CAMPUS NEWS

CAMPUS TREES ���

The Merrill magnolias flanking the walk to Schaible Science Center mark the arrival of spring each year with an explosion of spectacular white blossoms. Planted in 1969 and 2008, the magnolias form a tunnel of fragrant flowers for visitors to the science center. SPEAKER Q&A

The famed entrepreneur, who launched the FUBU apparel company from his mom’s living room, will give the Roland Quest Lecture at Elmhurst on Sept. 23. He spoke recently with Prospect about role modeling, mindset and mentors.

What have you enjoyed most about being on Shark Tank? I love that I have opportunities to invest in other people’s dreams. But my favorite aspect is showing people that if someone like me can do it—a man of color who overcame obstacles and wasn’t an athlete, singer or politician, but just an everyday person—that they can do it as well.

Daymond John of Shark Tank explains why diversity is good for business.

What kind of mindset is key to being a successful entrepreneur? Be absolutely obsessed with your product and your customer. And learn something new every minute of every day to make yourself and your company better. So the mindset is also to be humble, and a little vulnerable.

At Elmhurst you’ll be talking about why diversity is a good business practice. What does that mean to you? Most likely, your business is serving diverse customers—diverse age groups, religions, genders, creeds and colors. How well do you serve those customers without having that representation in your company? Diversity is not only the right thing to do, it’s also the profitable thing to do.

Why are mentors important, and who were yours? It’s important that you gain and respect knowledge, no matter where it comes from. My life is filled with mentors. My mom was first, then my teacher who believed in a little, brown, dyslexic boy. Then the man who had a candy store in my neighborhood where I worked. And then my stepdad, who taught me that love doesn’t have to come in a certain color or package.

What’s your advice for young people just getting into the workforce? In my company we have a lot of kids who are digital natives and can show you how to maximize what you’re doing. I hope more young people will be that resource, that Swiss Army knife, that person who’s not only there to learn but who also is teaching.

HASHTAG HIGHLIGHTS

We’re getting into the sesquicentennial spirit with #Elmhurst150! Follow us on social media to join the celebration and connect with our community.

elmhurst.university #Elmhurst150 is going to be sweet! ��

@mrmorong This @elmhurst_u student got through his 1st week student teaching with us! coachbartolazzi Saturday track meets are special, but Sunday snuggles are ��

elmhurstadmission Would you look at that?? We have some EXCITED squirrels who were happy to see almost 150 cars come by for our

Spring Caravan�� ��

MARKETING GOLD

Elmhurst’s marketing efforts won national recognition in 2020. The Collegiate Advertising Awards and the 8th Annual Education Digital Marketing Awards honored the University with gold, silver and merit awards for the Elmhurst University blog, the institutional website, two new videos for prospective students, and Bluejays Unite!, a video series outlining Elmhurst’s back-to-campus protocols during the pandemic.

FACULTY FAREWELLS

Four longtime faculty members retired from the University just before the start of the 2020–21 academic year. Please join us in wishing them well in their next chapters!

BARBARA BOSTELMANN, assistant professor of nursing, joined the faculty in 2002 and revitalized Elmhurst’s chapter of the Student Nurses Association. In retirement, she continues to teach in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences as an adjunct professor.

TIM HAYS, professor of music, built Elmhurst’s nationally recognized music business program and established the Gretsch Recording Studio. An active musician in the Chicago area, Hays joined the faculty in 1984.

Associate professor MIKE LINDBERG ’83 was chair of the Department of Intercultural Studies and the Department of Geography and Geosciences. The director of Elmhurst’s First-Year Seminar program and first-year advising, he joined the faculty in 2000.

Professor MARY OESTERLE joined the Elmhurst nursing faculty in 2005. The founding director of the University’s master of science in nursing program, she played a key role in developing partnerships with area hospitals to support nursing students.

CELEBRATING OUR

SESQUICENTENNIAL

The University begins a year of looking back and looking forward.

When Carl F. Kranz and 14 students stepped off a train in downtown Elmhurst in December 1871 to establish a new school, they could scarcely have imagined what they were starting.

They had come to launch the Elmhurst Proseminary, a school to prepare teenage boys for careers as teachers and preachers in the German Evangelical Synod of the Northwest. From those humble roots 150 years ago, the institution now known as Elmhurst University has dramatically expanded its impact across the region, the nation and indeed the world.

Elmhurst is marking its sesquicentennial—the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Rev. Kranz and his students— with a yearlong party that will celebrate the University’s legacy and look forward to its future.

“Throughout its history, Elmhurst has transformed the lives of its students, educating and preparing them to contribute meaningfully to a world that needs their diverse insights, knowledge and promise. That’s true now more than ever,” said President Troy D. VanAken. “We are thrilled for this opportunity to share our story with the world in the coming year.”

The celebration kicked off in May with a Commencement that honored both the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020, whose ceremonies were postponed due to the pandemic. Summer plans include a June Jazz concert and a President’s Picnic for admitted students, and fall highlights include an old-time baseball game pitting representatives of the University against a team from the City of Elmhurst.

The sesquicentennial will also shine a light on Elmhurst’s legacy and impact. An institutional history project, Calling All Voices, will feature stories from alumni and faculty, and the University will publish an updated edition of An Ever-Widening Circle: The History of Elmhurst College by Melitta J. Cutright.

The Elmhurst History Museum will host a special exhibition focusing on the University’s history and a public lecture and presentation by Robert Butler, chair of the history department. On December 6, the University will mark its 150th birthday with a Founders Day celebration, including a reenactment of Rev. Kranz’s arrival in 1871.

Even as Elmhurst celebrates its history, it remains focused on its future. The sesquicentennial celebration coincides with the introduction of new initiatives to guide the University through the years ahead, emphasizing the transformative potential of higher education.

Learn more at elmhurst.edu/150.

A RECORD GIFT

Elmhurst has received a record-setting philanthropic gift from business leader and longtime trustee Alfred Koplin. With his late wife, Jean, Koplin has supported and served the University for more than 40 years.

Koplin’s gift represents the largest made by a living donor in the University’s history, and it is the latest of at least 50 significant gifts that he and his wife have made to Elmhurst over the past 30-plus years. He has served as a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 1981.

In appreciation for their generosity and years of service, the University renamed the Circle Hall building in honor of Jean Koplin, who passed away on Oct. 6, 2020, at the age of 97. (See In Memoriam, page 47.) Jean Koplin Memorial Hall was dedicated at a ceremony on June 11. For more about the dedication, see elmhurst.edu/KoplinCeremony.

“I want to express our deep gratitude to Al and Jean Koplin for their extraordinary generosity and the impact it has had, and will have, on so many lives,” President Troy D. VanAken said.

Elmhurst faculty are prominent scholars and published authors. Here are some of their recent works.FACULTY BOOKSHELF

A. ANDREW DAS, professor of religious studies and assistant dean of the faculty for assessment and accreditation, represented one of the approaches in Perspectives on Paul: Five Views, a book that brings together five of the world’s leading Pauline scholars for a discussion of the Apostle Paul’s writings and theology. Perspectives on Paul: Five Views Scot McKnight and B. J. Oropeza Baker Publishing Group, 2020

MARY KAY MULVANEY is the co-editor of Internationalizing Honors, a monograph that highlights new ways for honors programs to incorporate international experiences as a central part of their programs. She also contributed two chapters to the piece. Mulvaney is a professor of English and the director of the Honors Program at Elmhurst. Internationalizing Honors Kim Klein and Mary Kay Mulvaney, eds. National Collegiate Honors Council, 2020

NEWS BRIEFS

THE NIEBUHR CENTER hosted a weeklong teach-in, “Make Good Trouble.” The February event featured lectures, breakout discussions and a keynote speech by civil rights activist Sheyann Webb-Christburg. A NEW VIDEO spotlights the University’s connection with the United Church of Christ. Elmhurst University and the UCC: Sharing Our History, Looking to Our Future celebrates Elmhurst’s rich history with the UCC and outlines its ongoing commitment to upholding church values. Watch the video at elmhurst.edu/UCCVideo. TEMPLE GRANDIN, a prominent speaker on animal behavior and autism, gave a virtual lecture at Elmhurst on April 14. In her talk, Grandin spoke about the importance of nurturing different ways of thinking. View the talk at elmhurst.edu/TempleGrandin. ELMHURST’S COVID-19 RELIEF GRANT provides support for students who have been affected by the pandemic. A renewable scholarship of up to $1,000, the grant seeks to alleviate some of the financial challenges caused by COVID-19.

FULL STEM AHEAD

It’s no secret that college students are generally less likely to persist and succeed in STEM classes than in other disciplines— and that women and underrepresented minorities are particularly affected by this trend.

With the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation, Elmhurst University is planning to tackle that problem head-on. The nearly $300,000 grant will support professional development for part-time faculty in STEM fields with the goal of increasing student success.

“Part-time instructors play an essential role in reducing equity gaps and increasing student success in STEM,” said Kimberly Lawler-Sagarin, associate dean of the faculty and principal investigator on the project. “But they don’t have as much access to professional development opportunities as the full-time faculty. Our program is designed to meet that need.”

Launching this fall, the three-year program will combine training in teaching methods and STEM pedagogy with information about Elmhurst resources and insights from psychology.

SWING TIME

For his final act as director of the Elmhurst University Jazz Festival, Doug Beach oversaw a momentous first in the event’s 54-year history. Faced with the possibility of canceling the festival for the first time ever because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beach made an executive decision and took the show virtual.

Instead of welcoming audiences to campus, the festival featured prerecorded performances streaming live in late February. As usual, the festival hosted top college ensembles and some of jazz’s biggest names, including Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, who performed with the Elmhurst University Jazz Band, under Beach’s direction.

“We easily could have thrown in the towel and tried again next year,” said Beach, who is retiring this summer. “But we thought, ‘Why not do it online?’”

For that, and for all the music-making Beach oversaw during his time at Elmhurst, audiences can be very grateful.

A SHOT IN THE ARM

Sixty Elmhurst University nursing students helped to administer tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations when the DuPage County Health Department expanded its community vaccination clinic to a site at the county fairgrounds. “It’s every nurse’s dream to help put an end to something like this pandemic,” said their instructor, Laura Minarich, assistant professor of nursing and health sciences. “This is an incredible opportunity for our students, at a time when they can really make a difference.”

INTERNATIONAL FILM SCORE

When Tommy Kelliher ’20 submitted his final project for a digital music class, he had no idea it would end up as the soundtrack for an international film. The assignment, for assistant music professor Mike Pinto’s Digital Music I class, was to compose a film score for one of three minute-long films submitted to the Filminute festival. Trevor Hardy, the director of Busker, liked Kelliher's score so much that he used it in the film.“I never expected the director to actually use my music for his film,” said Kelliher, who graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies.