Open Door

4. With the Knox College Choir (KCC), I have always done music from cultures around the world in different styles and different languages. I sometimes bought special percussion instruments

5. Receiving the Harold Decker Award meant so much to me. I got the award from the American Choral Directors Association of Illinois. It’s for excellence in conducting, impact on the lives of singers and colleagues, and service to the field.

6. That’s Moses Hogan in the center of this picture with the Nova Singers, a professional vocal ensemble that I direct. I have brought guest conductors to work with the choir, and this is one example. Hogan was, at the time, the most famous arranger of choral music and of spirituals in the country and in the world. He worked with the KCC and even invited us to his house for a reception!

7. Abbie Betinis is one of the most famous composers of choral music in the world, and and she presented this to me as a gift. It’s a hand-written score of the piece she wrote for us. One of the things that I've done while I’ve been here is commission living composers, especially women, to write a piece for us, and then they come in to work with us on it, and we do the world premiere.

8. This is a self-portrait of Claire Odin, one of my voice students who was a painting major and music performance minor. Claire is in graduate school for painting and specializes in self-portraits. She made this for me after graduation to thank me for our four years of voice lessons.

VOLUME 106, ISSUE 1

SPRING 2023

“I LIKE TO SAY THAT I’VE BEEN AT KNOX SINCE MY PARENTS DROPPED ME OFF AS A FIRST-YEAR STUDENT AND I’M STILL WAITING FOR THEM TO RETURN WITH THE STATION WAGON TO PICK ME UP!”

PAUL STEENIS ’85 (PAGE 35)

Reimagining Retirement

Former faculty members Penny Gold, Tim Kasser, and Rick Ortner are making their passions a critical part of their lives in retirement.

Page 6

Making Classroom Connections

A Knox education provides skills and experience necessary for teachers in new learning environments.

Page 11

Presenting International Perspectives through a Knox Lens Knox student Maria Reeves ’25 is creating Knox connections as she explores Europe.

Page 16

Departments

Open Door Inside front cover

2 East South Street Page 4

The South Lawn Page 18

Knox Writes Page 28

Class Knox Page 30

Parting Shot Inside back cover

EDITOR

Maeve Reilly

LAYOUT DESIGNERS

Becky Hale

Ami Jontz

CONTRIBUTORS, WRITING & PHOTOGRAPHY

Peter Bailley ’74

Suyash Chitrakar ’25

Hero Dahlman ’23

Steve Davis

Jennifer Gallas

Kent Kriegshauser

Christine Mueri

Mitch Prentice ’17

Nysa Pulwar ’26

Maria Reeves ’25

Jenna Schweikert ’25

Lisa Van Riper

Carla Wehmeyer

Jan Wolbers

On the cover: Jennifer McCarthy Foubert directs the teacher education program, preparing students for real-world classroom experiences. Photo by Steve Davis.

Knox Magazine is published twice yearly by the Office of Communications, Box K-233, Knox College, Galesburg, IL 61401-4999; Phone: 309-341-7760; Email: knoxmag@knox.edu.

It is distributed free of charge to Knox alumni, students, parents, and friends. The magazine welcomes information and story ideas. Please query before submitting manuscripts.

ISSN: 0047-3499

Visit us online at magazine.knox.edu.

Women’s Basketball Shows Heart in Valentine’s Day Win

The Prairie Fire women’s basketball team celebrates after defeating Illinois College 63-62 on February 14, 2023. The women clinched a share of the Midwest Conference (MWC) title and moved on to win their first MWC tournament in a game against Ripon, 64-61, on February 25. Catessa Duran ’23 (left) was named to the first MWC team. Sophie Elstone ’24 (center) contributed 10 points in the championship game.