to attend Bradley University 50 years ago was a great decision. Some of my best memories include learning from professors like Kal Goldberg, whose Econ 101 course forever changed my worldview, and being on the debate team, where George Armstrong helped me develop skills that have served me well. I owe a great deal to Bradley University and the opportunities I had here. Bradley enjoys a rich history of producing leaders and innovators in all aspects of life. As 2016 marks our founder Lydia Moss Bradley’s 200th birthday, it is appropriate to recommit ourselves to carrying on her vision and her legacy so that Bradley can continue to prepare future generations for great success in their professions, their communities and their personal lives. There are significant changes taking place in higher education today. Students will compete in a highly technical, global market, and institutions like Bradley must provide the necessary knowledge and skills. Yet costs continue to rise, driven by everevolving technology, security needs, the increasing price of health insurance, the need to innovate in order to remain competitive and, of course, the need for quality faculty and staff. To achieve these goals without constantly having to hike tuition to where all but a privileged few can avoid having to borrow more than their future careers can support, we must have greatly increased private-sector support — and that includes yours. Lastly, I offer my sincerest thanks to those who have loyally supported the university and encourage you to continue that commitment. Even if you are unable to make a monetary gift at this time, I hope you will consider using your time and talents to help this fine institution. Because of your singular generosity, we are able to provide an outstanding education at an exceptional university of which we should all be proud. Sincerely,
Board of Trustees Officers Douglas S. Stewart MBA ’79, Chairman Regional President, PNC Bank Calvin G. Butler Jr. ’91, Vice Chairman CEO, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company Joan L. Janssen ’69, Secretary Community Volunteer Trustees David P. Bozeman ’91 Senior Vice President, Caterpillar Inc. Gary A. Burk ’74 Retired COO/Vice Chairman, Duke Realty Corporation Robert J. Clark ’67 Chairman/CEO, 3Bear Energy, LLC Cheryl D. Corley ’76 Midwest Correspondent, National Public Radio Michael N. Cullinan Chairman, United Contractors Midwest, Inc. Stephen E. Gorman MBA ’78 CEO, Borden Dairy Company Georgina E. Heard-Labonne ’74 Executive Director, Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce Kathleen M.B. Holst ’79 President, RCMS Inc. The Honorable Robin L. Kelly ’78 M.A. ’82 HON ’14 U.S. House of Representatives Wayne G. Klasing ’64 Retired President/CEO, Klasing Industries, Inc. Gary R. Roberts ’70 President, Bradley University
Gary R. Roberts President
Lindsey R. Rolston ’85, M.D. Orthopedic Surgeon, Henry County Memorial Hospital The Honorable James E. Shadid ’79 Chief U.S. District Judge, Central District of Illinois Gerald L. Shaheen ’66 MBA ’68 Retired Group President, Caterpillar Inc. Mel Smith ’65 President, Investment Concepts, Inc. Rajesh K. Soin MSIE ’71 HON ’10 Chairman/CEO, Soin International LLC W. Philip Wilmington ’79 Chairman, STC Capital Bancshares Corporation Honorary Trustee The Honorable Robert H. Michel ’48 HON ’81 Retired, U.S. House of Representatives Senior Advisor, Hogan Lovells US LLP
ENCOURAG E
inspi re A first-generation college student becomes a teacher. Another student gets his first taste of Belgian chocolate in the land that created it. A young man develops leadership skills running a call center that secures donations for the school he loves, and help from two nursing students spurs a lasting gift from a grateful widow. You don’t have to look far to find stories of inspiration and encouragement at Bradley University. They’re all around us. Every day, we encourage students to do their best. We find inspiration in the achievements of our alumni, and the link that binds them together most often is the generosity of our donors. It’s easy to think your gift doesn’t matter, but that’s not what the students and donors on the following pages would tell you. We hope their stories encourage and inspire you to become part of the Bradley chain, and help us prepare the next generation of leaders.
Educated, engaged and involved Most of us have gotten the call — an earnest student from our alma mater asking us to donate to the annual fund. And each time, we wonder: Will my gift have an impact? Will it help someone? Look no further than these four students. Advertising major Airin Virgilio ’16 of Algonquin, Ill., has been a scholarship recipient for four years. “I hope donors realize exactly what they’re giving to students,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do half of what I’ve done without scholarship help. “If you’re stressing about money, it blocks you from opportunities.” Besides doing well in her classes, Virgilio is in the second year of a paid internship at ENTEC Services Inc. Her stint at the building automation company has offered opportunities to conduct research, write, Airin Virgilio ‘16 in the Dingeldine Music Center
work on branding and do website design. “I’m their first marketing intern,” she said. “I bring a fresh perspective.” A member of Gamma Phi Beta, Virgilio also writes for Slane College’s website and is involved with the Bradley Chamber singers. She is co-vice president of the Bradley Chorale, which will tour Denmark this summer. Her two older brothers attended large state schools, but Lauren Dahlke ’17 of Gurnee, Ill., wanted a different experience. Researching colleges with strong engineering programs, she found Bradley. Once she visited, she was sold. “Compared to larger schools, Bradley had a community feel,” she said. The manufacturing engineering major is president of Bradley’s chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the American Sign Language Club and leads a weekly Bible study through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
Lauren Dahlke ‘17 with members of the American Sign Language Club
Dahlke, who received the Rita Newton Scholarship for Women in Engineering, was drawn to manufacturing engineering “because it involves so much problemsolving.” She is poised to begin a summer internship at a manufacturing company in Princeton, Ill. “Bradley does a good job of helping students find internships,” she said. “There are opportunities you might not get at a larger university.” In a letter to her scholarship donor last year, Ofelia Gonzalez ’17 expressed her thanks for the financial support that enables her to pursue the dream of becoming a teacher. The first in her family to move away from home to go to college, the education major from Waukegan, Ill., worried how she’d afford Bradley. But thanks to financial aid and scholarships, she’s on track to become a novice teacher next fall. She has already observed in classrooms at St. Mark’s Catholic and Whittier Primary schools in Peoria. As vice president for scholarship for Sigma Delta Tau, Gonzalez has instituted a weekly study session at the Cullom-Davis Library for her sorority sisters. “We even offer tutoring services,” she said. “I find out what subjects our members need help with and set up tutors for them. I also hold office hours for sisters who
Ofelia Gonzalez ‘17 at Harrison Primary School Scholarships established in 2015 • Jane Alden Memorial Scholarship • Mary T. Bonacorsi Bussiere Memorial Nursing Scholarship • Sheri Hammerton Memorial Annual Scholarship • Eleonore E. Hansen Annual Scholarship • The Larry E. Himmel ‘68, ‘69 Memorial Annual Scholarship • Dawn Hutton Annual Scholarship • Dr. Doris Kasey Kolb - Women in Chemistry Endowed Scholarship • Thomas Harold McCarthy, Jr. ‘82 Memorial Annual Scholarship • Matthew Noe ’02 Annual Scholarship • Richard D. and Lelia J. Rocke Annual Scholarship • Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation - Entrepreneurship Scholarship • Robert J. & Connie Sutherland Annual Scholarship
need help. I give them resources and information about scholarships.” Denzel Washington ’17 fell in love with Bradley while in high school, and was determined to attend. When his mother, who was raising three kids by herself, expressed concern about how the family would afford tuition, he told her not to worry. With scholarship assistance and hard work in and out of the classroom, the Waukegan, Ill. native is thriving on the Hilltop. A journalism major, Washington has worked since he was 16. On campus, he loves his job with the Bradley Fund. Four nights a week he runs the call center, compiling statistics, leading teams and conducting training. He hopes to work in a university setting after graduation, perhaps in student affairs. He’ll take with him the lessons learned on the Hilltop. “I came to the university sight unseen. It was a big gamble. But I had such faith in Bradley,” he said.
Denzel Washington ’17 in the Bradley Fund call center
Cleared for Travel As a young boy growing up in the small town of Washington, Ill., Bryce Ricketts ’15 never imagined he would one day ride a tram around Vienna’s Ringstrasse or take in the impressive architecture of that country’s Schoenbrunn Palace. Paying for college would be enough of a challenge; studying abroad just wasn’t an option for the accounting major. Thanks to the generosity of Blake Devitt ’69, though, Rickets was able to feast on Swiss, French and Belgian chocolate, walk along the streets of Innsbruck and build a likeness of Lydia Moss Bradley in the snowy Alps. The recent grad is one of many Bradley accounting students who have benefited from money Devitt gives the department annually, some or all of which it uses for student travel. Devitt’s additional gifts have endowed a scholarship for a sophomore or junior accounting student. “I believe having the opportunity to travel (to Helsinki) opened my mind to understanding different people and different cultures,” wrote Heather Elliott ’07 in a commemorative book given to thank Devitt. The photo journal featured more than 30 current and former students who received overseas travel stipends between 2007–14. “Coming to Bradley, one thing I heard from family and friends was to study abroad,” said Hannah Haberman, a junior in Bradley’s 3:2 MSA program, who will study international accounting issues in London in May. “The gift covers half my travel costs. Without it, I probably would not have taken the class or had the opportunity to have this experience.” Senior Kevin Clemment will also be on the London trip. “I have not had any accounting classes that deal exclusively with international issues and (my trip) aligns perfectly with what I would like to do in the future,” he added. Encouraged by his father, Devitt came to Bradley with an interest in business. “I liked Bradley’s campus, curriculum and class sizes,” he said. Devitt earned an MBA at the University of Wisconsin and spent 30-plus years at Ernst & Young LLP, taking a two-year leave of absence to work for the Financial Accounting Standards Board. “The advantages of a college education are so important,” he said, adding his gifts are often matched by the companies with which he’s associated. “To be a good adviser to your clients, you have to understand them. An international experience like Bradley offers allows students to see the differences that exist.”
Closing the circle When Peoria dentist Larry Melaik suffered his first stroke in 2012 at age 75, even his physician was shocked. Melaik, an ardent Braves basketball fan, was slender, exercised regularly, didn’t smoke or have high blood pressure.
“One thing I really liked to do was read the paper with him,” said Maish. “He loved sports, and I would read the basketball story (of the day). If I had gone to a Bradley game, I always made sure I talked to (Larry) about it. He really liked hearing the highlights.”
“He didn’t fit the typical profile,” said his wife, Patricia. The couple had married only three years previously in 2009.
Having student nurses allowed Melaik to get the breaks she so desperately needed. Maish and Goetz were also able to teach her helpful skills, such as the proper way to lift his 160-lb. frame when Melaik’s husband could no longer walk.
Before long, however, there were lapses in memory, and he struggled with simple tasks. By the end of 2014, doctors diagnosed Melaik with vascular dementia.
“They were masterful at caring for him with me,” she said. “There was never a glitch. These were 19- to 20-year-old girls, and they were like the best nurses I’ve ever seen.”
Because each patient is different, there’s no rulebook when it comes to caring for people with this disease. Patricia Melaik spent the 14 months between the diagnosis and her husband’s death in January 2016 on high alert and in constant fear. Toward the end, there were multiple crises daily.
Melaik was so appreciative that after her husband’s death, she decided to create a scholarship at Bradley to help future nursing students.
During this period, a social worker from Methodist Home Health in Peoria suggested Melaik place an ad with local nursing programs for student help. From Bradley, she chose seniors Jackie Maish and Halie Goetz, along with two students from Illinois Central College. Beginning in October 2015, the students took turns at the Melaik home, sometimes for a combined total of 11 hours a day. “They were godsends; they were angels,” said Melaik of Maish and Goetz. “You didn’t have to tell them anything, it was like you were in a professional office … I was awed at how Bradley prepared its students, and Larry loved them. He appreciated them so much.”
“I wanted to do something to remember him by,” she said, her voice breaking. “… These girls were so wonderful to us. They were angels when we needed them. I wanted to do something to help the next generation.” “I was amazed and floored that she liked us that much and that we made that much of an impact,” said Goetz about the scholarship. “I’m definitely never going to forget them. The way they lived and how much they cared about each other — it’s definitely something I want to strive for.” “We people who can, we’ve got to pass it on,” said Melaik. “We need to benefit others in the future, and this is one way to do it.”
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