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Editor’s Note
Hello! My name is Maeve Reilly and I’ve recently joined the staff at the Knox Office of Communications and, for the foreseeable future, have taken on the role of Knox Magazine editor.
I started at Knox in the Office of Advancement, where I was responsible for donor stewardship activities; some of you may know me at least by name. Prior to Knox, I worked for 20+ years in a variety of communications roles at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. One of my favorite jobs there was working at the public broadcasting station where I edited the monthly program guide, so I’m experienced in many aspects of putting together a publication such as this. I welcome your feedback on how we are doing and suggestions as to what can make this magazine a true reflection of all that is Knox.
Though I’ve only been at Knox a few years, I have been so impressed by not only my co-workers, Knox’s dedicated staff, and the outstanding faculty, but also by all of you—your stories of success and your commitment to this institution. I had the great pleasure of writing a story on the 50th anniversary of Farm Term recently (Spring 2022 magazine), and it was truly a wonderful experience to talk to the participants of that program who, 50 years on, hold the experiences they had while students at Knox so near and dear to them. My friend, Laura Schmitt, contributed an article on careers in the sports field in this magazine and she commented on how much alumni love Knox. It’s truly a joy to come to work and be able to listen to your stories and find ways to share those stories more broadly.
I look forward to hearing from you and, now that things are moving to a new “normal,” meeting many of you in person. The Knox Magazine is just one of the many important ways we maintain this community. Meeting fellow alumni, students, or staff as they travel is another. Of course, the best way to keep connected is to come back to campus for a visit. If the magazine doesn’t spur your interest in traveling the “long, long road to Alma Mater,” I hope the magazine will provide you with some fond memories and reflections on your college home, and news about the exciting future plans for Knox.
CARLA WEHMEYER
With kind regards, Maeve Reilly
Letters to the Editor
Swinging to the Sky
Lenny Greene was the swinger of birches in the Spring 2002 Farm Term article photos—and how high he was up there!!! I LOVE this shot of the farm—how it was when we were there. Rick’s comment about the Farm Term model living on touches me. And I adore Sandy’s quote!
I also love the mention of the “Food and Fiber.”
—Kadi Finlayson Meyer ’72
Impactful Experiences
I’ve just read your piece on Farm Term. You really conveyed the impact that program had on all of us, and also caught how much we all really liked and admired Dewey and Doug.
One thing you mentioned that I’d forgotten about was the effect meeting with all the local farmers had on us suburban kids. They were largely broken down old Norwegians, with great grit and a droll sense of humor. And all were pretty happy with the lives they had led. So Farm Term readied me to become a lifetime fan of “Prairie Home Companion.”
I would love to see some sort of follow up study of these alternative educational programs. Our system occasionally may track academic “achievement,” but we don’t seem to have any way to quantify the profound impact of these programs on the whole person. —Steve Axon ’73
Send us your letters!
Knox Magazine welcomes the opinions and comments of its readers. Write to the Editor, Knox Magazine, Box K-233, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401-4999, or email knoxmag@knox.edu. Letters should refer to material published in the magazine and may be edited for length or clarity.
President’s Note
Focus on Admission and Enrollment
As I write this, the academic year is beginning and I’m excited for this new start. I remain humbled to begin my second year as president of this great institution. Over the next several weeks, I will continue to partner with the College community to finalize details of our strategic planning framework, which will serve as a resource to guide our work over the next three to five years. The themes, ideas, and initiatives in the framework capture our ambition to grow and sustain Knox through creativity and innovation. The cadence of projects and priorities will be influenced by the external market and environment, resource availability, risk tolerance, and impact. Given that the fall is a key time for the admission application cycle, I want to focus this letter on one of the strategic priorities agreed upon by the Board of Trustees in the summer of 2021—increasing admission and enrollment. This past enrollment cycle, we introduced innovative new initiatives to increase enrollment, including the Prairie Promise, our new program to recruit more students from Illinois by meeting full demonstrated need; bringing independent counselors to campus; and providing incentives for accepted students to visit campus. The College continues to explore and implement creative strategies to increase enrollment at Knox. One example is our successful counselor fly-in program, a strategy to get the word out to these key influencers about Knox. In May, almost 30 independent educational counselors, high school counselors, and communitybased organization representatives visited the College. Attendees overall rated the visit very positively, sharing specific feedback such as, “An exceptional college visit,” “Knox College completely hit it out of the park,” and “I had the pleasure of spending the last day and a half on the campus of Knox College and wow. Just wow.” The goal is to grow enrollment from approximately 1,200 students to more than 1,450 over the next five years. To do this, the College is investing in key, high-impact initiatives that include increasing our outreach to school and independent counselors; entering new markets; enhancing the Office of Admission staff; and focusing on the institutional brand strategy, messaging, and creative campaigns that will differentiate Knox from our competitors, enhance our national reputation, and effectively package our academic programs and unique student experience for applicants. The brand strategy will provide consistency of messaging throughout each student’s journey, from prospective student to current student to alumnus. As alumni, you are the best ambassadors for how Knox transforms lives. Partnering with the Prospective Student Engagement Committee of the Knox College Alumni Council will further encourage admissions referrals with our alumni. There is a form on our website that you can use to easily recommend students; it can be found at www.knox.edu/recommend. You probably already know at least one high school student within your network who would thrive at our College. Please talk to this student about your Knox experience and make the referral to our Admission team. You can also tell us about your Knox experience and how it changed your life. Our Office of Communications welcomes suggestions for alumni to profile. If you have suggestions, you can email our Office of Communications directly at communications@knox.edu. In addition, the team working on our brand strategy will be reaching out to some of you to gain insights for its work. In closing, I want to thank the members of the Knox community for your warm welcome, encouraging correspondence filled with great ideas and thoughtful comments, and for the opportunity to engage with you on and off campus. I am excited to expand my outreach this coming year and look forward to developing additional strategies that will enable our students to thrive, achieve postgraduate success, and fulfill their potential. With Warmest Regards,
SÉAN ALONZO HARRIS PHOTOGRAPHY
Andy M.
Knox College celebrated the inauguration of C. Andrew McGadney as the 20th president of Knox College on May 6, 2022. Hundreds of alumni, trustees, delegates from other higher education institutions, family and friends, and members of the community gathered at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg to mark the historic moment for the College.
Honorary degrees were presented to Sarah Jane Ahmed ’12, a financial and environmental strategist, David A. Greene, president of Colby College, and poet Haki Madhubuti. Knox awarded doctor of humane letters degrees to Ahmed and Greene, and a doctor of literature to Madhubuti.
CARLA WEHMEYER
LEARNING TO LIVE ON THE LAND
Green Oaks Term Celebrates 20 Years of Immersion Living on the Land
BY THOMAS COOK ’05
Imagining the prairie landscape that greeted the early settlers of Galesburg and the surrounding communities is difficult for today’s students. The cityscape, while small, is largely concrete with green spaces dotted throughout. The surrounding farms are mainly large agricultural businesses where rows of corn and soybeans outnumber native plants. Drawing in part on the success of the College’s Farm Term, Knox professors created the Green Oaks Term in 2002, the second in a line of rural Midwest experiences that have connected Knox students to the land. The term provides a glimpse back at the prairies while giving students the opportunity to learn not only about the land, but also ways to live in it, communally and sustainably, all the while learning about nature, art, literature, and history.
This year, Knox commemorates the 20th anniversary of the immersive and interdisciplinary trimester spent living, working, and studying on 704 acres, including an area that was formerly strip mined. Biology professors Paul Shepard and George Ward began converting farmland owned by the College to a native prairie in 1955, and the College obtained an adjacent portion of land that had been owned by Alvah Green, an 1890 alumnus and trustee, through his estate in 1958, creating the area now known as Green Oaks.
Peter Schramm, professor of biology, continued the work started by Shepard and Ward and instituted the annual
burns in 1965. Today, the prairie burn is a seminal event that is the celebratory and symbolic center of the student experience for those who take part in the Green Oaks Term.
“Prairie ecosystems, like grasslands all around the world, are firedependent ecosystems in which all species—plants, animals, and fungi— are adapted to frequent fires,” explained Stuart Allison, current director of Green Oaks Biological Field Station and Watson Bartlett Professor of Biology and Conservation. “Many of those species depend on fires creating conditions that favor their survival. For the last four or five thousand years, the climate in Illinois has been suitable for the establishment of forests. The fact that prairies exist here is the result of those fires—which for hundreds of years were set by Native Americans as part of their eco-cultural practices and now are set by us.”
Allison has been taking part in the term since its inception. He arrived at Knox in 1997 and has been the director of the Biological Field Station since 1999, three years before the Green Oaks term began. Green Oaks is 20 miles east of the college campus and hosts a number of facilities, including Schurr Hall, a classroom, laboratory, and dormitory, as well as a cabin for the faculty directing the term, the caretaker’s home, and a barn that students, who are known as Oakies, use for projects. Allison is the last remaining original member of the 2002 group that founded the term— Jon Wagner, professor of anthropology, retired in 2015, and Robin Metz, Philip Sidney Post Professor of English, passed away in 2018.
During the first year of term, Wagner lived in the cabin for all 10 weeks of the experience, and Tony Gant, associate professor of art, and Allison have also done so. Usually, the professors involved rotate through their time in residence at Green Oaks, typically swapping out every two weeks, as spending 10 weeks with, in this current year, 13 Knox students as the sole faculty member, can be—well— immersive.
CARLA WEHMEYER Cadence Eischens ’24 and Kevin Cox ’23 work on art projects during the 2022 Green Oaks Term. “The Green Oaks program, student participants, and all the professors involved played such a pivotal role in my educational and personal development. I would not be in my current career field if it were not for the conversations and experiences I had in the classroom, on the prairie, and around the campfire at Green Oaks. In particular, Jim Mountjoy sparked my passion for birding during a crazy roadside dash to chase a displaying male American woodcock, and Stuart Allison helped foster my interest in conservation biology and applied science through field labs and lessons at Green Oaks.” —Alicia Young Herrera ’03, who currently works as a Rangeland
Watershed Initiative Partnership Biologist in California
“The memories that sit in my mind from Green Oaks Term were not from our big trips or classes or adventures, but things like chatting over tea with some Oakies and heading down to make myself a late-night snack. One night, I came down to find another Oakie from my cooking team marinating some chicken for the next night’s dinner. I was struck in that moment with a really profound sense of place and home. The quaintness of our living situation, the joy of sharing that space, and the act of preparing dinner for all our family a whole day before, all while just sharing stories about our lives before entering into this space was, for whatever reason, very impactful and sweet in my mind.” —Finnegan Hautau ’25
“I did Green Oaks Term during my junior year. I had to make a choice between doing it right away during my freshman year or not. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Living on the prairie in a converted barn with people was such a great experience. It gave me a chance to live in nature: nice, simple communal living.” —Zarir DeVitre ’07, a freelance sustainability generalist in Mumbai, India
“Green Oaks gave me a much deeper appreciation for rural Illinois and prairie ecosystems that I have kept and shared with my students, friends, and loved ones. My time at Green Oaks helped me connect better with the idea of developing a sense of place in a location. In retrospect, the freedom we were given to explore our interests (and develop new ones) during the Green Oaks term was very valuable to me and helped set me up for success in subsequent endeavors as a student, Peace Corps volunteer, and advocate for both environmental and social causes. In 2020 I worked as a visiting professor for a study away program based in Oregon. I think the time that I spent during the Green Oaks Term helped make me better contribute to that program as a professor and community member.” —Megan Butler ’08, educator
The curriculum of the Green Oaks term has been relatively unchanged since its inception. Wagner’s original Deep Maps of Place course, a sociological tracing on the people and histories of the land, has been taken on and adapted by Katie Adelsberger, professor and chair of environmental studies. Metz’s course in the arts and imagination has been adapted by Gant to focus on visual art, and Allison continues to teach a course that helps students connect to landscape ecosystems of the Midwest, and demonstrate how the region has been shaped and changed by natural processes and human intervention. Jim Mountjoy, associate professor of biology, teaches the natural history course in years when Allison is not involved with the program. Allison explained that the College does a lot to embrace its place-based environmental origins, but it could do more.
“The College as an institution has a great deal of pride in its location in the rural Midwest and the way the landscape and people of the area have helped form it. We embrace our location in programs like Farm Term, the Great River Seminar, and Green Oaks Term. But we need to do more to transform our reflection on the local to a pathway to considering how Knox and its students can engage with the entire world.”
Knox’s effort to replant the native prairie in the 1950s was an important step in regenerating a natural landscape that had been disrupted by the previous 130 years of European settlement and industrialization. Early research into prairie restoration processes was begun at the University of Wisconsin at Madison arboretum in the 1930s. At Green Oaks, Shepard’s work was aligned with the spirit of the work at that time, which aimed to restore the prairie to an estimation of how it was before white settlement. Allison recalls hearing stories of that early effort, which was largely Shepard and students walking the land and scattering seeds. Since that time, the focus to maintain that original composition has served a vital purpose for student research in biology, environmental studies, sociology, history, and the arts. “We’re trying to restore to a target from the past,” Allison said, “but the rapidity of climate change means we have to adapt. We may have to ask, do we need to plant other species here that are likely to flourish in the changed environment?”
CARLA WEHMEYER
Stuart Allison, Watson Bartlett Professor of Biology and Conservation and director of the Green Oaks Biological Field Station, explains the process for the prairie burn to students in the spring of 2022.
The species of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century that thrived in Midwestern prairie ecosystems would have necessarily adapted to their changing environment as years went on, Allison said. Thus, he believes, the work ahead of the students and professors at Green Oaks is twofold. First, 70 years of diligent restoration and rebirth, culminating in the annual burn, is an achievement and activity worth continuing in the future. At the same time, there is a dimension of the process that is artificial and does not account for all the variables involved in warmer summers and shorter, wetter winters, the tangible effects of our changing planet. Fortunately, these new efforts square with aspects of the College’s mission, specifically to provide immersive experiences for students and close student-faculty interaction.
This does not mean that study at Green Oaks is focused on this particular landscape to the exclusion of others. In fact both Allison and Adelsberger bring their previous research, on marine and desert ecosystems, respectively, to bear on their work at Green Oaks. In turn, students get the opportunity to see how their work in the field can extend to the different landscapes and different disciplines entirely. Mountjoy with his research on avian life, brings another dimension to the Green Oaks experience. This diverse set of faculty interests is reflected in the students who participate in the term. Graduates of the Green Oaks term have gone on to pursue careers in public health in India, and in sustainability in Boca Raton, Florida, as well as taken roles as educators, biologists, and environmental scientists. In June, a reunion brought together 40 Oakies, along with friends and family to share and reminisce.
In this close and collaborative environment, the experience can best be summarized by the additional “course” in which all students are enrolled. This is a half-credit course called the Dynamics of Intentional Living, which sounds abstract but is the most tangible of experiences. It allows students to plan, reflect on, and organize their lives in the Green Oaks community, from the basics of who cooks and cleans, to their intentions for their time in the term as well as beyond the term. Essentially, this course is about engaging in a community and the natural world as a citizen, with a focus on the collective good. “Returning to Green Oaks has always felt like coming home. Every time I am there I am flooded with memories of walking the land, of painting landscapes and making sculptures, of connecting with people and nature. Coming back for the 20th anniversary with my 7-yearold daughter Maggie was very special. I was so proud to see her hiking the Shortcut Trail, swimming in the lake, exploring Tony Gant’s massive art installation, square dancing in the barn, and having a singalong with the recent Oakies around the campfire. I was thrilled to teach her about Leopold benches, and I saw a cerulean warbler!” —Meg Huizenga Jedrey ’05, educator
“My boyfriend and I drove a total of 2,500 miles from Albuquerque, N.M., for the reunion. It was incredibly meaningful to return and introduce my boyfriend to such an important place and group of people. The best part was how much it felt like coming home and how easy it was to fall back into an easy community with the other Oakies, not only the Oakies from my term (although it was nice to know I could still rely on Nick Liberko for extra camping gear), but also Oakies from other terms—older Oakies, newer Oakies, even the current Oakies!” —Emily Roberts ’16, library and information professional
NO LIMITS:
How a Knox liberal arts education prepared alumni for sports-world careers
BY LAURA SCHMITT
Knox College provides its students with an exceptional liberal arts education and limitless opportunities for success. Meet five Knox alumni and former Prairie Fire athletes who parlayed their Knox experiences into meaningful careers with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), NFL, and collegiate sports programs.
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Brynna Barnhart Blodgett ’03, NCAA managing director of enforcement At Knox, Brynna Barnhart Blodgett learned how to think analytically and write clearly in all her of liberal arts classes, especially those taught by political science faculty Lane Sunderland, now the Chancie Ferris Booth Professor Emeritus, and Louisa Sue Hulett, now the Henke Distinguished Professor Emerita.
“I learned to interact and have vigorous discussions with a variety of people who are different from me, have a different viewpoint, or are in a different position of power,” said Blodgett, who later earned a law degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale after earning her B.A. in political science.
These skills have served her well during her 14-year career in enforcement with the NCAA, where she has conducted and overseen high-profile investigations involving rules violations in both men’s and women’s college sports.
A four-year starter on the Prairie Fire women’s softball and basketball teams, Blodgett said playing sports also influenced her personally and professionally.
“I learned how to balance my time, collaborate, and communicate with other people toward a common goal, and figure out my role on a team … while helping the team succeed,” she said. “Being a student-athlete got my foot in the door with the NCAA, and my sports experience helps me relate to the student-athletes we serve now.” Blodgett recalls nearly accepting an offer to study journalism at a different Division III school but settled on Knox, in part, because of the actions of
legendary Athletics Director Harley Knosher.
As point guard for her high school team, she was accustomed to making assists rather than racking up big scoring numbers. One night at Galesburg High School, though, she was draining baskets in the first half. Unknown to her, Knosher was listening to the game on his car radio as he drove out of town on a trip.
When she got home from the game, there was a message on the family answering machine from Knosher saying how proud he was of her for such a stellar first half.
“I was weighing my options and right before graduating, I decided to go the college football route,” said Emini, a Prairie Fire wide receiver who holds the team’s single-season record for receptions (88). “I was offered a coaching job at Wofford College in South Carolina based on former Knox Coach Damon Tomeo’s recommendation.”
Perhaps more importantly, Emini said, Tomeo instilled in his players the skills they needed to be successful in their careers on and off the field. “He taught us to treat every day like it is an interview,” said Emini. “If I didn’t live this way while I was at Knox, I doubt coach would have recommended me for the Wofford job.”
After three years as an assistant coach at Wofford, Emini landed an assistant coach job at the University of Illinois under Coach Lovie Smith. Several years later, after Smith was named defensive coordinator of the Houston Texans, he invited his young protégé to make the leap into NFL coaching.
“I learned so much from Coach Smith throughout our years together at Illinois and will never forget his call asking me to head down to Houston with him to help build a strong defense for the Texans,” Emini said.
Emini is entering his second season as an assistant defensive/nickels coach in Houston, where he teaches defensive schemes and strategies to specialized position players called nickels— defensive backs who come on the field in place of linebackers when an offense has three or more receivers on the field.
Using individualized learning techniques that he studied in courses that he took from Department of Education faculty members Joel and Diane Estes, Emini tailors his instruction to each athlete’s learning style— visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. For example, he’ll do more on-field instruction and demonstration with a kinesthetic learner, while he’ll watch more game films with a visual learner.
“My background in education helps me to really understand how my players learn, what motivates them, and how we can help them achieve success on and off the field,” said Emini. “Overall, I’ve been able to turn a passion into a career rooted in both education and athletics. It ended up becoming a dream come true.”
Ilir Emini ’16, Houston Texans defensive assistant/nickels coach The Knox personal connection played a role in the meteoric rise of Ilir Emini’s career. As he was finishing up his B.A. degree in elementary education, Emini knew he would pursue a career in teaching, but the question was whether his pupils would be gradeschool children or college athletes.
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Sara Burton ’91, University of Illinois executive senior associate director of athletics, sports administration/ senior woman administrator As the highest-ranking woman executive in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s athletic department, Sara Burton oversees the sport administration team, is the sports administrator for the softball, gymnastics, and women’s basketball teams, and chairs the Illini Way steering committee, which focuses on the cultural health of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics at Illinois.
“It’s really critical for us to protect what is at the heart of our organization, which is our student athletes,” said Burton, a four-year starter for the Prairie Fire women’s soccer team with a B.A. in anthropology-sociology. “Every decision we make impacts their experience, so we want our people to have a championship mindset and complete integrity.”
Burton assists in leading a staff of more than 300 people, including student interns, veteran administrators, administrative staff, and a variety of coaches—some of whom earn millions of dollars per year for high-profile sports like men’s basketball and football. She works hard to instill a culture of trust, respect, and belonging throughout all athletics.
According to Burton, the knowledge she gained from a broad selection of courses at Knox prepared her well for the Illinois position.
For example, Burton took a course on women, race, and power from MaryAnne Borelli, former assistant professor of political science. She later helped Borelli further develop the course as an undergraduate research assistant.
Playing for Coach Amy Reifert while she led the Prairie Fire soccer team also positively influenced Burton.
“She taught us how to compete, what leadership looks like in critical moments, and how to work through adversity,” said Burton, who launched her professional career as an assistant soccer coach for Reifert at the University of Chicago after graduating from Knox.
Burton’s coaching career spanned more than 20 years, primarily at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse before she transitioned to administration. Jake Ayers ’06, Claremont-MuddScripps (CMS) director of athletic facilities and sports operations A first-generation college student, Jake Ayers didn’t know much about Knox College when he committed to playing baseball for Coach Jami Isaacson even though he grew up in a small town only 40 miles southeast of Galesburg.
“On my first recruiting trip to campus, I walked into Seymour Library’s Red Room and that ignited the inner history nerd in me,” he recalled. “It felt familiar, and I felt like Knox was a place where I could be successful. I would not be where I’m at now if I hadn’t gone to Knox and taken that leap.”
Today, Ayers is the director of athletic facilities and sports operations at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Colleges, a consortium of D-III schools about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. He manages the athletic facilities and game day operations for all 21 of the schools’ sporting teams, works to attract NCAA championship events, oversees NCAA championship tournaments on campus, and collaborates with CMS capital
“In the classroom, I learned how to be flexible and adaptable. On the field, I learned how to lead and how to follow.” —Jake Ayers ’06
planning officials on the development of a new $140 million athletics complex.
He attributes his success, in part, to his Knox liberal arts education. He specifically recalls taking the History of Sports in America from Matthew Raffety, former visiting assistant professor of history. That class helped him realize for the first time that it was viable to pursue sports as a profession.
A multi-sport athlete, Ayers started as catcher on the Prairie Fire baseball team all four years and even saw some action as quarterback for the football team. He earned the baseball team’s most valuable player award his senior year.
After Knox, Ayers played a season in the Israel Baseball League in Tel Aviv, catching for the league champion Bet Shemesh Blue Sox team. He also played two seasons for an independent baseball team in Lincoln, Nebraska, before transitioning into coaching and collegiate athletic administration.
Attributes learned at Knox help him navigate the collegiate administration waters each day.
“My athletic director says that my staff and I are more interested in getting things right than being right,” said Ayers, who is overseeing CMS volleyball facility upgrades in preparation for hosting the D-III national championships in 2023. “In my job I need to know a little bit about every sport and be able to adapt, learn, and figure things out quickly, which my Knox education provided.” Raleigh DeRose ’14, Brown University associate head soccer coach for player development Growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Raleigh DeRose had always envisioned herself playing soccer in college at a school on one of the coasts. However, when she visited Knox on a blue-chip weekend, staying with the players, touring campus, and speaking with the coaching staff, she began to change her mind.
An American studies major, DeRose recalls being particularly influenced by three Knox faculty because of their passion for teaching and their expertise in their subject matter.
“Lane Sunderland in political science, Catherine Denial in American history, and James Thrall in religious studies loved what they did and communicated well, which was inspiring to me,” said DeRose, the associate head soccer coach for player development at Brown University. “As a soccer coach, I’ve tried to copy their passion for learning and positivity.”
Outside of the classroom, DeRose had surgery following her freshman soccer season to repair chronic knee pain and cartilage damage from a high school injury. While she healed and rehabbed for 18 months, she channeled her energy into the Knox Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), participating in service projects and athletic engagement activities.
“I loved my team and took a lot of pride in … being a student-athlete, so I did not want my injury to sideline me from being involved in the athletic community,” said DeRose, who continued to participate in SAAC after returning to the pitch for her junior and senior years. “I learned to balance so many things as a student-athlete, and that has helped me in my coaching career. I’m grateful for the experiences and platforms I had to hone leadership skills, which has prepared me for my job now.”
As the associate head soccer coach for player development at Brown University, she performs a variety of duties that include helping with on-field coaching, enhancing players’ skills and overall fitness, organizing prospective students’ visits and summer camps, and recruiting at tournaments and showcases.
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Knox Promotes Four Faculty Members
Four members of the Knox faculty received promotions and tenure in July. To read the full interviews, visit magazine.knox.edu.
Jennifer McCarthy Foubert Associate Professor of Educational Studies
Foubert received a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017, a master’s in education in curriculum and instruction from the University of Washington, and a bachelor’s of education in special education from Gonzaga University.
Her research examines the ways white supremacy operates in K-12 schools, particularly in practices and policies of family-school partnership.
Her book, Reckoning with Racism in Family-School Partnerships: Centering Black Parents’ School Engagement, is published by Teachers College Press. Foubert serves on the City of Galesburg Youth Commission.
What is your most memorable moment at Knox? In 2019 we awarded Dr. Ladson-Billings an honorary degree for her incredible accomplishments in the field of education. I planned a “fireside chat” for our students featuring a conversation about teaching between Dr. Ladson-Billings and Caroline Ware ’18. I had supervised Caroline’s student teaching experience the year before, and she had just finished her first year teaching in Chicago Public Schools. Witnessing one of my first undergraduate students in conversation about culturally relevant pedagogy and racial justice in education with the person who inspired it all was really special.
Ole J. Forsberg Associate Professor of Mathematics; Chair of Statistics
Forsberg received his Ph.D. in statistics from Oklahoma State University and also has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee.
What are your areas of research? I investigate elections for evidence of certain types of unfairness using secondary data published by the governments. While election observers are excellent at finding improprieties while the ballots are being cast and counted, statistics can frequently check for problems when the ballots are not being observed. For instance, statistics may be able to detect ballot box stuffing or improper invalidation of ballots. I extend and modify statistical techniques and apply them to this purpose.
What is your most memorable moment at Knox? I will always remember the first time I walked to my office and saw my name on the door. It meant I was home.
If you weren’t a professor working at Knox, what would you be? Given that I’ve been teaching for 30 years, I am sure I would be doing the same thing as now, only elsewhere.
What’s your favorite thing about Galesburg? I love how small it is … nice and cozy … allowing me to get to know the people here.
Nick Gidmark Associate Professor of Biology
Gidmark received his Ph.D. in comparative biomechanics in 2021 from Brown University. He subsequently held postdoctoral positions at Brown, the University of Washington, and the University of Chicago, before taking a position at Knox in 2016.
What motivated you to bring a whale to Knox? I’ve been building skeletons for decades and adding to Knox’s anatomical teaching collection since I arrived in 2016. Once you build skeletons from a turtle, a skunk, a dog and a pig, things tend to get bigger. The horse and bison made important impacts on the collection, and the real teaching value of the collection comes with diversity of form and size range of organisms, so naturally it made sense to articulate a 60-foot fin whale. I summer in Maine, where I bump elbows with folks who respond to marine mammals (e.g., dolphins and whales) beaching. I floated the wild idea of wishing we could get a whale skeleton from one of these natural deaths to hang in the atrium of our science building (this was just before the start of the A-core renovation of the Umbeck ScienceMathematics Center). Surprisingly to me, there are proper channels that any academic institution can go through to legally do just that. After a few dozen phone calls, a federal permit, a cross-country U-Haul trip, and several thousand hours of person-time (from two dozen Knox students and three Knox faculty), I'm pretty proud of what we came up with. While the motivation initially was for the biology teaching collection, it's had some interesting impacts in lots of departments across campus, which has been fun to see. It’s a lightning rod for conversation and inquiry.
Joan Huguet Associate Professor of Music
Huguet received her Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Rochester-Eastman School of Music. She received her master’s in music theory from McGill University-Schulich School of Music, and her bachelor of arts in music and French literature from Rhodes College. Her courses treat music theory as a language to be learned, a puzzle to be solved, and an art form in and of itself. While her early research primarily focused on form and harmony in nineteenth-century music, she has more recently become interested in the Broadway musical. She enjoys teaching students about the extraordinary variety of human musical expression across time periods and genres.
Who is your favorite composer and why? This is such a hard question for someone who spends their life engaging with music! My own relationship with music has evolved tremendously over my 15 years of studying and teaching it. I started my career as a scholar of classical music, and the music of Beethoven and Brahms will always be dear to me. I have taught a course on the Broadway musical at Knox for the past several years, so that has been a huge new area for me to explore. In that genre, I would recommend checking out Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell, which has some very interesting relationships between folk, jazz, and Broadway genres in its music. Continuing to challenge my ears and mind is essential to growing as a teacher and scholar.
Career Move: Retirement
STEVE DAVIS
John Spittell Joseph E. and Judith B. Wagner Distinguished Chair in Business
John Spittell loves working with students and teaching, and believes in giving back. Over the past 15 years, he has shared his business expertise and acumen with Knox students, helping to create the robust program in Integrative Business and Management at Knox. “My desire is to assist the students I work with and improve their competencies. I’ve had a ball at Knox doing exactly this.” In June 2022 Spittell finished his “third career,” teaching at Knox.
In 2007, after careers in commercial lending and distribution, he joined the Knox faculty as professor of business and management and executive-in-residence. In 2015, he was named the inaugural Wagner Distinguished Chair in Business.
He received the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching twice: once for new faculty in 2010 and for established faculty several years later. Spittell attributes his success, in part, to his mentors, particularly Rich Stout, professor of economics, the late Jonathan Powers, assistant professor and chair of economics, Roy Anderson, Charles W. and Arvilla S. Timme Professor Emeritus of Economics and former department chair, Lane Sunderland, Chancie Ferris Booth Professor Emeritus of Political Science. He also credits his wife, Ellen, past principal of Gale Elementary School and current principal of Galesburg CUSD 205 Bright Futures.
As a graduate from Ripon College, a liberal arts college in Wisconsin, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Spittell feels very strongly that a liberal arts education is a crucial foundation for success in business.
“In a knowledge-based society, students will have multiple jobs and careers. They need to learn liberal arts to effectively manage an organization,” Spittell said. “They need everything we teach: philosophy and ethics, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, environmentalism, economics, business, the sciences, and more; they will use it all.
“There was a significant concern when I came to Knox that business and management wasn’t really part of the liberal arts curriculum,” said Spittell. “I came to the firm belief that we needed integrated business and management. My desire was to assist in enabling students, teaching them how to be productively engaged in their life’s passion—whatever field that is.”
He is pleased with the growth of the business program, and the fact that one of the most popular majors for the class of 2022 is integrated business and management.
Along with John Dooley, retired William and Marilyn Ingersoll Chair in Computer Science, and Jaime Spacco, associate professor and chair of computer science, Spittell launched Startup Term, an immersive term that provides students experience in entrepreneurship. This successful program is currently in its fourth year of providing students with a real-world business experience in an office building located in downtown Galesburg.
Spittell also served as coordinator of the Kemper Scholars Program, sponsored by the James S. Kemper Foundation of Chicago, which provides internships for students interested in leadership and service. He is the faculty representative for the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, which allows students to be admitted directly from Knox to the master’s of business administration program. A
number of Knox students, including Sara Jane Ahmed ’12, have taken that route. She is the founder of the Financial Futures Center and currently also serves as finance advisor to the ministers of finance from the world’s 55 most climatevulnerable countries. Ahmed received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Knox College this year.
So what lies in store for Spittell? Time with his family, including his new grandson. Some travel. And a yet to be figured out new endeavor.
“I would love to occasionally come back to Knox to teach in an emeritus capacity. I feel a fiduciary obligation to the students here. I want to see them prosper and grow. I want to see Knox grow. I love this institution, it is in my blood. Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve felt totally at home at this special place.”
Steve Cohn Charles W. and Arvilla S. Timme Professor in Economics
Cohn’s research and teaching interests include macroeconomics, environmental economics, Marxist economics, and the Chinese economy and Chinese political-economic thought. He is the author of three books, including Competing Economic Paradigms in China: The Co-Evolution of Economic Events, Economic Theory and Economics Education 1976-2016.
At Knox since 1984, he co-chaired the Peace and Justice Studies program and was a faculty member of the Asian studies and environmental studies programs. He has worked as a consultant and director of the Micro and Macro Critique workshops for the Global Development and Environment Institute and was a past member of the Steering Committee of the Union of Radical Political Economists (URPE).
In 2014, he was a visiting Professor at the China Studies Institute in Beijing. What is your favorite Knox memory? The 2006 commencement when Stephen Colbert was the commencement speaker and Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, also received an honorary degree.
CARLA WEHMEYER
Carol Scotton Associate Professor of Economics and Business and Management
Scotton’s interest in economics was grounded in what we value and how we determine worth. Focusing on land and labor, she explored the notions underlying work and property that lead to inadequate and inequitable compensation systems, as we have now. She taught courses in labor and health and especially enjoyed learning with her students in introductory economics.
Before coming to Knox, Scotton spent 15 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked on HIV-prevention program evaluation and emergency preparedness.
At Knox since 2005, she served on the Knox County Board of Health from 2006-2020. Her last publication was “New Risk Rates, Inter-industry Differentials and the Magnitude of VSL Estimates” in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis. She is currently working on a monograph “Taking Land, Making Race.”
What is the value of a Knox education? Learning how to be curious and courageous. That we challenge each other as learners. To figure out what the questions are. To learn to see what needs doing and developing the confidence and competence to do it.
What are your future plans? I am looking for my next adventure working toward a just, fairer society and a healthy place for everyone.
Media Matters
Knox students explore art through many different media— painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, spoken word. Here is a sampling of just a few of the awardwinning creative works from our students.
Ingrid Wasmer ’22, is a fifth year student, hailing from Chicago. She is majoring in studio art and psychology. In 2022, she was inducted into Psi Chi, and awarded first place in the Blick Art competition for her painting Thanks for the wings! In 2021, Wasmer was awarded the Janet Greig Post Prize in Music for her participation in the Knox College Choir, and the Blick Art Materials Senior Award for an outstanding studio artist. Ingrid is a painter and spent the past term in Open Studio, the capstone course for the art major. She built a body of work exploring grief, loss, remembering, yearning, and the exhaustion of unrelenting feeling. This term, Wasmer will be showcasing her paintings in her senior exhibition “afterimages,” with the support of the Richter Memorial Trust. After graduation, she will begin work on a digital installation for 150 Media Stream, with team members James Adamson ’24 and Tristan Blus ’23.
Thanks for the wings! 2021-22. Oil, dye, & collage on canvas. 60 in x 72 in.
Go Figure
1922
the year the first Flunk Day was celebrated at Knox
6.86
seconds—record-setting time for the 60-meter Midwest Conference (MWC) Indoor Track and Field Championships record set by Derrick Jackson ’22
47
number of Knox graduates hailing from other countries
CJ Johnson ’23 received the 2022 Audrey Collet-Conard Prize, presented to a student who submits three to five poems reflecting aesthetic excellence and spiritual resonance. She was raised in the small town of Little Suamico, Wisconsin. She is a creative writing major. CJ has enjoyed every workshop class she’s taken in her time at Knox, and the poetry workshop that guided her in creating these poems holds a special place in her heart. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a career in literary agenting, where she will be able to help authors fulfill their goals of publishing their novels and poetry collections. Here is one poem from her prize-winning submission.
Matriculation
—after Ralph Angel and Jill Osier
Because this whistlestop town will whistle down to an early grave. Because the ballpark is flooded with weeds. Because the Kids don’t ride bikes anymore. Because the Russians burnt the playground with all their cigarettes. Because they are Kids too. Because the school bus comes when the sky is still bruised. Because the neighborhood is too spread out to be called a neighborhood. Because the woods separate. Because trains shake the houses when Kids can’t sleep. Because the blaring horn wakes them. Because no one listens to the stop signs. Because the viaduct is rusted in graffiti, and the river runs brown with pollution. Because we know the end. Because it’s in the woods—the tracks the ash borers leave. Because they follow hoofprints in mud. Because kids, and spring. Because Family let raspberries grow wild. Because Father was careless with the lawnmower. Because Eldest tells stories with no end about the hobo that walks down their dead- end street. Because Parents lock their doors at night. Because they call the kids in when a car drives by. Because Mother won’t let Daughter give the walking-man a dollar. Because it is Sunday. Because church. Because the end can be seen in the beginning. Because grown up. Because won’t return. Because Kids don’t know how Parents love, and Parents can’t explain.
1100
gallons per 1 inch of rainfall—the amount of rainwater that the two Knox rain gardens soak up every year, preventing flooding
14
different species of native plants in the two Knox rain gardens
$3 million
grant Sara Jane Ahmed ’12 received in the fight against climate change
