PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

��� YEARS LATER

On the evening of September 24, nearly a thousand members of the Elmhurst University community gathered on the Mall to view Homecoming fireworks—fullblown, glorious explosions of light and sound, high in the sky over Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel.

The fireworks are fitting symbols for the excitement and exuberance I’ve seen on campus this Fall Term. After 18 months of remote learning, our students are back in person, inspiring us with their energy. And we’re celebrating our sesquicentennial by adding special features to beloved traditions like Homecoming, while introducing new events, such as our Founders Day festivities on December 6.

You’ll find that excitement reflected in this special edition of Prospect. Exploring our 150-year history, we highlight students’ Elmhurst experience, beginning in our earliest proseminary days and extending into this fall, when we welcomed our second-largest class of new undergraduates and our largest-ever class of graduate students.

Throughout the dynamic life of this institution, it’s striking to see how consistently Elmhurst has embraced themes such as service to the greater good, academic excellence and innovation, and real-world preparation. These are the themes that have guided us—through societal upheaval, economic challenge and prosperity, institutional growth and change—and that keep extending the impact of our everwidening circle.

I hope to see you on December 6 for Founders Day, when we’ll celebrate our vibrant past and embrace our bright future—together.

TROY D. VANAKEN President

THE CLASS Public History: The Elmhurst Sesquicentennial

THE PROFESSOR Karen Benjamin

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

Getting an unvarnished look at local history is hard enough without a pandemic, but Karen Benjamin and her students still shined a light on untold Elmhurst stories.

TELLING UNTOLD STORIES

THE RIGHT TIME, THE RIGHT GROUP With Elmhurst University’s sesquicentennial coming up, we thought it was the perfect time to offer a special public history seminar where students could dig through the archives of local museums, libraries and historical societies for untold stories. Almost all of the students in the seminar were history majors interested in careers in museum studies and local history.

TELLING THE WHOLE STORY Local history gets criticized for being overly simplistic, celebratory and whitewashed—it often tells one story, and that story is very white. My students wanted to ask hard and sometimes uncomfortable questions about Elmhurst’s history. One student used enrollment data to see how many Black students attended Elmhurst, and he also looked at student newspaper articles about various incidents on campus related to race. That had a big impact on the class; they were appalled to see what little progress had been made.

LESSONS IN RESILIENCE The premise of the seminar was that students would have unfettered access to physical archives, photos and documents, but COVID-19 changed everything. In many cases, the only materials available were those that were already digitized and online. It was a real challenge, but the students all stepped up and completed a project. It’s a lesson that will serve them well as future museum directors. As one of our guest speakers said, “If you want to work in local history, you’d better be a plumber.” If the bathroom backs up, that’s you! If money is tight or you can’t get access to the resources you need, how do you make the best of it? How do you deliver something of value when things don’t go as planned? These students know how.

HONORED TO BE HONORED One of the reasons I wanted to come to Elmhurst was because I had so much respect for this faculty and because they put a strong emphasis on teaching and teaching innovation. To receive the 2021 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching was such an honor. The real honor, though, came from the students who nominated me with such a well-written and powerful statement. Their energy, curiosity and desire to understand our history on a really deep level—it blows me away.

Michael Rallo's research project about Elmhurst College during World War II features this illustration from Elmhurst's 1944 yearbook, The Elms. THE STUDENT VIEW

“My project was about Elmhurst’s German roots. Elmhurst was a proseminary before it became a college, and most classes were taught in German. I wanted to know why German was so important to Elmhurst, when and why the language of instruction changed, and why nobody talks about the University’s German past. I felt very honored to have my final project featured in the digital research showcase.”

— ANGELINA TSAKOPOULOS ’21

HISTORY MAJOR

“My research project was about Elmhurst College during World War II. When I learned that Elmhurst was one of only a few schools in the country to accept Japanese American students, that got me hooked. Elaine Fetyko Page, the University archivist, gave my partner, Tabitha, and me booklets of campus newspapers from the 1940s, which were exactly the type of primary sources that we needed.”

— MICHAEL RALLO ’21

HISTORY MAJOR