Monmouth College Magazine - Summer 2019

VOL 34 | NO 2 | SUMMER 2019

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

REVITALIZING OUR

RURAL SCHOOLS

Aleeka Gentzler ’20 and Courtney Eklund ’19

They’ve got your back The stresses of pending final exams and term papers were put on the back burner this spring, thanks to a healthy dose of nimble goats and adorable puppies. Rachel Boyles ’19 was one of the many smiling students at a goat yoga event, sponsored by the Monmouth College Wellness Center.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2019

PRESIDENT Clarence R. Wyatt BOARD OF TRUSTEES

10 DEVOTED SERVICE

Monmouth says farewell to three retiring titans.

16 RURAL EDUCATION REIMAGINED

Educational studies is blazing exciting new trails down country roads.

27 PREPARED FOR CHANGE

Monmouth grads advised to be ready for whatever the future may have in store.

42 GOLDEN OLDIES AND GOLDEN SCOTS

Old-time rock and roll was celebrated by young-at-heart alumni.

ON THE COVER: Educational studies majors Aleeka Gentzler ’20 and Courtney Eklund ’19 are among a growing group of students and faculty called TARTANS, who are committed to revitalizing rural education through creative collaboration.

campus news 4 academics 6 newsmakers 14 books 15 sports 36 alumni news 47 the last word 60

Mark Kopinski ’79, Chairman Dr. Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79, Vice Chairman Douglas R. Carlson ’66 Daniel Cotter ’88 Robert Dahl Rod Davies ’74 Nancy Speer Engquist ’74 Christine Beiermann Farr ’90 Larry Gerdes William J. Goldsborough ’65 Kevin Goodwin ’80 Augustin Hart III ’68 Mahendran Jawaharlal ’86 F. Austin Jones John Kemp ’82 The Rev. Robert C. McConnell ’72 Michael B. McCulley, Esq. ’70 J. Alex McGehee ’81 Gary Melvin Bradley C. Nahrstadt ’89 Gail Simpson Owen ’74 J. Hunter Peacock J. Stanley Pepper ’76 Anthony J. Perzigian ’66 Dennis M. Plummer ’73 Anita Ridge ’88 Susan Romaine The Hon. John J. Scotillo ’72 Dr. Carlos F. Smith ’90 Sherman Smith ’72 Nancy L. Snowden Mark E. Taylor ’78 Dwight Tierney ’69 George E. Trotter III Beth Bowdoin Tyre ’96 Jean Peters Witty ’88 Richard E. Yahnke ’66 Jackie Bell Zachmeyer ’89 ALUMNI BOARD REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mary Alexander Corrigan ’82 Jerri Picha ’75 Roy Sye ’13 ALUMNI BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Mary Alexander Corrigan ’82, President Andrew Kerr ’73, Vice President Michelle Moy ’89, Secretary Hilary Stott ’07, Member at Large EDITORIAL BOARD

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION

Monmouth College does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, military service, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy or other factors as prohibited by law.

Monmouth College admits students of any race, religion, color, sex, and national or ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to Monmouth students.

Monmouth College, an Equal Opportunity Employer, is committed to diversity and encourages applications from women and minority candidates.

Any inquiries regarding Title IX or the College’s Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation (www.monmouthcollege.edu/nondiscrimination-policy) should be directed to the Title IX Coordinator identified below. The Coordinator will be available to meet with or talk to students, staff and faculty regarding issues relating to Title IX and this policy.

Stephanie Kinkaid Title IX Coordinator 309-457-2272 skinkaid@monmouthcollege.edu

Duane Bonifer Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing Kristen English Vice President for Enrollment Management Hannah Maher Associate Vice President for Development and College Relations Barry McNamara Associate Director of College Communications Jeffrey D. Rankin College Editor and Historian

MON MOU TH COLLEGE MAGA ZIN E VOL. 34 | NO. 2 EDITOR AND DESIGNER Jeffrey D. Rankin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Barry McNamara PHOTOGRAPHY George Hartmann Kent Kriegshauser Monmouth College Magazine is published quarterly for alumni, students, parents and friends of Monmouth College. All opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff or the College.

CONTACT US: MAGAZINE EDITOR jrankin@monmouthcollege.edu 309-457-2314 ADDRESS CHANGE monmouthcollege.edu/update 888-827-8268 Development & College Relations Monmouth College 700 East Broadway Monmouth, IL 61462-1998 ALUMNI PROGRAMS 309-457-2331 888-827-8268 alumni @monmouthcollege.edu REGISTRAR 309-457-2326 registrar@monmouthcollege.edu ATHLETICS 309-457-2176 athletics@monmouthcollege.edu GIVE TO MONMOUTH 309-457-2231 888-827-8268 monmouthcollege.edu/give ADMISSION 800-747-2687 admission@monmouthcollege.edu

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

THE FLAME BURNS BRIGHTER While our campus may be relatively quiet at this midsummer moment, there is much news to share regarding Light This Candle: The Campaign for Monmouth College.

The previous issue of the Monmouth College Magazine highlighted the public launch of the Campaign. We proudly announced the Campaign in March, upon reaching $45 million, or 60 percent of the $75 million goal, some eight months ahead of schedule. That early momentum was fueled in large part when the College secured the Campaign’s lead gift of $20 million. This extraordinary act by a couple who wish to remain anonymous is the largest gift commitment in the College’s history.

This momentum has continued, and even accelerated. When this issue when to press, the Campaign was approaching $50 million in new current and deferred gift commitments. This progress is a testament to the generosity of thousands of Monmouth alumni, trustees, faculty and staff, students, parents of current students, and friends.

The Light This Candle Campaign focuses primarily on building the College’s endowment. In a volatile and highly competitive higher education environment, there is no surer way to secure Monmouth’s future than a larger endowment. The Campaign seeks to increase endowment for student financial aid and scholarships, for faculty support and academic innovation, and for facilities. The Campaign’s fourth element, or “candle,” is to enhance the College’s strong culture of philanthropy by building a larger annual fund and a larger register of deferred and planned gift commitments.

The Campaign’s overall goal of $75 million is composed of a $50 million goal for outright gift commitments and $25 million in new deferred and planned gift commitments. Across the board, the response has been strong and encouraging. The Campaign has secured nearly $38 million in new current gift commitments, and nearly $12 million in new deferred gift commitments.

A successful campaign serves many purposes. It enables current members of the Monmouth family to affirm ideas and values of importance to them through the medium of philanthropy for the College. It provides a concentrated opportunity to attract new friends to the College. Most important, it strengthens and secures Monmouth’s ability to be a place of high opportunity and high achievement, now and for the future.

A profound thank you to all of you who have made this early success of the Campaign possible. As the Campaign continues, everyone will have the opportunity to participate in this important moment in the life of the College, and to keep the flame of white and crimson burning bright.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

CLASSROOMS AS CATALYSTS Rural revitalization begins with stronger local schools

W

e find our highest purpose in serving

the larger societies in which we live. Over many generations, Monmouth College has done this most powerfully through the lives of work, service and leadership that it prepares its students to lead.

One of the most exciting current examples of such service is the TARTANS program—Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools.

In recent years, the news media has been filled with stories of the distress of rural and small-town America. They detail the decline of business opportunity, the increase in poverty, the exodus of young people, the deterioration of the fabric of community, and the slow, stifling end of a sense of possibility.

Some of this is, tragically, true. Such characterizations of small-town and rural America, however, do not give the full story. They miss the resilience and the determination bred in the face of Mother Nature. They miss the sense of hope and renewal that comes as surely as a new crop. They miss the creativity, the inspiration, the entrepreneurship. The desire and effort to make a better town, state, nation and world go unreported. These stories miss the belief in creating and seizing opportunities for oneself, and helping others to do the same.

Study after study—and plain common sense—tell us that the small communities that survive and thrive share important attributes. Affordable housing of good quality is important. Access to good healthcare is also key. But most important are strong schools. Good schools attract talented young families, increase property values, support higher quality in other public services, and serve as magnets to new businesses that create jobs.

Strong schools also serve our rural communities and small towns (and our larger communities, for that matter) in so

many other ways. The faculty and staff at these schools are often leaders in other activities. These schools often provide services to the families of their students and to the wider community. They reflect and celebrate the diversity of the town at large. Their arts and music programs and their athletic teams enrich the quality of life and provide points of pride for the entire town.

By encouraging and supporting exceptional young people to go into teaching in rural and small-town school systems, TARTANS is helping to strengthen these schools as catalysts in their communities. As you will see in this issue’s lead article, TARTANS is also leading as the national model for the activities of the Rural Schools Collaborative, a nationwide initiative to support rural and small-town schools.

This effort, which is the result of the creativity and innovative spirit of our faculty and staff, is a powerful example of the College’s service to the greater society. The cooperation with the Rural Schools Collaborative is also an example of other partnerships the College is developing to provide teaching and learning opportunities that combine classroom work with hands-on experience, providing a powerful intellectual and personal experience.

TARTANS stands as a shining example of how our College can help strengthen rural and small-town America by graduating students who are prepared to be teachers and leaders in their communities.

My Best,

Dr. Clarence R. Wyatt President

SUMMER 2019

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CAMPUS NEWS

Undergrad research conference draws student scholars from 14 states Author Diana Abu-Jaber addresses the undergraduate research conference.

Approximately 90 undergraduate students from across the United States attended Monmouth College’s second Conference of Undergraduate Research & Scholarship, held in April.

Almost 80 projects were accepted for the conference, with students from 28 schools, representing 14 states, making presentations.

Attendees traveled from as far away as California and Virginia.

Award-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber delivered the conference’s keynote address.

“The conference is an opportunity for students

from multiple disciplines to show what they’re working on,” said Monmouth sociology professor Judi Kessler, who was one of the conference’s main organizers. “Research takes them out of set classroom experiences and lets them get actively involved in learning. To me, that’s the magic of undergraduate research.”

Sponsored by the College’s Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research and Monmouth College, with support from the Augustana College political science department, the conference was held in the Center for Science and Business. All of the programs were free and open to the public.

Student artists provide medical device ‘makeover’

U

Carissa Scott Doyle ’08 and her father, Bo Scott, hold Conrad and Thomas Doyle.

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nder the direction of art professor Stacy Lotz, three Monmouth students have helped brighten a unique medical situation for young brothers Thomas and Conrad Doyle, whose mother, Carissa Scott Doyle, is a 2008 graduate.

“And who works at Monmouth College?”

Carissa asked Thomas, who recently turned 2.

“Grandpa Bo,” he replied.

That would be Bo Scott, a longtime member of the College’s physical plant staff, who is Carissa’s father.

Both Thomas and Conrad were diagnosed with craniosynostosis, a condition in which one or more of a baby’s cranial sutures close too early, causing problems with normal brain and skull growth.

Premature closure of the sutures may also cause the pressure inside of the head to increase and the skull or facial bones to change from a normal, symmetrical appearance.

“Basically, what it is, the soft spot in a baby’s head takes a year to close,” explained Carissa. “But by their two-

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

month checkups, the soft spot had closed for both of them. ... The doctor removed a bone, but then they both had to wear a helmet to help control what part of the head grows at a certain time.”

The helmets used to correct the condition “look like a medical device, for lack of a better word,” said Carissa. She wanted to see if there was a way to improve the look, and that’s where her Monmouth connection paid off.

Art students Tessa Barry ’18 and

Ashley Carnes ’18 painted the series of

helmets for Thomas, who needed a new one every 6-8 weeks as he grew. With Conrad also moving through several helmets, Ryan Dawson ’21 recently took over the project.

Thomas wore his helmets until around his first birthday in February of 2018.

Improvements to the process mean that Conrad will only need to wear his until around the time he turns 8 months old.

TRACKING THE CLASS OF 2018

Results of a “first destination” survey conducted by the Wackerle Career and Leadership Center of graduates from July 2017 to July 2018. Knowledge Rate refers to percentage of graduates for which Monmouth has reasonable and verifiable information concerning graduates’ activities.

THE POWER OF A THOUSAND HEARTS

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s Monmouth College’s third annual Scots Day of Giving came to a close near midnight on April 17, roughly 1,000 hearts filled the windows of Mellinger Commons in the Center for Science and Business.

Each of those hearts represented a gift made to the College during a day when Tartan Nation showed its support from Florida to Alaska and from California to Maine.

The hundreds of heartfelt gifts totaled $255,664. Both figures smashed the Scots Day of Giving records set a year ago by more than 250 gifts and more than $32,000. The gifts will support scholarships for students and a half-dozen academic and student-life initiatives.

A giving record was also set by Monmouth faculty and staff. Thanks to gifts made during Scots Day of Giving, more than 60 percent of the College’s employees have made a gift this school year, which is a record among the 14-member Associated Colleges of the Midwest.

“It’s exciting to see this all come together,” said Associate Vice President of Development and College Relations Hannah Maher as the 18-hour, 53-minute event—used to recognize the College’s founding in 1853—headed into its final hours. “The hearts take up almost the entire east side of the building. That visual representation is neat to see.”

Maher said the number of 1,000 was also symbolic, in that each gift represented a current Monmouth student.

“This day is about telling the story of the College,” she said. “We spent the day reaching out for 1,000 alumni and friends to support the College and pay it forward to our 1,000 students.”

In addition to scholarships, the day included support for six initiatives. Three were created by Monmouth faculty: virtual reality equipment for the biology department; a digital propaganda center proposed by communication studies faculty; and the Chorale’s 2020 performance tour of Vienna, Prague and Salzburg. The other three initiatives: support for the Fighting Scots Society athletics booster club; the senior class project to install more water-bottle fillers on campus; and the Parent and Family Council project to add more Scot Cruisers bicycles to campus.

Monmouth College First Lady Lobie Stone rings a bell after receiving a gift from a donor, while President Clarence Wyatt scans the call list.

SUMMER 2019

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ACADEMICS

Documenting the end of an era

By Barry McNamara

F

ifteen years ago, the Midwest lost one of its leading employers when Maytag closed its Galesburg, Ill., appliance factory, throwing 1,600 people out of work.

Monmouth College students spent the spring semester exploring how the loss of those 1,600 jobs affected the region, and they also learned valuable lessons about what it takes for a person to recover from that kind of economic setback.

Members of political science professor Robin Johnson’s “Politics and Government in the Midwest” class, the students reached out to more than 40 former Maytag employees. Each student was assigned a minimum of two former employees to interview, and nearly all of the interviews were conducted face-to-face.

The students collected their interviews into an 87-page document titled Voices of Maytag: A Look Galesburg’s Maytag plant was bustling Back at a Factory Closure with workers when this photo was taken in and Its Impact on People, 1994. (Galesburg Register-Mail) Communities and the American Dream. The average Maytag work tenure of the 42 people the class interviewed was 26 years, ranging from eight to 46 years.

“It was an incredible learning experience for the students about an important time in our country’s history and the strength of the human spirit,” said Johnson.

Reinvention was a common theme the students encountered.

“The project ultimately allowed the class to witness how these people reacted and reinvented themselves in the face of an adversarial globalized world,” the students wrote in the report’s introduction. “We were able to identify a variety of different responses to the closure. Some people used this as an opportunity to retire and focus on their families or to move on to a new field of work. Most took advantage of retraining programs to accomplish the latter, providing some people with better jobs than they had at the Galesburg facility.”

Johnson said the interviews took a lot of the former Maytag

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employees back to the early years of this century.

“Doing the interviews, it was like they were right back in the plant, even after 15 years,” he said. “For most people, it was still really close to them emotionally.”

Johnson’s course was part of the College’s Integrated Studies curriculum. The fourth year of the curriculum focuses on the concept of citizenship, giving students the opportunity to increase their understanding of important social issues.

Many of Johnson’s citizenship classes have participated in projects with an eye toward providing useful data for local government officials. He came up with the Maytag project through discussions with New York Times reporter Campbell Robertson. Last year, Johnson connected with Robertson as the reporter researched and wrote an article about how Galesburg and Knox County residents felt about the economy two years after the election of President Donald Trump.

On the semester’s final day, Robertson joined the class via Skype, telling the students he was impressed by their work.

“I read all the interviews, and it’s totally fascinating,” he told them. “If there had been one of those ‘word clouds’ created from your collection of interviews, one of the biggest words would be ‘family.’ There was definitely a sense of ‘I have a better job now, but I’d go back to Maytag in a second’—a sense of community vs. good pay and good benefits.”

Johnson agreed that was one of the major takeaways from the project.

“I feel we lost something bigger than wages and benefits,” he said. “We lost that sense of community—something that’s so valuable. ... The lack of the human element is part of what we see with globalization—a lot of neglect of the human aspect.”

The full report can be read online at: www.monmouthcollege.edu/maytag-report

ACADEMICS

A welcome taste of medicine

T

wo Monmouth College students used the summer camp season to attend an intensive learning experience for aspiring physicians in Peoria, Ill. Biochemistry majors Taylor Coffman ’21 and Jake McCrery ’20 participated in the Pre-Med Immersion Experience, part of OSF HealthCare’s Jump Simulation program and a collaboration with the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP). Offered to college students who plan to attend medical school, the two-week program exposed the 12 participants to a range of clinical roles within OSF HealthCare and gave them a taste of the medical school experience.

asked a lot of questions,” she said. “One of the main things I took away is that not everyone’s experience is going to be the same, like the pathologist who actually started out on a surgery track but realized after two months it wasn’t for her, so she was able to change. It really gave me a better understanding of how it all works.”

McCrery said that taste confirmed his career plans.

That was just one element of a wideranging list of items covered during the two weeks.

“If I had any doubts about the medical field, this definitely took those doubts away,” he said. “I woke up every morning in a state of euphoria, just wanting to go to the hospital and start the day. Everything we did is something physicians would do. I was disappointed when it ended.”

Coffman said one of the highlights for her was working with the program’s “high-tech mannequins.”

“We did simulations with the mannequins,” she said. “In one, we broke up into teams—boys vs. girls—and they threw us to the wolves, having one of the mannequins dying. We had to quickly diagnose what was happening. It was a really fascinating experience.”

“We went over a lot of topics,”

said Coffman. “CPR, the use of an AED, learning to read EKGs, medicine administration, venipuncture, suturing, physical exams and history taking, VICU simulations, scrubbing/gowning up and more. We helped unpack a cadaver, we shadowed doctors in the ED, PICU and MICU, we talked to medical residents and medical students of UICOMP, we met with a neurologist, a pharmacist, the head of anatomy for Jump and others.”

“We went over most of the things you’d do in med school,” said McCrery.

“We touched on the surface of just about everything.”

McCrery said he plans to be an advocate for the program, which completed its third year.

—Barry McNamara

Biochemistry majors Taylor Coffman ’21, left, and Jake McCrery ’20, right, are greeted by Dr. Ralph Velazquez Jr. ’79, OSF senior vice president of care management and vice chairman of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees.

The students participated in the Pre-Med Immersion Experience, part of OSF HealthCare’s Jump Simulation program.

Coffman was also impressed.

“They have clearly put a lot of time and effort into preparing this program, and they exposed us to a lot of new things, people and ideas,” she said. “This is an experience that I think will give Jake and me a definite leg up in the future as well as making us very, very excited for what’s to come.”

Coffman said that “every day was different,” and she also appreciated learning about the diverse backgrounds of people in the profession.

“We met a lot of people in the medical field, and we

SUMMER 2019

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ACADEMICS

WHEN PHILOSOPHY MEETS ALCHEMY Professor finds teaching inspiration in Harry Potter series

A

generation of college students has grown up reading J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Through a Monmouth College class, students can develop a greater appreciation for the series’ deeper moral issues.

Monmouth philosophy professor Anne Mamary says studying the

Professor Mamary attempts to deflect a spell by catching a ring on her wand, in a game invented by the West Central Middle School Harry Potter Club.

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series provides many teachable moments for students in her junior-level Reflections course, which is part of the College’s Integrated Studies curriculum. In fact, Rowling’s detailed knowledge of the ancient practice of alchemy might make it one of the most interdisciplinary topics around.

“I’ve never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that’s a different matter,” Rowling once said. “To invent this wizard world, I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy.”

In the history of science, alchemy refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism and art.

“In college, I was a chemistry major,” said Mamary. “I really didn’t know it at the time, but what I wanted to be was an alchemist. I found that in philosophy. It makes you see the world differently.”

Mamary is in the midst of teaching her ninth installment of a Harry Potter-based class. Its title—“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Soul”—comes from the British title of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The title was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the American release.

“Although Rowling was referring to the alchemists’ Philosopher’s Stone, her novels also perform a sort of literary alchemy,” said Mamary. “The class reads the Harry Potter series for its transformative themes, primarily themes of moral development.”

Other themes investigated throughout the semester are

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oppression and social justice; power, mortality and evil; and the magic of love.

“No matter how many times you read the books or watch the movies, you always discover something new,” said Kyla Baker ’20, who noted the series has taught her about the importance of friendship and love. “Maintaining friendships allows us to have the support we need to overcome the challenges that we may face. ... By allowing ourselves to love those around us, we are able to establish better connections and maintain relationships, as well as become kinder individuals, even to those who may not be kind to us.”

Mamary’s scholarly work with the Harry Potter series isn’t limited to prepping for her class and reflecting with them on the transformative powers of the novels in their own lives.

She is editing Transformations: Harry Potter and Alchemy (McFarland 2020), which includes a chapter she wrote titled “Ruddy Stargazers: Centaurs, Philosophers, and a Life Worth Living.” In June, she presented a condensed version of the chapter at the conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies in Ottawa, Canada.

“I finally read the first three books of the series when I was in my 30s,” said Mamary. “I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. By the time the fourth book came out, I was in line at Barnes & Noble at midnight to get it.”

Although the generic description of “young adult fiction” is applied to classify Harry Potter texts, Mamary said they are much more than that.

“Most of these students have grown up with Harry Potter, and Harry Potter has grown up with them,” she said. “The books work for kids, but they also work with adults. ... I worried that I would tire of reading the series, but every year there are 18-20 new students in the class who see things in the books I never would have seen. It really is magical.”

That range of ages was on full display during a recent class trip to Stronghurst, Ill. There, Mamary’s students played a hotly contested game of Quidditch against students in Dumbledore’s Academy, the Harry Potter Club at West Central Middle School, under the direction of longtime junior high science teacher and Monmouth alumna Tamy Rankin ’81.

The whole school turned out to welcome Monmouth’s Quidditch team and to watch the battles. Mamary’s class emerged victorious, with Baker twice making the winning move of swiping the yellow headband of The Golden Snitch.

“I think they really loved the Quidditch,” said Mamary of her students. “They weren’t going to go easy on them, especially after the video the club sent challenging us to the match.”

—Barry McNamara

ACADEMICS

2019 GRAD HELPING KEEP ANCIENT LANGUAGE ALIVE A few months ago, the Latin program at Monmouth-Roseville High School was in jeopardy.

Thanks to a new Monmouth College graduate, the distinguished program will be able to continue.

Maddie Baker ’19 was recently hired to take charge of the program, which was in limbo after its longtime Latin teacher moved out of the area late last year.

“I’ll be teaching Latin I through Latin IV, and also teaching some ESL classes,” said Baker, who graduated cum laude (and definitely knows what that means). “I don’t have my own classroom yet, so I’ll be a traveling teacher. I have my own little cart, and I’ll be traveling room-to-room.”

Baker said more than 50 students were enrolled in Monmouth-Roseville’s Latin classes in the past academic year. Now, those students will be able to continue their studies in a discipline that is credited for such things

as helping them improve their English vocabulary and grammar and, through its exposure to ancient Roman culture, for giving them a strong foundation to explore other cultures.

Baker has always thought that teaching might be her calling, but when she first enrolled at Monmouth, she figured the subject would be math.

“But after I took Calculus III, I realized that math wasn’t for me,” she said. “I switched to a classics major, and the first language I studied was Greek. They told me that if I was thinking about being a teacher, I should take Latin classes, so here we are.”

Because Baker determined her academic direction a bit late in the game, she didn’t have time to add a major or minor in educational studies. While holding down her new job, she’ll work toward a master’s degree in teaching, most likely through online classes.

PUTTING STUDENT LEADERSHIP TO THE TEST Six of Monmouth College’s James and Sybil Stockdale Fellows brought home second-place honors from a regional Collegiate Leadership Competition in Kansas City.

Led by Assistant Director of Leadership Development Jake McLean ’15, the students competed in March at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center against five other teams from the Heartland Region.

Monmouth was represented by Lexi Brauer ’20, Megan Davis ’21, Emma Hildebrand ’21, Emma Johanns ’21, Serena Venenga ’21 and Shannon Wilbourne ’22 (also a William J. and Beverly Goldsborough Scholar).

The competition consisted of six 45-minute activities.

Students had to write and deliver elevator pitches, build a replica of a Post-It mural after only seeing it once, answer leadership-based trivia questions and build an extensive domino chain that connected to the other teams’ chains, among other activities.

“We practiced activities that dealt a lot with mental strategizing that pushed us to work as a cohesive team with a common goal,” said Hildebrand.

The conference’s theme was “Connecting Your Learning.”

“The purpose was to get students thinking about connecting what they’re learning in and out of the classroom,” said McLean.

Participating in the leadership competition in Kansas City were, from left: Emma Hildebrand, Shannon Wilbourne, Emma Johanns, Serena Venenga, Lexi Brauer and Megan Davis.

“Our Stockdale Fellows were able to connect what we’ve been building here on campus to the competition.”

The James and Sybil Stockdale Fellows Program is one of the College’s most prestigious scholarships, focusing on leadership and enrichment.

McLean found the conference to be useful personally, as well.

“It exposed me to some neat leadership things that I can nerd out on,” he said.

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Retirements

Peter Pitts Monmouth’s master recruiter owned the Chicago area for more than a quarter-century

By Barry McNamara

A

few minutes into an interview with Peter Pitts about his remarkable 27-year career in admission at Monmouth College, one of the students he recruited to campus stopped by his table at Einstein Bros. Bagels in Hewes Library.

“I’ve just got to say ‘Thank you,’” said graduating senior Denzel Johnson. “I’m glad to be a part of your ‘thousand hearts’ that you brought to Monmouth. I can’t say ‘Thank you’ enough.”

Johnson was referring to a line in the school song and the fact that Pitts has recruited well over 1,000 students to Monmouth over the past quarter-century. Combined with his other 15 years in admission, Pitts recruited more than 2,000 students to attend college in the Midwest.

Pitts, who retired May 12, has chronicled some of his 42 years of working with students, parents and other admission reps in a book project he has titled After Breakfast ...

I Change Lives.

Johnson, who is from Chicago’s south side, exemplifies one of the major demographics of student that Pitts has recruited—a resident from an underserved population.

“We forget how utterly life-changing it is for a young man or young woman to leave the inner city,” he writes in the manuscript.

Another example is Irving Hernandez ’18, who majored in physics. In his manuscript, Pitts includes an emotional message he received from Hernandez: “Thank you, Mr. Pitts, for everything you have done in my life. As a college recruiter, you go above and beyond, especially helping out minorities like myself from the city who want an education but are lost or just don’t know how. ... If it wasn’t for you, then I wouldn’t be able to wake up in this dream that I will never let go.”

In addition to helping prospective students

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discover a kind of college that they might have not considered before encountering him, Pitts also exposed some young people to a region they had never visited. He recalled that one young man “had never seen an actual stalk of corn” until one of the trips from Chicago to Monmouth that Pitts regularly organized for students.

Pitts’ admission career began Jan. 6, 1977, at his undergraduate alma mater, Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Iowa.

“Every morning I wake up and cannot wait to do what I do,” said Pitts. “Being an admission rep is like being a parent to a couple thousand kids. I’m contin-

“

ually amazed by their accomplishments.”

Pitts said he has developed a keen discernment for determining which students might be a good fit for the College.

“It’s almost like I have a sixth sense of who will become a Monmouth student,” he said.

In addition to that “sixth sense,” Pitts has been guided by a few other ground rules.

“The longer you talk, the higher the chance of actually recruiting the student,” he said. “I call it ‘almost hypnosis’—the ability to get on a student’s wavelength and convince them to at least consider my college. ... It’s almost like I’m a ‘student whisperer.’ It’s a God-given gift to connect with students. It’s not a technique. Something clicks, and there’s just an instant connection.”

While Pitts usually had a plan for helping light that spark, such as attending a college fair or making a scheduled school visit, he sometimes relied on improvisation skills.

Several years ago, while visiting Lane Tech Prep High School, he was not getting any takers at his table.

Sitting a few feet behind him was student Thea Bloom, who was quietly eating her lunch. Pitts said he wound up “talking her ear off about Monmouth,” and Bloom eventually attended, becoming an honored student-athlete and one of Pitts’ “favorite recruits of all time.”

Similarly, Pitts was not scheduled to meet with Natalie Harris ’01, but while taking a shortcut through the Oswego High School library, he saw her in her University of Iowa sweatshirt and struck up a conversation.

Harris was on track to attend Iowa, but after hearing about Monmouth’s education major from Pitts, she visited campus and wound up in Monmouth instead.

“Natalie’s life was completely changed because of that brief encounter in a school library,” said Pitts.

While singing Monmouth’s praises to prospective students, Pitts said he makes sure not to go overboard.

“Just be yourself, tell the

truth, have fun and be flexible,” he said of his message. “I try to under-promise and over-deliver. … The important thing is, is the student happy? Is the student ending up where they really need to be at this point in their life? If they’re happy and they’re where they need to be, then I’ve done my job.”

Pitts said he is especially proud that the percentage of minority students enrolled at Monmouth quadrupled during his 27 years at the College, which he credits to a campus-wide commitment and effort.

Pitts loves to tell a good story, and there are plenty to choose from in his book. Returning to Chicago from a Monmouth group visit, one of the students spoke up from the back. “Mr. Pitts, you can stop calling me now,” she said. “I am coming to Monmouth for sure.

No more calls!”

That student did indeed attend Monmouth, and the first position she held after graduating was college recruiter.

While working early in his career for his alma mater—and at a time when reps visited prospective students in their homes—a heavy snow prevented Pitts from driving the final mile to a house. So he strapped on cross country skis to make it to the house. One would think that student couldn’t possibly say ‘No’ to such a dedicated effort, but somehow that was the case.

Although Pitts is retiring from his day-to-day recruitment of students, he won’t be idle. Citing his “damn German work ethic,” he is going to stay busy as an “ethical, low-cost” independent admissions consultant. He plans to develop an app and launch a website geared to students looking for colleges with an enrollment of 1,000-3,000 students.

“I can’t just do nothing—that’s not in my repertoire,” he said. “I’ll be helping people find a good small college to go to.

I’ll still be recruiting kids to Monmouth, trust me.”

Reflecting on his 42-year career at a retirement reception, Pitts told his colleagues that the biggest payoff he received was intangible.

“The paycheck I get every month is nothing compared to the paycheck I get here,” he said, tapping his heart.

It’s a God-given gift to connect with students. It’s not a technique. Something clicks, and there’s just an instant connection.”

Pitts was just beginning to carve his niche in the Windy City when this photo was taken in the 1980s.

SUMMER 2019

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R etirements Ken McMillan Politician, farmer, memorable professor

K

en McMillan is moving on to his next challenge.

And judging from how his garden is already flourishing, that challenge will be another in a long line of successes for the retiring Monmouth College business professor.

Over the course of two stints, McMillan taught finance and economics at Monmouth for 25 years. Prior to joining the faculty for the first time in 1989, he was chief speechwriter for the U.S. secretary of agriculture and an Illinois state senator, among other positions. He also worked for the Illinois Farm Bureau and Country Financial.

He took time off from his college studies at the University of Illinois to serve a one-year term as national president of the Future Farmers Association, and 30 years ago he was the founding chair of the Illinois Agriculture Leadership Foundation.

At his retirement reception, McMillan described the “pure joy” of seeing the growth in students from their first day in class as a freshman to graduating senior.

“I enjoy being able to go into the classroom and actually see the lights come on for students,” he said. “When I can see a student start shaking his or her head, I see that realization: ‘Yes, I finally get it.’ I work very hard to do that. That’s the biggest accomplishment—when I leave the classroom and say to myself, ‘I think I really connected today. They really got it.’”

To establish that connection, McMillan didn’t mind using an “old school” approach.

“I never used a PowerPoint, because I don’t think they keep a student’s interest,” he said. “I was fond of the blackboard, and I became fond of the whiteboard, except when you get black marks on a white shirt. ...

I gave a lot of exams and a lot of long exams. I believe

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in three-hour final exams. If students have to prepare for a long and comprehensive exam, they are exposed to the material for longer periods as they study, and the chances of the material catching on are much better.”

Although McMillan had his own style of teaching, he also bought into the departmental philosophy of how to teach political economy and commerce.

“I taught economics conceptually,” he said. “I don’t teach economic theory. I want students to understand concepts.”

McMillan received the College’s Outstanding Professor of the Year honor four consecutive years during his first teaching stint, even though he was not on a tenure track. During his second stint that started in 1999, he was named the Pattee Professor of Political Economy and Commerce.

In all, McMillan taught 16 different courses, specializing in finance during his first five years at Monmouth and economics during the last 20 years.

For the early part of his professional career, McMillan was in politics, serving in the Illinois State Senate from 1977-83 and twice as the Republican nominee for Illinois’ 17th Congressional district. He called that work the most challenging, because of its “enduring and sometimes condemning consequences.”

Even before he ran for his first office or taught his first class, McMillan raised sheep.

Acknowledged as an expert in breeding and pedigree, he raised purebred Suffolk sheep until four years ago. He will be inducted into the Suffolk Sheep Hall of Fame later this year.

“I knew the great-great-great grandmother of every sheep I’ve ever had,” he said, recalling that he brought some of those sheep into the world “when it was 10 below zero.”

“I got used to getting up at 2 o’clock in the morning during lambing season,” he said. “That was not so difficult. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that my butt is really dragging by 2 o’clock in the afternoon on those days.”

McMillan remembers one particular 2 o’clock in the afternoon. After teaching his morning classes at Monmouth one lambing season, he’d headed home and was immediately put to work. That caused him to be about five minutes late for his 2 p.m. class, so he needed to explain.

“I told them ‘I just delivered two babies.’ Some of the students knew what I was talking about, some didn’t.”

For his next challenge after teaching—tending to his impressive garden—McMillan shouldn’t need to rise at 2 a.m. very often. He claims 25 kinds of irises, 45 varieties of daylilies and 30 types of hostas, in addition to a variety of vegetables and herbs. —Barry McNamara

Kristin Larson Nudged by God to serve and heal

L

ongtime Monmouth College psychology professor Kristin Larson is retiring, but she isn’t staying idle.

In June, Larson began training to be a staff member with Mercy Ships, an organization that serves “the world’s forgotten poor” in West Africa. Her first assignment will be in Dakar, Senegal.

“Once in a blue moon, the elements of life come together in such a way that you cannot resist the current,” said Larson, who began teaching at Monmouth in 2000.

A year ago, Larson took a one-week leave of absence to volunteer with Mercy Ships, helping train mental health providers in the African nation of Benin. She reached out after seeing a 60 Minutes segment about the organization.

While attempting to set up her post-Monmouth life in her native Arizona, Larson said she was nudged by God to revisit the Mercy Ships website.

“When I was there a year ago, they didn’t have a position for a mental health professional on the ship,” she said. “But when I checked back a few weeks ago, they had created a new position. And they said it was urgent, that they needed to fill the position by June. I thought, ‘I think I can do this.’”

The position is officially called “Chaplain/Counselor.”

“This is going to be different than what I was doing before,” said Larson. “Before, I was inland, working with mental health professionals on the ground. Now, I’ll actually be on the ship, and I’ll be working with the 400 or so people on staff.”

The idea is that even those providing care need to receive care themselves.

“The work is very intense,” said Larson of the life-changing medical care that Mercy Ships provides. “People describe the culture on the ship as tight-knit. They are like-minded in mission, and people feel connected. But there are also eight people to a room, and around 40 different cultures are represented. So you have to learn how to communicate and how to deal with things like conflict and homesickness and culture shock. I’ll be helping to provide a wellness focus so that the ship’s staff can carry out their mission.”

Larson holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from Northern Arizona University, with clinical experience including community counseling agencies and a counseling lab for undergraduate students that she created early in her tenure at Monmouth.

Larson said Mercy Ships has made an impact on West African nations in several ways.

“Before the ship arrives in an area, they have an ‘ahead

team,’” she said. “Seven thousand people lined up to be served at the last location. People walked for days to be there, sometimes walking from other countries.”

Larson is such a believer in the cause that she’s made a minimum two-year commitment. Starting in August, she will spend 10 months on a ship docked in Dakar, with another 10-month stint to follow in 2020. She hopes others will believe in the cause and is raising support through her website: drkristinlarson.com.

“Every person on the ship is a volunteer,” she said. “You pay your own way to get to West Africa and you pay for your room and board on the ship.”

Larson said that starting the College’s counseling lab is one of the highlights of her Monmouth career. But most of all, she enjoyed working in a psychology department that was clearly on the rise over the course of the past two decades.

“The department has really developed, and it’s a remarkably close-knit group,” she said. “We’re very mission-focused. Just working with my amazing colleagues has been a big highlight for me.”

One of those colleagues, Marsha Dopheide, effectively summarized Larson’s Monmouth career and her plans for the future while speaking at her retirement reception.

“Don’t explain your philosophy, embody it,” said Dopheide, quoting the Greek philosopher Epictetus.

Larson is also grateful for all the travel opportunities she’s had while on the faculty. By her count, she’s been to at least 16 countries on College-related trips. That’s not counting her time in West Africa, where her list of countries visited will continue to grow. —Barry McNamara

SUMMER 2019

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NEWSMAKERS

ALCORN ACCREDITED BY FUNDRAISING ORGANIZATION

OTT NAMED TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Gena Corbin Alcorn ’88, senior development officer, has been awarded Certified Fund Raising Executive designation by CFRE International. The credential requires meeting a series of professional standards, passing ALCORN a rigorous written exam and pledging to uphold accountability standards and the Donor Bill of Rights. Her tenure at Monmouth spans more than 10 years, with nearly six years in development.

ENGLISH PROMOTED TO ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT VP Kristen English, who for the past year served as associate vice president for admission, has been promoted to vice president for enrollment management. She will oversee both the Office of Admission ENGLISH and the Office of Student Financial Planning. English previously worked as an admission director at Newman (Kan.) University and Merrimack (Mass.) College.

ALGAIER PHILOSOPHY PAPER WINS AWARD Ermine Algaier, visiting assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies, received the 2019 Joseph L. Blau Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, which is awarded to the author of a paper that makes the most significant contribution to the history of American philosophy from colonial times to the recent present. His paper was titled “Correcting ALGAIER Perry’s Misleading Narrative: Historicizing James’s ‘Shady Excursions’ into Phrenology.”

INTERNING AT SMITHSONIAN Kasha Appleton ’20, a history major from Chicago, is spending nine weeks this summer in Washington, D.C., interning at the Smithsonian Institution, where she is helping archive cultural historical artifacts.

Appleton, who is eyeing a career in museum or library work, spent last summer doing research at the University of Nebraska.

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APPLETON

Dan Ott, chair of the department of philosophy and religion and coordinator of integrated studies, has been selected by the Council of Independent Colleges to participate in the 2019-2020 Senior Leadership Academy. Individuals chosen for the yearlong program are leaders in higher education who have been idenOTT tified by their institution as having the potential for more senior leadership positions in independent colleges. He will join 40 other administrators at two national seminars, undertake a mentoring program, participate in webinars and engage in a series of readings and case studies during the coming academic year.

GERDES NAMED KELLEY ALUMNI FELLOW Larry Gerdes, a member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees, has been named to the Academy of Alumni Fellows by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. The award honors alumni of the Kelley School who have excelled in their professional lives, and who promote a culture of collaboration and support. A GERDES partner in the Atlanta investment firm of Gerdes Huff, he has served as a Monmouth trustee since 2011 and is a member of the board’s executive committee.

VOLUNTEER TAX PROGRAM RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD Judy Peterson, an accounting professor who for two decades has supervised Monmouth’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, was recognized this spring along with 38 students PETERSON as recipients of the prestigious Service Excellence Award at Monmouth’s annual Highlander Leadership Awards Ceremony. VITA, which is sanctioned by the Internal Revenue Service, provides free federal and state income tax preparation primarily to low-income individuals and families. This year, the students prepared 1,000 returns for area residents.

BOOKS

GLOBAL POLITICS IN THE MODERN AGE Two new faculty books examine emerging sociopolitical issues GLOBAL MEDIA AND STRATEGIC NARRATIVES OF CONTESTED DEMOCRACY: Chinese, Russian and Arabic Media Narratives of the U.S. Presidential Election Robert Hinck, Skye Cooley, Randolph Kluver Routledge Hardback, 146 pages $120.00, Ebook $49.95

As the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign enters its next stage, a book about the 2016 presidential election co-authored by Monmouth College communication studies professor Robert Hinck reveals how that campaign was perceived by media in Russia, China and the Middle East.

Global Media and Strategic Narratives of Contested Democracy: Chinese, Russian and Arabic Media Narratives of the U.S. Presidential Election examines global news narratives during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and immediately afterward. Hinck and co-authors Skye Cooley and Randolph Kluver analyzed nearly 1,600 news stories from more than 60 sources within three regional media ecologies in China, Russia and the Middle East.

“Some of our main findings were that the Chinese media played up the ‘infotainment’ elements, things like House of Cards or making analogies to Chinese dynastic period dramas they have there,” said Hinck. “The Russians were the most antagonistic, the most critical.

They were positive about Donald Trump, and extremely negative about Hillary Clinton.”

Hinck said there is much to be learned from understanding how foreign countries view the United States.

His type of open-source intelligence analysis helps determine how the federal government makes sense of politics and events around the world.

“Knowing how the rest of the world understands us helps us be more receptive to foreign governments,” he said. “And if we know how China views the U.S., we can also see how China views itself. The same thing is true with Russia.”

SHARIA AND THE STATE IN PAKISTAN: Blasphemy Politics Farhat Haq Routledge Hardback, 192 pages $140.00, Ebook $49.95

Born and raised in Pakistan but having taught at Monmouth College for 32 years, political science professor Farhat Haq has a unique perspective on the growing controversy concerning blasphemy laws in her native country and their effect on journalistic, academic and personal freedom.

Haq, who also teaches at Lahore University in Pakistan, draws on insights from Islamic studies, anthropology and legal studies to examine the interactions between ideas, institutions and political actors that have enabled blasphemy laws to become the site of continuous controversy. Delving into Pakistani politics through sources that include government documents and Urdu language newspapers, she examines how sharia has evolved from pluralistic religious precepts to a set of rigid laws.

Blasphemy statutes have been on the books in Pakistan since British rule, and were significantly expanded in the 1980s, but they were rarely enforced until the 1990s. The controversy surrounding the laws has become a persistent irritant for the government, which is eager to change international perceptions of Pakistan as being intolerant and extremist. Though no one has been executed for the crime of blasphemy, dozens have been killed by raging crowds, while others have been imprisoned.

Through a fellowship from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Haq was able to spend several months in Pakistan gathering source material, while a Woodrow Wilson Center fellowship allowed her to spend a year in Washington, D.C., doing in-depth research and analysis.

In writing Sharia and the State in Pakistan, Haq seeks to challenge simplistic generalizations about extremism in political Islam by focusing on the highly reductive and extremist politics of blasphemy in Pakistan.

SUMMER 2019

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A BRIGHTER FUTURE onmouth College is part of a nationwide effort to change

BY BARRY McNAMARA

the face of rural education and improve the quality of life in those schools’ surrounding communities.

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FOR RURAL EDUCATION Conceived in 2017, Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools, known as TARTANS, is Monmouth’s initiative to recruit and prepare students for teaching careers in rural schools. TARTANS explores curricular innovations that build on and leverage local community assets. In addition to helping students better appreciate their community, the curricular innovations also aim to strengthen rural areas by improving their schools’ test scores, graduation rates and teacher retention.

The TARTANS program puts Monmouth at the center of one of 10 regional “action hubs” in a nationwide initiative to revitalize rural education known as the Rural Schools Col-

laborative. Gary Funk, a founding board member, said the Rural Schools Collaborative addresses numerous challenges facing rural schools.

“The problems facing rural schools mirror what’s going in on rural communities,” said Funk, who is also Rural Schools Collaborative director. “Schools are seeing declining enrollments, and there are more and more challenges in recruiting Continued on next page

During Scholars Day in April, TARTANS members presented posters about their individual visions for improving rural education.

From left are: Kylee Payne ’19, Aleeka Gentzler ’20, Courtney Eklund ’19, Elizabeth Reasoner ’20, McKenzie Campbell ’20, Ashley Farris ’20, Josh Talley ’19 and Nathan Schroeder ’21.

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RURAL & PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

Continued from page 17

teachers. Even a state like Illinois, which is perceived to have a strong rural and agriculture economy, is having issues and, in some cases, those issues are on the emergency level.”

Added Monmouth educational studies faculty member Tammy La Prad: “There’s been a decline in the number of people completing teacher prep programs. In Illinois, the decrease is more than double the national rate, as it was down 53 percent from 2010-16.”

La Prad said Illinois’s declines have been in geographic areas (the Chicago public schools and rural districts) as well as in disciplines (STEM, teachers for English learners and special education).

“It’s a complex problem, not only because of the regions where we’re seeing these decreases, but also because of the disciplines affected,” she said.

A meeting of the minds

Craig Vivian coordinates Monmouth College’s partnership with the Rural Schools Collaborative.

Educational studies professor Craig Vivian, who helped spearhead the TARTANS initiative, believes the key to a better future for rural schools actually lies in the past.

“I liken it to a rural concept that’s familiar to all—the old barn raising,” said Vivian, who chairs the department. “Let’s do this together.”

A meeting of the minds, with the neighboring Galesburg Community Foundation serving as the bridge between Monmouth College and the Rural Schools Collaborative, helped shape the educational studies department’s new initiative.

A vision that emerged from the meeting was developing what Vivian calls “teacher-visionaries”—graduates who can do more than lead a classroom of students. Funk said the College can serve as a model for how that is achieved.

“Monmouth’s commitment to developing teacher-leaders in an intentional way is distinctive, especially for a liberal arts college,” he said. “It really makes perfect sense for the area where the College resides. The stronger the region is, the stronger Monmouth College will be.”

In 2018, Becca Guinea, Morgan Holle and Katie Robertson Continued on page 20

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“Monmouth’s commitment to developing teacher-leaders in an intentional way is distinctive, especially for a liberal arts college.”

—GARY FUNK Director, Rural Schools Collaborative

Monmouth College has long been a leader in supplying highly qualified teachers and administrators to rural schools. Maggie Hawk Wallace ’01 (center) began

her career as a kindergarten teacher at the former Warren Elementary School near Monmouth and is now principal of United North Elementary School in Alexis, Ill. Aleeka Gentzler ’20 (left) and Courtney Eklund ’19 (right) both student-taught at United North during the past school year.

SUMMER 2019

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RURAL & PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

PLACE-BASED EDUCATION:

Gary Funk is director of the Rural Schools Collaborative, which has a regional office at Monmouth.

Continued from page 18

became the first TARTANS graduates.

They were joined in May by 2019 graduates Courtney Eklund, Kylee Payne and Josh Talley.

Entering the 201920 academic year, 10 students are enrolled in the program.

There’s No Place Like Home

W

‘A leader for the rest’ Funk said the series of steps that Monmouth is taking is “worth celebrating.” He said new ground has been broken thanks to a shared endowment partnership the College has with the Galesburg Community Foundation.

“That type of shared endowment is not happening anywhere else in the entire country that I’m aware of,” said Funk. “I’ve tried to get that put together at a couple places I’ve been, and it’s not just happening.

It’s so important for groups to work together. It’s worth celebrating.”

So much so that Funk and the College are discussing The College is in a basing the Rural School position to not just model Collaborative’s main office in innovative initiatives, but Monmouth. A regional office has been installed on the to be a leader for the rest second floor of Wallace Hall.

“Monmouth’s partnership of higher education.” with local schools and its partnership with Place GARY FUNK Network Schools are an exemplar that we can share with other colleges,” he said. “The College is in a position to not just model innovative initiatives, but to be a leader for the rest of higher education.”

Funk said Monmouth’s efforts exemplify the Rural

‘

Continued on page 23

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hile Professor Craig Vivian is enthusiastic about the prospect of creating visionary teachers for rural communities, he is also a pragmatist. He knows that without a nurturing environment in which those teachers can practice their innovative ideas, their efforts will likely fall flat.

That’s why in addition to TARTANS, the educational studies team is developing a second initiative called PLACE (Partnerships Linking Assets, Communities and Education).

“Some schools focus on producing teachers for rural schools and some schools focus on place-based learning, but we’re doing both,” Vivian said. “We’re commiting to rural teachers and also helping to create sites in which they can thrive.”

One of three principal tenets of the Rural Schools Collaborative, place-based education is designed to help students better understand where they come from by immersing them in the ecology, economy and culture of their local area before they study other parts of the globe.

Vivian and his department colleagues believe place-based education is a key element toward building a bridge between school and community—and an important tool for energizing students and teachers in rural districts.

“What you’re focusing on is getting students to learn more about the communal history of where they live,” said Vivian.

“Insight gained at the micro-level in a town like Monmouth enables students to transfer that knowledge and better appreciate the culture, history, politics and economics of Europe and Asia.”

The concept is also catching on in the community, as sixthgrade teachers at Monmouth’s Central Intermediate School just completed a pilot year using place-based education.

“The team of sixth-grade teachers at Central is getting out front with this, developing skills and an understanding about Monmouth,” said Tammy La Prad.

As part of place-based education, the sixth-graders examined the City of Monmouth. They envisioned projects such as sidewalks leading to the Warren County YMCA and a food bank/food kitchen housed in the now-vacant Shopko building.

Their top five ideas were presented to Monmouth’s city council in March. Other place-based education activities included visiting the Warren County Historical Museum.

Five student members of the TARTANS team participated in a snowshoe hike during their recent visit to the Teton Science Schools in Wyoming. From left are McKenzie Campbell, Kylee Payne, Aleeka Gentzler, Courtney Eklund and Nathan Schroeder.

“This effort really resonated with me because I’d been wondering, ‘How do we give back to the local community?’” said Vivian.

To learn more about place-based education, a group of College faculty and students and three Central teachers traveled to Wyoming in March to study Teton Science Schools, which teaches its entire curriculum through place-based learning.

“It is the basis for all of their education,” said Vivian.

“We saw examples of how it can be done, and a model for what we can do in our schools here,” said Monmouth faculty member Michelle Holschuh Simmons. “It’s mutually beneficial. It helps our education students devise more imaginative lessons plans.

It’s not just telling the students to turn to the next page in the textbook. We had sophomores, juniors and seniors on the trip, and they each got something out of it depending on where they had progressed in the TARTANS program.”

What Courtney Eklund ’19 gained from the trip was confirmation that she chose the right path for her studies.

“It is easy to stand in front of a classroom and lecture out of a book, but it takes someone with true heart and determination to see the potential in a student and stop at nothing to help them achieve their dreams,” she said. “And being that someone has always been my dream.”

“This was a critical moment in our students’ education,” said Vivian. “It really changed their ideas about how communities can be changed through education.”

Nathan Schroeder ’21 was another of the five TARTANS students who made the trip.

“I learned that giving the students personal choice in their

learning allows them to be able to connect to the information,” he said. “Through that personal connection, they have more invested. Rather than just reading and writing, they have a connection to the materials they’re learning.”

“Going to the Teton Science Schools has forever changed my views on education,” said Kylee Payne ’19, who will start her career this fall as a sixthgrade teacher at Central. “I hope and plan to instill the natural learning that takes place in the world around us.”

The group also met with the staff at The Journeys School in Jackson, Wyo., and Teton Valley Community School in Victor, Idaho.

“What was striking to me is the variety of ways that place-based education can be implemented,” said Jennifer Dickens, who is the College’s assistant director of teacher education. “It had a different look at the two schools we visited. It’s very adaptable to the place it’s being used.”

“I was very impressed by the academic rigor of the students doing the projects,” said La Prad. “They were very engaged with what they were doing.”

Vivian said the trip served its purpose of helping the College’s department serve as an “incubator for teacher visionaries.”

“Our students will be able to function in their environments — wherever that may be—a lot better after having this experience,” he said.

Aleeka Gentzler ’20 came away seeing even more advantages of a rural district than she already knew.

“I believe it’s important not to dwell on the resources that are unavailable, but rather make the most of the resources that are available,” she said. “Rural teachers can incorporate place-based education successfully and can cater to their students’ various needs. Being a rural teacher is more than just a job; it’s being a part of a tight-knit community that supports each other.”

The trip was made possible by a gift from Joanne Moy ’70 and Michael Robinson, who Simmons said “are very involved in educational development.”

The educational studies department’s efforts also received a financial boost from a successful crowdfunding campaign during Scots Day of Giving in 2018.

“Scots Day of Giving really jump-started this whole process and got the ball rolling,” said Simmons of the single-day giving total of $16,000. ­­—Barry McNamara

SUMMER 2019

21

One of the bright new faces of rural education

G

rowing up, one of Keeley Brinkmeier’s joys was to gather some of her mother’s teaching supplies and “play school.”

This fall, the 2019 educational studies graduate is looking

forward to having her own classroom full of students at United North Elementary School in nearby Alexis, where she served as an “all day, every day” second-grade student teacher during her senior year.

In that role, Brinkmeier has already experienced the thrill of effectively teaching students.

“I remember the first week I’d taken over the spelling lessons,” she said. “One of the words was ‘gloom,’ which can be kind of a tricky word for second-graders. I told BRINKMEIER: “I love the feeling of knowing them ‘gloom’ is a downer almost everyone in your school. Some of my word, and I illustrated that classmates say they came from graduating by putting frowny faces in classes of 800 students or more. I couldn’t each of the O’s. When we got imagine that.” the spelling test back at the end of the week, almost all of them put frowny faces in the O’s. And I thought, ‘I did that!’”

Brinkmeier was also on the learning end throughout her student teacher experience.

“I learned a lot about really getting students to think deeper and more creatively,” she said. “They really taught us ways to model that and to use that approach in our classroom.”

Quizzed on the qualities that will make her an effective teacher, Brinkmeier replied, “I am very organized. I love staying on top of things, which I think is especially important at this particular grade level. You never know what’s going to happen from day to day.”

The daughter of a second-grade teacher, Brinkmeier always knew her dream job was to teach.

“Ever since I was little, I said I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I’ve always looked up to my mom. And then growing up, I did a lot of work with children, and that just solidified that I wanted to be a teacher.”

But Brinkmeier wasn’t sure about her ideal grade to teach until she worked with students at United.

“I’ve been in numerous grade settings, but I just fell in love with second grade,” she said. “After I’d been in that classroom a few days, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I really, really like it.’ The

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children are at an age when they can be independent, but they still like to talk to teachers.”

Teaching at United was an important fit in another aspect, as well.

“I love the small-school setting,” said Brinkmeier, who came to Monmouth from the northwestern Illinois community of Mount Carroll, which has a population of less than 2,000. “I love the feeling of knowing almost everyone in your school.

Some of my classmates say they came from graduating classes of 800 students or more. I couldn’t imagine that.”

The school where Brinkmeier teaches is getting a proven leader and a talented and accomplished student. In her first year at Monmouth, she was named Freshman Woman of the Year. She bookended that by receiving the Senior Woman of the Year honor at the College’s Honors Convocation in April.

Brinkmeier’s leadership roles at Monmouth have included the vice presidency of the local chapters of Blue Key and the Illinois Education Association, as well as executive roles within her women’s fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma. The Dean’s List student is also a member of the Order of Omega and Kappa Delta Pi, the educational honors society. Brinkmeier has also volunteered for numerous organizations, including Rainbow Riders, Jamieson Community Center, the Warren County Public Library and Monmouth-Roseville District No. 238.

“Keeley is one of the most organized people I know,” said educational studies faculty member Sherry Bair. “She is detail-oriented, making sure that she meets and exceeds any standard for work that she is provided. Her organization and focus make her a fabulous student who strives hard to exceed expectations.”

Bair said Brinkmeier does more than simply check the boxes of required standards.

“Her personality and her smile engages everyone she meets,” she said. “Her drive for excellence and her engaging personality, along with her true passion for teaching children, will make her a great teacher. A school cannot ask for more than a dedicated, caring, competent teacher who gets along with everyone.” ­­—Barry McNamara

RURAL & PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

Continued from page 19

Schools Collaborative’s agenda—that a strong school and a strong community go hand-in-hand.

“We’re working toward making public schools a real catalyst for rural revitalization,” said Funk.

“Part of that is through having excellent teachers who contribute in a way that strengthens the community. We’re seeing teachers really take on leadership roles, not just in their schools but in community projects. I think as this movement progresses, teachers will start thinking differently about what their job description is. It’s about building bridges between schools and their communities. It’s a new way of thinking, a new entrepreneurial spirit.”

Funk shared a story about what can happen when a school and community are not aligned.

“There was a school district in North Dakota that was doing well with a good economic outlook, but it had to shut down because it simply couldn’t hire enough teachers to come to that community,” he said. “So part of what we’re doing is trying to create communities where people want to be, and highlighting the opportunities they’ll have. That’s something the TARTANS program can do. It’s important work that Monmouth is doing.”

TARTANS participant Elizabeth Reasoner ’20 came to the College from Indianapolis, where she attended a high school of nearly 4,000 students.

“Coming from a large city, it was always easy to

NORTH DAKOTA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

SOUTHERN WISCONSIN NORTHERN ROCKIES

WESTERN ILLINOIS

MISSOURI OZARKS

NEW ENGLAND OHIO

ALABAMA

ARKANSAS

Monmouth College’s Western Illinois hub is near the center of the Rural School Collaborative’s 10 partner districts.

“It is easy to stand in front of a classroom and lecture out of a book, but it takes someone with true heart and determination to see the potential in a student and stop at nothing to help them achieve their dreams.”

COURTNEY EKLUND ’19 forget about the local culture and dynamics, but in rural communities this is often the glue holding people together,” she said.

TARTANS participant McKenzie Campbell ’20 is a local product, having attended the nearby Yorkwood school district, which became part of the consolidated United district.

“I understand what it’s like growing up in a rural community and going to a rural school,” she said.

“I have seen first-hand what the struggles of these schools can be, and I’ve also seen the successes. I plan to stay around Monmouth after graduation because this is where home is for me, and I want to give back to the community that has shaped me for the past 20 years.”

As the TARTANS initiative moves forward, Vivian envisions a four-year program with scholarships, leading to a three- to five-year teaching commitment in a rural area. Students in the TARTANS program would not go home for the summer, instead focusing on a cycle of experiences. The first summer would be spent working at the College’s market farm and educational garden. During the second summer, students could volunteer in the Monmouth community at an organization such as the Jamieson Community Center. The third summer would be spent living and volunteering in the rural area where each student expects to be employed after graduation.

SUMMER 2019

23

MONMOUTHIANA tendent J.D. Regan became concerned about a lack of uniformity in textbooks in the many country schools throughout Warren County and established a

One-room elementary schools were prevalent in the rural Monmouth area until the 1960s. This photograph, taken in 1947, shows a teacher and her students at the Lucas School, located eight miles east of Monmouth.

Older students typically helped tutor their younger counterparts.

committee to recommend a common set of readings. He then prepared a uniform

Approximately 5,000 students were taught by 235 teachers—mostly women—whose annual salaries ranged from $600 to $3,500

course of study and uniform examinations, which were mailed to all the country schools.

Such direct

supervision, Regan reasoned, would improve the odds of “country” kids

Photo courtesy of Jane Spence

being able to enter and succeed in high school. He established an annual spring

DESPITE PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS,

COUNTRY SCHOOLS PROVIDED SOLID EDUCATION

and Scholarship Examinations. On a Saturday morning each April, hundreds of eighth-graders from outside of Monmouth would converge on Monmouth’s Central School for a daylong exam, covering subjects from physiology to orthography to geography.

BY JEFF RANKIN Editor and College Historian

houses. Approximately 5,000 students were taught by 235 teachers—mostly

teachers and personally graded by the

T

women—whose annual salaries ranged

superintendent. Students who passed

from $600 to $3,500. (Not surprisingly,

were entitled to enter one of five high

Monmouth College supplied many of

schools in the county.

oday, public schools in the Monmouth area are overseen by a regional superintendent, who

is responsible for a four-county region.

But it was quite a different situation a century ago when a single superinten-

The exam was administered by area

those women teachers, in an era when

The student with the highest score

the career choices for college-educated

from each township won a four-year

women were limited.)

scholarship to any state university in

Overseeing such a vast yet disor-

Illinois. Because Warren County was

dent focused his entire attention on the

ganized network would have been a

entitled to 15 such scholarships, a schol-

schools of Warren County, where one-

challenge for any administrator.

arship could be awarded to more than

room schoolhouses were still the norm.

In 1865, the position of county

one student from a township if all the

superintendent of schools had been

townships were not represented in the

schools and 112 ungraded schools. There

established, replacing an earlier county

competition.

were 24 brick and 110 frame school-

school commissioner. In 1905, Superin-

The county had only 16 graded

24

event called the Warren County Final

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Commencement ceremonies for the

RURAL & PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

graduates were held in late August, in

provide a taste of what an eighth-grader

best who depend upon themselves and

conjunction with the annual teachers’

had to look forward to: “A pupil who is

proceed with the examination in a

institute.

ready for High School should be able to

businesslike manner. It will be useless

read and understand any of these

for you to write in this examination if

exam was discovered by Jeanne

Recently, a copy of a 1928 entrance

questions. In fact that is a part of the

you have not had both the seventh and

Gittings Robeson ’60, when going

examination. You will show a weakness

eighth grade as you will not be promoted

through her mother’s papers.

in this examination if you ask a lot of

into High School without your seventh-

unnecessary questions. Those pupils do

and eighth-year term records.”

The instructions for the 1928 exam

HOW WOULD YOU FARE AGAINST A COUNTRY SCHOOL 8TH-GRADER? (SAMPLE QUESTIONS FROM THE 1928 HIGH SCHOOL ENTRANCE EXAM) PHYSIOLOGY 1. State some facts about Tuberculosis — its spread, prevention and cure.

2. Describe muscles and tell how they do their work.

3. What is meant by the following terms: Vertebrae, Retina, Epidermis, Ganglion, Medulla, Reflex action, Suffocation, Tonsils, Neurons, Ligament.

ARITHMETIC 1. A bronze statue weighing 50 lbs. is 88% copper. How many pounds of copper are there in the statue?

2. Henry received $9 for selling a radio. If this is 15% of the price of the radio, find the price of the radio.

3. A swimming pool is 4 ft. deep at one end and 9 ft. deep at the other. What is the average depth? It is 30 ft. x 100 ft. How many barrels approximately does it hold when full? Count 7½ gallons per cubic foot.

READING 1. What was Poor Richard’s Almanac? Make your answer quite full.

2. Write a biographical sketch of one of the following: Robert Louis Stevenson. Oliver Wendell Holmes. John Burroughs.

3. Write the following words in a column and after each write a synonym: grope, centuries, zephyr, shay, melancholy, mansion, gallant, steed, gloaming, unwittingly.

GRAMMAR 1. Name and define the parts of speech.

2. Define the following: tense, infinitive, transitive verb, relative pronoun, predicate adjective.

Students from the “modern” brick Hedgepeth School, three miles northeast of Cameron, Ill., participated in the Warren County high school entrance examination in 1928. A simple, frame schoolhouse first occupied the school’s site in 1865. Photo courtesy of Jane Spence

CIVICS 1. Is it our duty to obey a law if we believe the law to be bad? State your reasons.

2. Explain why some people are required to pay more taxes than others. Why are taxes necessary?

3. Give several facts about the Constitution of the United States.

ORTHOGRAPHY 1. What do the following prefixes mean: mis-, re-, in-, ad-, ex-, dis-?

2. What do the following suffixes mean: ness, able, ible?

3. Distinguish between a phrase and a clause. Write sentences containing each and underline each.

3. What do the following roots or stems mean: fer, graph, fact, man, spec?

HISTORY 1. Name five colonial settlements, giving time, place and purpose of each.

GEOGRAPHY 1. Draw a figure and locate the zones on the earth showing the equator, tropics, circles, etc., and name each.

2. Name 10 presidents of the United States and state some important fact about the administration of each.

3. Name five things that have had an influence upon the settlement of the Western frontier.

4. Superintendent will pronounce 25 words to be spelled.

2. Name 10 large cities of Europe. Locate and give an important fact about each.

3. Name five countries of South America and tell the importance of each.

SUMMER 2019

25

RURAL & PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

From one-room schools to college classrooms, veteran educator Esther White reflects on the joys and challenges of rural education sther white has

witnessed many changes in education in her 99 years.

Her experience ranges from riding a horsedrawn bus to school, to teaching in two oneroom schoolhouses, to preparing students to be the next generation of educators while serving as an associate professor at Monmouth College.

“I’ve never regretted being a teacher for 50 years,” said White, who was on the faculty from 1974 to 1988, working with colleagues such as George Arnold and the late Frank Sorensen.

“I enjoyed teaching at all the places I taught.”

A native of southeast Iowa, White is very familiar with the issues that have faced rural school districts through the years, and she was pleased to learn that the College is placing a focus on developing some of its teachers to be leaders in their future rural communities.

“It’s a good initiative,” she said from her home across the street from the College, where she’d just finished celebrating her 99th birthday. Included among the dozens of cards she received were well wishes from some of her former Monmouth students.

Part of the teacher’s role as leader, said White, is learning how to effectively communicate with parents.

“Many people have taken issue with teachers and questioned them whether what they were doing was right or wrong,” she said. “As a result of that, I’ve seen teachers who are reluctant to work with parents. But I believe that all teachers need to be educated on learning how to talk to parents. You might say to a parent, ‘We’ve been having trouble with Jimmy’ in a certain area. And the parent might say, ‘We don’t have trouble with that at home.’ And then you say, ‘Help me with that,’ so you can work through the problem.”

That communication can help solve individual issues in the classroom, which White noted is one of the major changes she’s observed in education over the past century.

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

She said she started to see that shift when she taught—and later served as principal—at a school in Keokuk, Iowa, not far from the farm where she was raised near the tiny community of Argyle.

White took that job after five years teaching at a pair of one-room schoolhouses in the area. A 16-year-old high school graduate, she took courses at Fort Madison Business College until she turned 18 and was old enough to teach in Iowa.

“All you needed at the time was 10 weeks of summer school to get your teaching certificate,” she said. “You could go back each year and take another 10 weeks to get more certification.”

Educating students—and the teachers who lead them— has come a long way since then, she said, with technology playing a major role. Intentionally teaching concepts and individualizing education have also been important developments.

“When I was in school and when I was first teaching, learning was often rote,” she said, using fractions as an example. “It wasn’t the actual understanding of the concept. We’d give our students the textbook for the year, and they had to get through it. Now, we do lots more to identify the kids as slow learners, or learners who need more of a visual example. We do a lot more now with that type of thing. ... I shudder to think at what I didn’t know at the time I first started and what injustices I might have done.”

Still, a smile crossed her face when asked to remember a scene from her one-room schoolhouse. She recited, line for line, a clever poem a young boy named David wrote about having three sisters, after prodding from White. David, she said, went on to write advertising copy in Hollywood.

White also recalled an earlier scene from her own education.

Growing up the daughter of Pentecostal parents, she had never heard a curse word—that is, until the driver of that horsedrawn bus, traveling on White’s one-lane dirt road, had to stop to scrape the mud off his wheels. —Barry McNamara

COMMENCEMENT 2019

PREPARED FOR CHANGE Class of 2019 urged to embrace unexpected challenges

Commencement speaker Ron Gold tells graduating seniors how perseverence helped him succeed in the face of personal tragedy.

By BARRY McNAMARA

FOR VIDEOS AND MORE PHOTOS: monmouthcollege.edu/commencement

E

very year, Monmouth College plans to hold its commencement exercises on majestic Wallace Hall Plaza. Plans changed this year, as saturated grounds, a temperature that struggled to reach 50 degrees and even more rain moved the Sunday noon ceremony into the Huff Athletic Center.

So it was quite appropriate that two of the addresses during the weekend’s festivities advised members of Monmouth’s Class of 2019 on what to do when plans go awry.

Citing former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, commencement speaker Ron Gold told the graduates: “Everyone has a plan until they get smacked in the face.” (continued on page 29) SUMMER 2019

27

COMMENCEMENT 2019

Senior Spotlight: BRANDON ALLEN

B

randon Allen isn’t used to talking about himself, but Monmouth faculty members have no hesitation in singing his praises.

“Brandon is as good as anybody I’ve known who’s gone to an Ivy League school,” said chemistry professor Laura Moore. “It’s been incredible to see how he has grown. I don’t think he even thought what he’s doing now was possible.”

Allen is headed to Yale University, where he will pursue a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry. He hopes to one day oversee his own research laboratory.

“He’s super brilliant,” said chemistry professor Audra Sostarecz. “I would call him a scholar. We have students who do the research and they like it, but Brandon has such a passion for it.”

Allen said “stubborn” best describes his approach to learning.

“For better or worse, I’m a little bit stubborn,” he said. “I guess the positive word for it is ‘perseverance.’ I like to sit down and figure out the solution to a problem so I can move on.”

And Allen is known to come up with some complex solutions. With the help of department members he built a microscope to help analyze cell membranes in Sostarecz’s lab.

“I don’t know that I would’ve even attempted that as an undergrad student,” Sostarecz said. “He has initiative, intelligence, genuineness and a love of learning. He loves science, he’s going to do the work, he’s going to succeed, and he’s going to go above and beyond.”

“It was a Brewster angle microscope, which are pretty expensive,” Allen said. “You might get a $60,000 base, if you’re lucky, maybe $70,000.”

Allen said the opportunities he’s received at Monmouth helped him stand out when he applied to graduate school.

“I’ve gained a diverse skill set here,” he said. “My classes have been great, but it’s the things you do outside of class—things like learning how to program or building a microscope or learning how to use a 3D printer so you can build a cover for the microscope—that have really helped me develop my skill set. My background in both chemistry and physics taught me a way of thinking about things that not everyone will have.”

Allen said he chose to study biophysical chemistry at Yale because the discipline brings “a chemical perspective to biologically relevant things ... determining the underlying physical reasons for why things happen.”

The first year of the five-year program will be a rotation through three research groups. Allen will then decide to become a full-time member of one group.

“Ultimately, I’d like to have my own research lab at the graduate level,” he said. “I want to go out and get as much serious research experience as I can so that I can bring back those experiences to a place like Monmouth and teach.”

A five-year college student, Allen spent his first two years at McHenry Community College, near his hometown of Marengo, Ill. His original plan was to use his third and fourth years of undergraduate schooling to complete his prerequisites for pharmacy school.

But research opportunities were presented to him immediately at Monmouth, with the first coming prior to his first semester during the College’s Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activities (SOFIA) program.

“After that, Audra told me I should get into research,” he said. “That completely changed the trajectory of what I’d be doing. I fell in love with research and being in the lab. The people here make it really easy to get excited about the opportunities that research presents.” —Barry McNamara

“I want to go out and get as much serious research experience as I can so that I can bring back those experiences to a place like Monmouth and teach.”

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

COMMENCEMENT 2019 Standing amid colorful international flags while waiting to receive their diplomas are, from left: Olivia Howey, Caitlyn Honan, Austin Holman and Logan Hoepfner.

(continued from page 27) Gold asked the graduates: “How are you going to handle it when it’s your face? I don’t know if it’s a jab or a roundhouse, but you’ll need to dig deep when it happens.”

For Gold, that moment came in 2011, when an SUV crashed into him while he was on a bicycle ride in northern New Jersey. The accident, which nearly claimed his life, left his spine permanently crushed.

Slowly but surely, Gold regained determination and learned to conquer fears. He left a 25-year career on Wall Street and started his own business.

“I was ready for a change from Wall Street, and I’d always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur,” said Gold, who received an honorary doctorate from the College at its 162nd commencement. “This was my chance.”

Gold and his wife, Betsy, created LeanOnWe, a company that connects families looking for home care with a highly vetted caregiver network. “Sort

the other end of fear. ... You will regret things you may have done, but didn’t, out of fear and uncertainty.”

Gold told the graduates they have

“You will regret things you may have done, but didn’t, out of fear and uncertainty.”

RON GOLD

of an eHarmony for home care,” he said.

Along the way, Gold learned life lessons that he passed on to Monmouth’s Class of 2019.

“Plan to be passionate about your career,” he said. “Plan to show grit and fortitude. The best things in life are at

been prepared for new challenges because of their Monmouth education.

“Plan to be open to those new experiences,” he said. “It may be newer, harder, different and bigger than what you are planning for. ... Life is fleeting. (continued on page 31)

SUMMER 2019

29

COMMENCEMENT 2019

Senior Spotlight: LARRY HAYNES

T

here were no acceptance speeches at this spring’s Highlander Leadership Awards at Monmouth College. But if there had been, Larry Haynes could have given an inspiring message about leadership and community.

The Chicago native received the White and Crimson Leadership Award, which recognizes students who have gone beyond the call of duty to have an impact on the campus.

“There’s a lot that divides us, but there’s a lot that brings us together,” said Haynes. “My goal is to be that bridge that brings people together.”

An African-American student, Haynes admits he was no different than many young students during his first years at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School.

“Walter Payton is a predominantly white school, and I’m from a black neighborhood,” said Haynes. “You saw a real divide, and I felt very uncomfortable. In my mind at the time, I had it wrong—I thought that we weren’t supposed to be friends, to be cordial to one another. My sophomore year is when I started to realize it probably shouldn’t be like that, right?”

For the rest of his high school career, Haynes said he “really started to open up,” speaking to a variety of people and learning that “we all face the same problems.”

“I started having the confidence to speak to just about everybody and to go outside of my comfort zone,” he said. “That high school experience helped make me comfortable being uncomfortable.”

It also made him social. Evidence of that from his high school days was being elected prom king at Walter Payton. His friends on campus can vouch for his social ways continuing at Monmouth.

“When you picture your perfect friend, he’s that friend that you paint,” said Terrence Best ’21, one of several students Haynes has mentored during his time at Monmouth. “People glow, they light up when he’s around. He knows everybody. I call him ‘Mr. President.’”

Haynes remembers the mentors from his early days on campus—students like Jordan Carter ’17 and Josh Washington ’16. He didn’t intentionally set out to follow in their mentoring ways.

“It came naturally,” he said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I want to be like that.’ But Monmouth is a tight-knit community, and you see the same people every day. I just made a conscious decision to speak to people. I didn’t feel like I had a plethora of information or wisdom to dole out. But we need each other to make it through the tough times.”

Making that type of effort helps create a sense of community, and Haynes believes community is key.

“College is what you make of it, life is what you make of it,” he said. “We have to continue to speak—not necessarily always in an effort to change things—but continually speak to make this a community. Problems will come, but if we come together as a community, those problems can be solved.”

For Haynes, personally, the days of simply judging a book by its cover are long gone.

“We must learn to judge each individual based on their own character, on their own merits,” he said. “Let stereotypes fall by the wayside.”

A double major in religious studies and sociology/anthropology, Haynes plans to take the fall semester off before beginning work toward a master’s degree in social work and a degree in theology.

“My 10-year plan is to open a community center for kids in inner-city Chicago,” he said. “I want to let them know what I was able to do and tell them that they can do it, too. There’s a bigger world out there beyond what you see in your neighborhood.”

In other words, Haynes wants to continue being a bridge, helping connect youth to that bigger world. —Barry McNamara

“We have to continue to speak—not necessarily always in an effort to change things—but continually speak to make this a community.”

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

COMMENCEMENT 2019 The Rev. Dr. Nelson salutes the senior class during the baccalaureate service.

(continued from page 29) You’ll never be as young as you are today. With that in mind, don’t wait—plan to get in the game.”

In his baccalaureate sermon on Saturday afternoon, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert NelTHE REV. DR. J. HERBERT NELSON son also advised the graduates how to deal with unexpected changes.

A jubilant Terry Harris Jr. As stated clerk of the General Assemclutches his diploma as he bly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), prepares to begin the next Nelson holds the church’s highest electchapter of his life. ed office. He shared with the graduates several challenges from his rise to that position, including losing his father shortly after Nelson graduated from college.

“The world you’re moving into is full of swift transitions,” he told his audience in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. “Life’s not a straight line, it’s a crooked stick. Hold to God’s unwavering hand. Don’t let your circumstances defeat you. Learn from your past experiences. How you got through the last experience will help you get through the next one. ... Don’t waste the time

“Life’s not a straight line, it’s a crooked stick.”

SUMMER 2019

31

COMMENCEMENT 2019

The Class of 2019 is led in a toast by President Wyatt and First Lady Lobie Stone at the Senior Gala.

that God is spending on you in those experiences.”

Nelson also advised the graduates to believe in themselves and their abilities.

“You have an opportunity to change and shape the world,” he said. “Don’t ever sell yourself short of God’s plans for you.”

Following baccalaureate, members of the Class of 2019 had the opportunity to participate in the Honor Walk, in which they presented a specially minted commemorative coin to honor a family member, faculty or staff member, or friend who provided inspiration, motivation and support during their Monmouth College career.

On Saturday night, graduates and their families were feted at the Senior Gala dinner in Glennie Gymnasium.

Speakers from the class included Oscar Diaz, Ashley Maurer and Kaleb Ware. .

Following dinner, President Wyatt was KAITLYN RULE presented with the class gift of $12,769, which will be used to install water bottle filling stations on campus. Members of the senior class were also given pins from the Alumni Association, welcoming them into the organization.

The evening ended with a toast led by President Wyatt and First Lady Lobie Stone and renditions of “Auld Lang Syne” and “A Flame of White and Crimson” by the Monmouth College Chorale.

Two of the graduates addressed their classmates during Sunday afternoon’s commencement. Senior class president Kaitlyn Rule said courage would be an

“We have the power … it’s on all of us to shape a world that is right, that is just and that is fair for all .”

Class president Kaitlyn Rule (left) and Lincoln Laureate Sobhi Kazmouz spoke about their experiences as students and their dreams for the future.

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

COMMENCEMENT 2019

Senior Spotlight: EMILY CURRENS

E

mily Currens packed a lot into her two years at Monmouth College.

A junior transfer from Rock Valley College in her hometown of Rockford, Ill., Currens hit the ground running at Monmouth, conducting research during the College’s three-week summer research program held before the start of classes in the fall of 2017.

A 4.0 student at Rock Valley, Currens received associate degrees in both the arts and the sciences, but one thing she didn’t gain was research experience.

“We didn’t have any opportunities for that at Rock Valley, so when I was looking at colleges to transfer to, I was really overwhelmed by all the opportunities at Monmouth,” said Currens.

“I was glad to get started on research right away and learn a lot of new skills.”

Currens worked in Monmouth chemistry professor Laura Moore’s lab. She also developed skills through attending meetings of the American Chemical Society, making presentations in New Orleans and Orlando, Fla. In addition to her studies and her work in the chemistry lab, Currens has continued her passion for music through the Fighting Scots Marching Band and the Monmouth Winds. She was also a resident assistant, which she says “helped build my leadership skills.”

Last summer, Currens had another intensive academic opportunity, participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at St. Louis University.

“The REU really helped me consider graduate school even more,” said Currens, who plans to pursue a doctorate in medicinal chemistry.

“It helped me narrow down what I wanted to do. It was amazing to be in a graduate school environment, doing independent research. It was very hands-on, which I really appreciated.”

Currens’ research at St. Louis involved synthesizing compounds into cancer cells. When the compounds were exposed to ultraviolet light, a toxic chemical would kill the cells.

“Medicinal chemistry is a very applicable part of the chemistry field,” said Currens. “It involves synthesizing different molecules and creating potential drugs to help solve some type of issue. I like to work on something that has a purpose and know that what I’m doing will really mean something.”

When she starts the five-year doctoral program this summer, she won’t be quite as rushed to make her next decision—what to do with her doctorate.

“I’m considering going into teaching, preferably at a smaller school like Monmouth,” she said. “I’m also thinking about a lab management position or working in industry.”—Barry McNamara

“It was amazing to be in a graduate school environment, doing independent research.

It was very hands-on, which I really appreciated.”

important factor for her classmates moving forward.

“Change takes courage,” she said.

By graduating from Monmouth, she said her classmates have shown they have “the intelligence, courage and skill” to bring about change “in whatever you strongly believe in. ... We have the power. It’s on us, it’s on all of us to

shape a world that is right, that is just and that is fair for all. ... We must find the courage.”

Sobhi Kazmouz, the College’s Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, came to Monmouth from Saudi Arabia. He spoke of how the campus community helped him cope with being 7,000 miles from home

and said he found “individuals who genuinely care about you ... and I got to meet people who empowered me.”

Kazmouz was one of 10 members of the 192-member Class of 2019 who graduated summa cum laude. The others were: Brandon Allen, Jenna Cisna, Taylor Ewald, Amanda Grissom, Brittani Kratz, Kate Saulcy, SUMMER 2019

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COMMENCEMENT 2019

Senior Spotlight:

YULISSA AVILA & ELIZABETH SMITH

M

onmouth College study-abroad trips changed the direction of Yulissa Avila and Elizabeth Smith.

It also helped the pair make history as they were the first two Monmouth students to complete the College’s Peace Corps Prep Program, a new partnership between the College and the Peace Corps.

The program prepares students for positions of global leadership, service and citizenship. Open to students from all majors, participants earn a certificate from the Peace Corps and develop relevant skills for Peace Corps service and/or careers in international service and community development.

Participants are not required to apply to the Peace Corps, but it does distinguish them for the process, as well as for applications to other opportunities in service, employment or graduate studies.

Avila will take the experience she gained from the program into a one-year position as a student mentor with City Year in Chicago. Smith plans to continue her studies.

“Coming in freshman year, I never thought I’d go to another country,” said Avila, who majored in sociology and anthropology. “It’s been a privilege and a blessing to have that, and I’m so grateful to Monmouth College. It’s crazy to think you come to college thinking you’re going to do something, and you come out doing something else. ” Smith’s horizons were broadened when she visited Senegal as part of a study-abroad experience. “When I traveled to Senegal in 2016,” she said, “I really developed an intense travel bug. I’ve tried to explore a new country every single year, whether it was traveling on my own or traveling with the school. This trip really influenced me to better understand developing countries and better understand how they function politically, economically.”

Avila said that time she spent with a class in Ecuador, as well as what she learned through the Peace Corps program, gave her a better understanding of how to serve.

In Ecuador, Avila was part of a Monmouth group that worked with children who typically spend all day with their parents in the marketplace instead of school.

In addition to her international studies major, Smith minored in three subjects, including the College’s Global Food Security program.

“In Senegal, I did a lot of different interviews with co-ops, I stayed with a host family and I interacted a lot with everyday people,” she said. “After that trip, I always thought about doing the Peace Corps. Ever since then, I was hooked on volunteering and learning about different cultures, learning about different ways of communication, such as learning a foreign language.”

Smith plans to focus on food security as she advances in her studies, with an eye on an eventual career in “quality assurance, sustainable agriculture or education.”

Avila (left) and Smith hold certificates of completion from the Peace Corps.

—Barry McNamara

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Kaitlyn Troutt was among the last group of seniors to receive her degree. Her mortarboard serves as an appropriate coda.

Nate Smolczyk, Beatrix Thornton and Hunter Wollwert.

At the start of the ceremony, President Wyatt made several announcements relating to faculty, including three who received promotions after a recent meeting of the College’s Board of Trustees. Promoted to full professor were Wendine Bolon (political economy and commerce) and Logan Mayfield (mathematics and computer science).

Promoted to associate professor was Lori Walters-Kramer (communication studies).

Each year, the College recognizes three recipients of the Hatch Award for Distinguished Teaching. Two of those recipients were announced at commencement: Tom Prince (political economy and commerce), distinguished service; and Robert Hinck (communication studies), distinguished scholarship.

Wyatt also recognized three retiring faculty members: Ken McMillan (political economy and commerce), Kristin Larson (psychology) and Vicki Wine (classics). Staff members retiring before the next commencement are Kathy Haas (athletics), Peter Pitts (admission) and Mohsin Masood (student affairs).

ANNOUNCING THE 2019-2020

MONMOUTH COLLEGE THEATRE SEASON

September 20-21

November 21-24

Feb. 27 - March 1

FusionFest VI A 24-Hour Play Festival

A Child’s Christmas in Wales

The Real Inspector Hound

by Tom Stoppard

by Lauren Gunderson

Starting at 7:30 p.m. Fri. (lobby) Performance 7:30 p.m. Sat. (in front of theatre) Fusion Theatre

7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. 2 p.m. Sun. Wells Theater

7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. 2 p.m. Sun. Fusion Theatre

7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. 2 p.m. Sun. Wells Theater

All your Christmases will live again in the magic of Dylan Thomas’ poetic language.

Despite the fact that this is a Welsh Christmas and the music is also Welsh, Thomas has managed to universalize the very essence of Christmas as any child anywhere might perceive it. If the play has a plot, it is the story of Christmas Day itself, from its quiet, magical beginning full of thrilling expectations to the end when the boy Dylan creeps up to the bed, replete with the joy of a perfect Christmas. This is Christmas just the way Christmas always should be.

Attending the premiere of a new murder mystery, two feuding theatre critics soon find themselves inside the playwithin-a-play and implicated in the lethal activities of an escaped madman. While the story is set in a theatre, the play within the play is set in Muldoon Manor, a lavish manor surrounded by “desolate marshes” and “treacherous swamps” and paradoxically also located near a cliff. It is a direct parody of Agatha Christie’s “closed” settings in which no one can enter or leave, so the characters know that the murderer must be one of them.

(Directed by Todd Quick)

(Directed by Richard Eyre)

Four beautiful, badass women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen Marie Antoinette and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris. This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world. It’s a true story. Or total fiction. Or a play about a play. Or a raucous resurrection…that ends in a song and a scaffold.

What happens when entire plays are created, rehearsed, staged, and performed for an audience—all in the span of 24 hours? Just about anything. And it’s a whole lot of fun to watch!

Here’s how it works: On Friday night, a group of playwrights will each randomly draw a team of actors, a director and a random phrase. Playwrights then have 12 hours to write a short play featuring their actors and, at some point in the dialogue, their random phrase. Twelve hours later, the playwrights hand off their brand-new creations, and the director and actors then have 12 hours to rehearse, stage and memorize it all before performing before a live audience on Saturday night.

by Dylan Thomas

Suggested donation: $5

WELLS THEATER

Corner Broadway & North 9th

FUSION THEATRE 230 South Main Street

Tickets may be purchased online at monmouthcollege.edu/box-office Purchase full season at 20% discount

April 16 - 19 The Revolutionists

(Directed by Vanessa Campagna)

Admission to all plays (except FusionFest)

Adults $9 / Students & Seniors $7 / With MC ID $6

SCOTSPORTS

Attacker Jack Koenn ’21 looks to pass in a game against Carroll University.

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LACROSSE Monmouth’s break-out new varsity sport

M By Barry McNamara

onmouth’s lacrosse teams keep getting better and better. A varsity sport since 2017, the programs have had the same growing pains as any “expansion” professional team would. But as the first nucleus of recruited players gets added to each year, another total is growing—victories.

The men’s team, which won the first contest in program history on Feb. 18, 2017, has improved from three wins that year to six the following season and seven in 2019.

The women’s team made its biggest jump this season, posting six victories after combining for three wins during the first two years of the program.

Scoring has also been on the rise, with the men averaging three goals more per game than their debut season. The women’s team, which netted 11 goals per game this spring, has almost doubled its scoring output from 2017.

Like any coach, both Chris Klaiber and Elizabeth Demara think their victory totals could be even higher. Two of the men’s defeats this spring were three-goal games, and another was a heartbreaking four-overtime setback.

Demara’s women lost four games in which they scored in double digits, including a 15-13 defeat in the season finale.

“We won some close ones and lost some close ones,” she said. “We’ve got potential and took a big step forward this season. We’re moving in the right direction. Had we turned some of those tight losses around, we might be 10-6 instead of 6-10. Of course, every coach thinks they should have more wins, but we did have a good Year 3—we just want more.”

Klaiber appreciates the steady improvement he’s seen in the men’s squad since he took over as coach for Monmouth’s second season.

“Consistent progress is key to where we want to go,” he said. “Growing the win total is exciting, especially considering we had setbacks with injuries. We set the tone for the culture

(Continued on page 38)

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SCOTSPORTS Monmouth’s all-time leading women’s lacrosse scorer, Kara-Jade Gordon is averaging four goals per game.

of the program by battling through those injuries. No matter what happens, we’re going to adjust and make it through.”

The teams have taken different routes to achieve their success. Klaiber’s squads have become known for their hardnosed defense, surrendering less than nine goals per game this spring.

Two defenders—Connor Armstrong and Ian Moles—have been on the field for every one of the Scots’ 45 games over the past three seasons.

“We have guys coming in each year that are great athletes and have great lacrosse IQ,” said Moles. “Each guy is taking it more seriously every day and it helps us grow as a program.”

Moles played his high school lacrosse in suburban Chicago.

He said he was drawn to campus by the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the sport.

“Helping start the program was 100 percent the reason that I looked at Monmouth,” he said. “But then I came to visit the school and I fell in love with the campus and the people. The business and economics programs are great, which became another reason I came here. I love every moment of being here.”

Moles made this year’s Midwest Lacrosse Conference’s AllSportsmanship team. His high school teammate, sophomore midfielder Nick Thomas, was named all-conference, as was defender Shane Herkert of Verona, Wis., who has missed just one game over his three seasons.

In addition to being part of the initial recruiting class, Armstrong is an example of what adding lacrosse has meant to Monmouth’s effort in admissions. He came to Monmouth from Star, Idaho, and he was joined on the 2019 men’s roster by players from six other states that don’t border Illinois: New Jersey, California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota and Tennessee.

Tennessee also happens to be the home state of one of the core players of the women’s program, Kara-Jade Gordon. A state champion sprinter in high school, Gordon has used her speed and nose for the goal to score 192 times the past three years, an average of more than four goals per game.

Gordon and senior Lexi Tibbs made this season’s AllMidwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference team. A three-time all-league pick, Gordon has made the Scots an offensive force, and Demara believes that she and classmate Amanda Green (from Henderson, Nev.) can see another jump in the program next spring.

“K-J and Amanda have been with us since Day 1,” said Demara. “They’ve played a big role in our development. Four

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of our close losses were conference games. Had we won those, we would have been in contention for a conference berth. If we work hard in the offseason, we can take that next step.”

“I came all the way from Las Vegas and people always ask me why I picked Monmouth,” said Green. “My answer is always the same. I picked Monmouth because of lacrosse. I got recruited to play here and talked with the coach for a couple of months before I committed. I was really interested in starting a program and getting to form the way we do everything rather than being told how everything goes.”

Green has seen the transformation from a team that needed to focus almost exclusively on the fundamentals of catching and throwing to one that can take on the advanced nuances of the game.

“We’ve grown so much since our first practice in 2017,” she said. “We’re doing more complex drills and plays now because we’re able to. I’m so happy for how we’ve progressed and looking forward toward the new season with more progression. I can’t wait to see the preseason poll for next year.

We’ve been picked last for the past three years but I want to see us up in the rankings where we should be.”

Klaiber believes his squad is also on the cusp of reaching another level.

“We’re a much different team than when I started,” he said.

“We’re much improved at every position and our quality of play is improved. I’m excited about where we’ll be next year.”

So is Moles.

“Anything is possible at this point,” he said. “We keep growing and that isn’t going to stop. Our goal is to be contenders for the conference title and take it home with us. Another goal that follows that is to make the NCAA tournament.”

Four years ago, as the College made plans to add men’s and women’s lacrosse, that NCAA goal might have seemed like a pipe dream. But now, who knows where the programs’ steady progress will end?

SCOTSPORTS

MVP OF OFFICE MANAGEMENT HAAS KEPT ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT HUMMING FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES but I’m sure glad I did.”

By Barry McNamara

The athletic department,

F

or 34 years, Kathy Haas helped schedule Monmouth College athletic events from football to water polo.

Now she’s looking forward to scheduling her own free time.

Retiring this spring from her position of athletics administrative assistant, Haas was much more than an assistant to the hundreds of students and coaches she helped and befriended over her legendary career.

“Clearly, Kathy has been the assistant athletic director for many, many years,” Director of Athletics Roger Haynes ’82 quipped at her retirement reception in May. In honor of her contribution to Monmouth athletics, Haas received the Alumni Recognition Award at this spring’s annual Fighting Scots Awards.

“Although not an official alum, Mrs. Haas is as much a part of the fiber of the Fighting Scots as any of those who earn degrees or become All-Americans,” said Haynes. “She will be greatly missed in our office by coaches and student-athletes alike. ... Someone else will file the reports and someone else will keep me organized, but nobody’s going to be the heart of our department like she has been.”

Haas’s long list of duties also included coordinating team travel arrangements, scheduling officials and assigning scoreboard operators and scorebook keepers. She also took care of much of the paperwork relating to NCAA compliance, assisted with student-athlete eligibility and helped manage the department’s budget.

The athletics department has come a long way since Haas’s first day on the job in 1985 which, unbeknownst to her at the time, followed a staff member who only lasted one day at the position.

“No one told me the first person quit after one day,” she said.

“Had I known that, I’m not sure I would have taken the job,

which had 16 varsity sports when Haas started, has since grown to 24 varsity teams.

Students who stopped by her desk soon learned one of Haas’s cardinal rules.

“A lot of times they’ll walk in and ask for a coach by their KATHY HAAS

last name,” she said. “I always correct them and tell them to put ‘Coach’ in front of that name. I think the coaches have earned that respect.

The students need to know how to ask for someone when

they get out of school and are in the business world, and they encounter a receptionist. I want to make sure they know how to do that.”

As Haas transitions into her next chapter, she’ll still do some of the things she enjoyed during her career—spending time with her two young grandchildren, playing golf and attending Monmouth games.

“I’ll enjoy going to the games and not having to do anything,” said Haas, who could frequently be found running the concession stand at football and baseball games and making sure a variety of boxes had been checked at other home events.

Because Haas is not leaving the area, she’ll continue to see all the familiar faces, and it’s likely that she’ll even spend a bit of time behind the athletic office desk after May 31 to help her successor learn the ropes.

And for those with a sweet tooth, Haas had good news: “I told them that just because I’m retiring doesn’t mean I won’t be around. I’ll still be bringing baked goods and coming to ballgames.”

Athletics Director Roger Haynes presents Haas with the Alumni Recoginition Award at this spring’s Fighting Scots Awards.

SUMMER 2019

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SCOTSPORTS

STAYING ON TRACK Haynes’ squads continue to impress in MWC

F

Men’s and women’s head track & field coach

ROGER HAYNES

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or the 18th time in the last 19 years

and for the fifth straight year, Monmouth College’s men claimed the Midwest Conference outdoor track and field team championship, winning by more than 100 points at the meet held in De Pere, Wis. The Fighting Scots women finished a strong second behind defending champion St. Norbert.

“Any time you go to a championship meet, you get some expected performances and some unexpected ones,” said coach Roger Haynes. “We were pretty consistent in both those areas. We got good performances from veterans and had some freshmen and sophomores that helped advance the program. We felt like we had restored our men’s depth in a number of events and they did very well.”

Haynes was named the men’s Coach of the Year and senior John Hintz the Outstanding Men’s Field Event Performer.

Unfortunately for Hintz, the indoor All-American was not able to continue his momentum at the national outdoor meet due to an injury. He was the only Scot to qualify for the meet.

Hintz was part of a 1-2-3 finish in the shot put, with sophomore Drew Thaxton leading the way at 51–2∑. Junior Joe Krall was second and Hintz third. Hintz took the title in the discus with a throw of 156–11 and placed third behind Krall’s winning mark of 183–0 in the hammer.

“We have a good collection of guys in the throws,” praised Haynes. “We’ve got the veterans in the hammer, disc and shot, and some young guys in the javelin. They’re a strong and wellprepared group. We expected good points from them.”

Monmouth captured two other field event titles as sophomore Darius Williams soared 22–11∑ to edge runnerup classmate Seth Andersen in the long jump and freshman Jonathan Oradiegwu cleared a lifetime-best 6–7√ in the high jump, one of the “unexpected” performances Haynes mentioned.

“To a degree, his performance was expected because he’s a physically talented and very competitive person,” said Haynes.

“Those are two very good qualities to have in a championship meet setting. It’s a great thing to be a conference champion as a freshman, but he’s got a way to go before he’s a polished high jumper. He’s starting from a good place.”

Monmouth men came close in two other field events.

Freshman pole vaulter Sebastian Wolf tied for first with the top height at 14–3∑, but was declared the runner-up on the number of attempts to make the mark. Sophomore Austin Pfau and freshman Joseph Oradiegwu finished 2–3 in the triple jump.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

On the track, Stone Darrow picked up two individual conference titles and one in the relays after finishing first in the 100-meter dash in 10.79. He posted a time of 21.81 to take the title in the 200 to complete the sprint sweep. Darrow was joined by Williams, freshman Kaleb Leafers and junior Lucas Sondgeroth to break the tape in the 4≈100 relay, clocking 42.40 to win by nearly a half-second.

“Stone popped off some good times at the Central meet the first week of April and I worried we might be on the downslide and I had missed his training in some regard,” said Haynes.

“His experience was good for him to get through the prelims and be better in the finals. That’s a hard thing to do as a sprinter. You spend so much energy to make sure you get to the finals, many times that extra speed just isn’t there the next day. He responded like we hope veterans would and was really dominant in both his sprints.”

Sophomores Alex Cutright (110-meter hurdles) and Zach Vancil (400-meter dash) and freshman Korbyn Personett (javelin) added third-place finishes.

Vanessa Caldwell led the women’s charge, winning the 100-meter hurdles (14.82), taking second in the 400-meter hurdles and running a leg on the first-place 4≈400 relay.

She was joined by senior Cynthia Myers and freshmen Arika Hofmann and Jordan Peckham on the relay, which won by seven seconds with a time of 3:59.52.

“Vanessa is similar to Stone in that they’re both juniors and are now seasoned veterans in the conference meet,” explained Haynes. “She ran the preliminary rounds well and rose to the occasion in the 100 hurdle race. It was a good veteran weekend where she was her best when she needed to be in the finals.

I felt like the 4x4 could have been better during the year, but they were at their best for the conference weekend. Cynthia Myers really came through and ran about a 60-second leg to help them win that race fairly easily. I’d like to think that’s the start of bigger and better things for that young group.”

Sophomore Hannah McVey had runner-up finishes in the hammer and discus, and other runner-up efforts came from sophomore Josie Welker and junior Aleeka Gentzler, who tied in the high jump, and freshman Caroline Young in the 10K. Third-place points came from sophomore Leigha Sebben in the shot put and hammer, Peckham in the 200, Young in the 5K and freshman Cindy Ladner in the triple jump.

“It was a positive weekend, but we’ll take a slightly different approach heading into next year,” said Haynes. “Some of the upperclassmen will be taking more control of the workouts and communication. Leadership is always best when it comes from within, not necessarily from the coaches, but from your peers.”

SPRING SPORTS SUMMARY

Tyler McDonald ’19

BASEBALL The Fighting Scots’ season was much like the 2018 Chicago Cubs—the best record in their half of their league, but then two playoff games that did not go their way.

With a 10-6 mark, Monmouth won the Midwest Conference South Division, earning the right to host the four-team league playoffs at Glasgow Field. But the Scots fell 4-3 in the opener against North Division runner-up Ripon, then dropped a 5-1 elimination contest against eventual champion Cornell.

The Scots served early notice that they could play at a high level by winning their final six games in Florida to return to campus with an 8-2 record. Their final mark was 22-15.

Senior Tyler McDonald earned South Division Pitcher of the Year honors, going 4-4 with a 2.54 ERA. He was joined on the All-MWC South team by junior first baseman Mike Dato (.300 and team highs of six homers and 39 RBI) and senior relief pitcher Alex Sheetz (0.84 ERA, six saves), who was named an honorable mention All-American

by D3baseball.com. Both Sheetz and McDonald were named to the website’s All-Central Region team. Alan Betourne earned his second straight MWC South Coach of the Year honor.

Association of College Water Polo Coaches.

A first-team All-CWPA selection for the third time while scoring a record 111 goals, Dabrowski is Monmouth’s all-time leading scorer, notching 262 goals over her stellar career. She tallied a record 54 steals, also finishing as the all-time leader in that category (173).

Dabrowski, who was named league MVP, was joined on the all-conference team by two second-team selections—sophomore Miranda Pasky and freshman Skyler Rapp.

Peter Ollis earned the Coach of the Year honor.

Macalester won the league, but Monmouth is not that far off. The teams battled four times during the year. After Macalester won the first meeting by six goals, the other three contests were down-to-the-wire affairs, with the Macs winning 13-10, 12-11 and 13-11.

Two Monmouth players advanced to the singles finals at the Midwest Conference Championships.

Andrew Shie completed a strong rookie season by earning a berth in the title match at No. 2 singles. His final record was 8-7. Sophomore Zach Harris also played for a league title, but came up short in his final match at No. 3 singles. Harris finished 11-6.

Playing mostly at No. 1 singles, sophomore Joseph Shie paced the team with 13 wins as the Scots finished 4-12 overall and 3-5 in MWC matches.

SOFTBALL Coach John Goddard’s squad flirted with a postseason appearance–leading the Midwest Conference for several days in April–but the Scots’ playoff bid ran out of steam at the end.

The fifth-place Scots held serve against the four teams that placed below them in the standings, going 8-0 in those games en route to a league mark of 10-8. Overall, Monmouth was 13-23.

Freshman catcher Jessica Pauley earned second-team All-MWC honors, hitting a teambest .385 and knocking in 20 runs.

During the team’s Florida swing in March, Goddard earned his 200th victory at Monmouth. He has now coached the Scots for 11 seasons, by far the most in program history.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO The Fighting Scots achieved their highest finish in the Collegiate Water Polo Association tournament, placing third as they closed their season with a 7-11 record.

Senior Becca Dabrowski led the way, earning second team All-American honors from the

MEN’S TENNIS

Sam Gillen ’20

MEN’S GOLF Junior Sam Gillen led the way for the fifth-place Scots at the Midwest Conference Championships. His 54-hole score included a pair of team-low 82s.

The event marked the final MWC golf meet, at least for the time being, as Monmouth and four other conference schools will compete next year in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The winner of the SLIAC tourney earns a berth in the NCAA tourney, while the MWC had lost its automatic-qualifier status due to a shortage of competing golf teams.

The change in conference also applies to the women’s golf team, but to no other Monmouth squads who compete in the Midwest Conference.

Jessica Pauley ’22

SUMMER 2019

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By BARRY McNAMARA

THE SOUNDTRACK OF THEIR LIVES Music unites as ‘Rock and Roll Generation’ reunites during Golden Scots celebration When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way ... And now my life has changed in oh so many ways.

M

– The Beatles

onmouth College’s Class of 1969 was so much younger than today when it arrived on campus for the start of their freshman year in 1965. As they did, The Beatles’ “Help!” was at the top of the Billboard singles chart.

One of those class members, Dwight Tierney, went on to a groundbreaking career in the music industry as one of the cofounders of MTV Networks.

On June 6-9, Tierney joined several of his Monmouth classmates for a 50-year reunion gathering as part of the College’s annual Golden Scots Celebration. In all, more than 140 alumni and guests were on campus for a weekend full of special events, informative programs, a Saturday night dance, and formal and informal class reunions, also including the Classes of 1959, 1964 and 1974. Included for the first time was the Friday lunch event

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

ABOVE: Former A Taste of Monmouth, featuring four local 1969 classmates dining establishments.

Bill Trent and “The success of this weekend is a true Jennifer Barnes testament to our great alumni,” said Stauth share a Associate Vice President of Development laugh with other and College Relations Hannah Maher. “The Golden Scots reunion committees and their classmates while reminiscing work for nearly a year with our office. about music from So many of the sessions and events were their college their ideas, and it was fun for our team to days. make them come to life. Having a focus on their era, and the music that defined it, was a special treat throughout the weekend.”

Along with Monmouth College’s president, American historian and music aficionado Clarence R. Wyatt, Tierney led an hourlong discussion centering around the 72 songs that reached No. 1 between the fall of 1965 and the summer of 1969. It could have easily lasted several hours more, as Tierney, Wyatt and the Golden Scots in attendance talked about The Beatles, protest music and the personal impact of the music from that era.

Tierney said a Beatles album released midway through his time at Monmouth changed everything for him.

“One of our classmates, Greg Alms, was always listening to interesting music,” recalled Tierney. “One day, I walked by his room, and what he was playing just stopped me. It was Sgt. Pepper’s (Lonely Hearts Club Band). I watched my life change right in front of me. It was this visceral change that I felt. I thought, ‘I’ve got to get involved in music someday.’”

G O L D E N S C O T S C E L E B R AT I O N The Beatles reached No. 1 with eight different songs during the time the Class of 1969 was enrolled at Monmouth. The song that replaced “Help!” at the top of the chart was Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” which began with the lyrics: “The eastern world, it is explodin’/Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’/You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’.”

Music like that, said Tierney, was different from the saccharine love songs of a more innocent time.

“I remember early in my time at Monmouth, there was an event that was billed ‘featuring live music,’” said Tierney. “I was pretty excited about it, but it turned out to be the Si Zentner Orchestra. I remember telling my mom about it, and she said, ‘Oh, they’re lovely, aren’t they?’

“What we saw as Monmouth students was the end of an era in music, and the start of a completely different era. People started to experiment. You saw the evolution of folk music and meaningful music with cultural views on race and the war in Vietnam. Music was becoming more thoughtful, going beyond ‘You broke my heart and I’m going to kick my dog.’”

Said Monmouth emeritus professor Lee McGaan ’69: “I don’t think Frank Sinatra made music that changed society or was about people going on marches.

For me, ‘Eve of Destruction’ is bookended by ‘(Four Dead in) Ohio’ (the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song about the Kent State shooting in 1970). I was in grad school in Ohio at the time. When I hear that song, I feel the same way I felt then—it carries the same emotional resonance.”

The draft also figured into the music of the late 1960s.

“My sons had an open MTV co-founder Dwight Tierney ’69 highway (to their future),” (above, left) and President Clarence said John Mason ’69. “But Wyatt—both rock and roll music we had the draft. My lottery aficionados—led a Golden Scots number was 30-something, discussion on the history and culture so I knew I was toast.” that shaped a musical revolution.

Although No. 1 songs were the focus of the discussion, others from the era were mentioned, including 1965’s “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, which “was played at every college dance for the next four years,” recalled Bill Trent ’69.

Bette Van Natta Resis ’69 brought up 1968’s “Abraham, Martin and John” by Dion.

“I remember hearing that song for the first time and just looking out the window, listening to those words,” she said of the melancholy song that mourns the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.

Retired art teacher Deeks Carroll ’62 and ceramics professor Janis Wunderlich help Harriet Southerlan Whiteman ’65 throw a pot in a ceramics workshop.

Enjoying the progressive dinner was this group of Scots from the ’70s. From left: Kim Holland ’76, Debra Whitaker Dickens ’74, Michael Dickens ’74, Delores Whitaker ’73, Doug Hughes ’77, Darlene Williams ’75 and Donovan Hunter ’74.

M Club Hall of Famers Michael Blaesing ’96 and Joe Tait ’59 visit the Hall of Fame Room during a campus tour.

Golden Scots wrap up the weekend with a nostalgic Sunday morning chapel service.

SUMMER 2019

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Golden Scots Reunion Classes

Class of 1969 Row 1 (from left): Bob Ruch, Jean Walter Long, Linda Gustafson Sheehan ’70, Candace Pearson Swarthout ’70, Mary Anne Wood Paul, Honore Thynne, Leigh Vassar Matty, Carla Turner Makowski, Susan Rayniak Schneider, Cornelia Kelly Wall, Jennifer Barnes Stauth, Mike Stauth, Nancy Pogue and Frank Goodwin.

Row 2: Chet June, Jim Paul, David Long, John Mason, Dave Nielsen, Lee McGaan, Helen Herriott Schroeder, Joyce Remmert Jones, Leslie Williamson Rumney, Bette Van Natta Resis, John Wall, Dwight Tierney, Steven Hoffman and Arthur Burdette.

Row 3: David Jackson, Bill Trent, Bruce Birdsell, Charles Turnbough, Jay Van Cura, William Ellefson, Richard DuPuy, Barry Corban, John Elliott, Pete Sawyer and Jim Albright.

FOR VIDEOS AND MORE PHOTOS: monmouthcollege.edu/golden-scots

Class of 1974 Row 1 (from left): Lloyd Fish, Vicki Lowder Young, Lynette Johnson Carlson, Gail Simpson Owen, Debra Whitaker Dickens and John Carter.

Row 2: John Hughes, Dan duBois, John Carlson, Paul Waszak, Michael Dickens and Steve Goss.

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MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Class of 1964 Row 1 (from left): Dick Whiteman, Judith Blaich Stipp, Marilyn Kessinger Hubbard, Mary Bailey Marshall, Jane Wilson Dawson, Joan Strand Kotz and Stan McKelvie.

Row 2: Fred Rumney, Tom Doyle, Bill Ortman, Dennis Walker, Donald Denney and Tom Ulmet.

Class of 1959 Row 1 (from left): Dottie Young Voetberg, Sally Platt Ivy, Ellen Littler Perry and Joe Tait.

Row 2: David Willing, Jim Blischke, Richard Sloan and Bernard McKee.

SUMMER 2019 

45

CALLING ALL FORMER SCOTS! Some like to talk. We’d rather show!

Did your memorable Monmouth education begin the first time you set foot on our welcoming campus? It’s never been more beautiful and impressive than it is today, and we’d like the next generation of prospective Scots to enjoy that same experience. If you know of any high school students who might also be a great fit for Monmouth, please share these opportunities with them.

2019-2020 ADMISSION CAMPUS VISIT DAYS MEET MONMOUTH Our version of an open house. Meet faculty, staff and current students, tour campus, enjoy lunch, and more.

*Saturday, Oct.26

Monday, Nov. 11 Monday, Feb. 17 Saturday, April 25 *Includes a separate event with a focus on Engineering

MONMOUTH COLLEGE FELLOWS and SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION Saturday, Feb. 1 First-time freshmen who meet specific academic requirements are invited to interview for scholarships valued up to full tuition.

WALLACE FOUNDERS SCHOLARSHIP INTERVIEWS Friday, Feb. 28 Prospective domestic transfer students who meet specific academic requirements are invited to interview for scholarships valued up to full tuition.

MAKE IT MONMOUTH Saturday, March 21 A special event for admitted students and their families in the process of making a final college decision. .

OTHER VISIT OPPORTUNITIES The Office of Admission welcomes weekday visitors year-round and on select Saturdays during the academic year. Visits during the week can be customized based on what’s important to the individual student.

For more information about planning a campus visit, contact the Office of Admission at 800-747-2687 or go to www.monmouthcollege.edu/visit

46

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

ALUMNI NEWS WE WELCOME NEWS AND PHOTOS related to your career, awards, reunions or travel with your Monmouth College friends, and any other information of interest to your classmates or alumni. We also welcome announcements and photos of alumni weddings and births, as well as alumni obituaries.

Please see page 38 for submission guidelines.

1956 1960

Ruth Goss McKay has moved into the city, relocating from suburban Helotes, Texas, to San Antonio. 60th

REUNION

JUNE 5-7, 2020

Nancy Van Natta Wherry of Pekin, Ill., is secretary for the Class of 1960. She reminds classmates to save the date next June’s 60th reunion and requests news and updates for the class newsletter. Her email address is njwherry@gmail.com.

1961

Marge Bozarth of Lakewood, Colo., was presented in April with the 2019 CEA Award, the highest award given by the Colorado Education Association to a member who has given outstanding service to public education at the state level. A retired teacher, she has served the association for more than 50 years—as a faculty representative, as member of its board of directors, as a regional director and, most recently, as secretary/treasurer. She also served on two political action committees for education, participating on more than 100 interview teams assessing political candidates.

In honor of her retirement as secretary/treasurer, Bozarth was presented with a framed plaque that included a photograph of Monmouth College’s Wallace Hall.

1964

Tom Ulmet of Centennial, Colo., co-authored an article in the Journal of Research in International Education that describes how, beginning in 2000, he was instrumental in bringing international education accreditation services to China and implementing the system. Written jointly with a Chinese author from that country’s National Center for School Curriculum and Textbook Development, it is the first such collaboration between a Westerner and a member of China’s Ministry of Education. Ulmet is executive director of the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools, Hong Kong.

1965

55th

REUNION

JUNE 5-7, 2020

David Biklen of Hartford, Conn., has been appointed chair of the new Uniform Law Commission (ULC) Drafting Committee on Unregulated Transfers of Adopted Children. Biklen has been a member since 1982 of the ULC, a national organization of more than 350 practicing attorneys, judges, law professors, legislators and other state officials—all lawyers.

Former SigEp brothers living in the Chicago area and their wives enjoyed a reunion in May. From left are Bill ’63 and Barbara Graue, Ken Knox ’62, Janet Pearson Manning ’62 and Larry Manning ’62, and Rod ’62 and Diane McQueen.

1966

Dennis Deegan of Twinsburg, Ohio, is a speaker, coach and author. He is the founder of Twinspirations Toastmasters Club, a thriving communications and leadership organization.

BOZARTH

1968

Richard Hourigan of Bear, Del., is a retired Army lieutenant colonel, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Water Technologies (AWT), and an analytical chemist. A chemistry major, he has worked in water and wastewater treatment since 1973.

1969

David Crooks of West Palm Beach, Fla., runs a credit card processing network that he started in the late 1990s. He is also president of the Sunken Treasure Coin Club, and one of his first experiences with that hobby was helping to salvage a Spanish galleon that sank in 1622, from which $400 million was recovered.

Bruce Birdsell of Annapolis, Md., is a retired branch manager in the elevator/escalator industry. He has served the past seven years as a volunteer docent at the Smithsonian Institution Environmental Research Center. Bruce and his wife, Serena Foote Birdsell ’70, have been married 50 years.

ULMET

BIKLEN

Tom Bowden of Gresham, Ore., retired in 2013 after a career in information technology for the banking business. He serves as the Oregon state director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and volunteers much of his time as a UFO investigator.

Carole Riester Callahan of Stonington, Conn., started her own consulting business 20 years ago, working primarily with scientific leaders in global pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Novartis and Johnson ^ Johnson. She and her husband, Bob, live on the Connecticut shoreline, just five minutes from Mystic Seaport.

BOWDEN

Dr. David Jackson of Grayslake, Ill., remains physically active—now, primarily on the golf course, though for years he was an avid downhill skier. Thirteen times after turning 60, he hiked to the top of a Colorado “14er”—a mountain of at least 14,000 feet. A retired veterinarian, he and his wife, Cathy Mayer Jackson ’71, have six grandchildren.

Chet June of Joliet, Ill., is a member of the law firm of June, Podehl, Renzi & Lynch LLC, practicing elder law, probate, guardianship, wills and trusts. He has served on the local school board since 1993.

CALLAHAN

SUMMER 2019

47

ALUMNI NEWS | CLASS NOTES

1970 1972

50th

REUNION

JUNE 5-7, 2020

Stefan Flynn is senior geotechnical engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Rock Island, Ill.

Lon Helton, host of Country Countdown USA, received the National Personality of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music.

1974

Mike Lesniak of Haymarket, Va., retired last year from his position as director of the Association of American Railroads. After earning his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, he spent his entire career in the railroad industry.

1975 1979 1981

45th

REUNION

JUNE 5-7, 2020

40th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

David Anderson of Louisville, Ky., retired this year from Jefferson County Public Schools, where he was a physics, chemistry and environmental studies teacher.

HELTON

1984 1989

35th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

30th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

Brad Nahrstadt of Buffalo Grove, Ill., was featured on the cover of the April 2019 issue of Chicago Lawyer. Nahrstadt is a partner of Lipe Lyons Murphy Nahrstadt & Pontikis Ltd.

1994 1997

25th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

Duncan McPherson has moved to Vancouver, B.C., where he continues to work for East Side Games as senior product manager/producer. He is working on the company’s latest title, “It’s Always Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile.”

1998 MCPHERSON

Dean Caras of Washington, D.C., is working for the United States Department of State.

Mark Sandstrom has retired from his 14-year boys basketball coaching career at Columbia (Ill.) High School. Sandstrom posted 252 of his 336 career coaching wins with the Eagles after winning 84 games at Abingdon (Ill.) High School.

Alison McGaughey transitioned in April from public information specialist at Western Illinois Universities-Quad Cities to marketing specialist for QC MetroLINK.

2001 HALE

Lindsey Sandage Hale of Hudson, Ill., is the author of a self-help book titled “Lifted: How to Ditch Fear, Obligation, and Guilt and Live Your Best Life.” An entrepreneur and life coach, she is a top leader at Thirty-One Gifts.

2004 2009

15th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

10th

REUNION

OCT. 18-20, 2019

Timothy Iverson of Flanagan, Ill., operates Gridley Welding Shop/ Iverson Welding Inc., and also farms with his father and uncle.

LINDSAY

48

2011

Jill Hennenfent Nelson of Joy, Ill., is a research technician for Bridgestone Commercial Solutions in Muscatine, Iowa.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Jon Welty ’12 (front center) completed his first full triathlon in Boulder, Colo. ,in June. Cheering him on were, clockwise from left: Julianna Graf ’16, Joe ’78 and Jean Ann Welty, Cooper Pauley ’18 and Gavin Halpin ’12.

2012

Jon Welty competed in his first full triathlon June 9 at Ironman Boulder, held in and around Boulder, Colo. He placed 295th out of approximately 1,000 competitors in the event, covering the 140.6 total miles in a little more than 12 hours. The grueling distance test included 26.2 miles running, 2.4-miles swimming and a 112-mile bike ride. A three-time all-conference cross country runner while competing for the Fighting Scots, Welty has coached Monmouth’s cross country teams for the past four seasons. He had previously completed a pair of 70.3-mile triathlons, where the swimming, biking and running distances are exactly half of an Ironman event. Cheering him on in Boulder were his parents, Joe ’78 and Jean Ann Welty, his girlfriend, Julianna Graf ’16, his best friend Gavin Halpin ’12 and former and current Fighting Scot runners Cooper Pauley ’18 and Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez ’22, who both live in Colorado.

2013

Kevin Lindsay, the marketing coordinator at Incredible Technologies, Inc., is scheduled to make an appearance on ESPN. In addition to being in the broadcast booth for all three days of his company’s livestream of The 2019 Golden Tee World Championship this summer, Lindsay will also be one of the hosts for a 30-minute highlight show produced by ESPN.

2014

Stevie Croisant, who was profiled in the Summer 2018 issue of Monmouth College Magazine, has launched a podcast for assault and abuse survivors. Launched by the nonprofit We Are HER, which Croisant founded, Becoming HER features the stories of 12 survivors from across the globe. The podcast was featured on iTunes’ “New and Notewor-

continued on page 50

IN THE SCOTLIGHT

JACK CLIFFORD ’10

Diving into new experiences is second nature to versatile teacher

By BARRY McNAMAR A

E

ven before he was a Monmouth College student, Jack Clifford was open to new experiences.

The 2010 graduate still has that philosophy today, and it’s led him to several simultaneous opportunities, including children’s book illustrator, high school teacher, swimming and diving coach, and theatre set designer.

“It’s just about never saying ‘No’ to an opportunity—always saying ‘Yeah, I’ll do that,’” said Clifford, whose principal job is art teacher at Washington (Ill.) Community High School. “Doing that has allowed me to develop a lot of different skills.”

Two of those skills particularly shaped his college decision.

Clifford said he chose Monmouth because of the opportunity to major in art education and to dive for the Fighting Scots.

“I was the first diver for Monmouth since something like the 1970s,” said Clifford, who competed all four years for the Scots.

“We had a really strong-knit team, and we had some great successes.” Three of Clifford’s teams placed runner-up in the Midwest Conference, and he still holds Monmouth’s record high score for an 11-dive event.

Clifford stuck with art as a major but drifted away from his teaching goal as he became more curious about the business side of art. He even pursued business as a second major before settling on communication studies.

“Becoming a teacher was always in the back in the mind,” said Clifford, who worked as a graphic designer his first two years out of college. “I started substitute teaching around that time, and that made me think, ‘Yeah, I should’ve been a teacher.’”

Taking what he called “the unconventional route,” Clifford enrolled in a master’s degree program for teaching certification at the University of Illinois two years after graduating from Monmouth, completing his studies in 2014. During that time, he also taught at a private high school.

Clifford began teaching at Washington last fall, where he also works with the school’s swimming and diving teams. He’s been praised for his “contagious” school spirit.

One of his Monmouth art professors, Stacy Lotz, can attest.

She saw Clifford at a high school meet last fall.

“We talked a bit during the break and before I could get back to my seat, Jack was on the diving board coaching all of the divers—his own school, as well as the other high schools present. He got off of the board and worked individually with each swimmer/diver.

“At the end of the meet, several parents were talking about ‘that fabulous coach from Washington,’ and one of the parents that had seen me talking to him at the break asked if I knew him. I couldn’t have been more proud to say that ‘Yes, I know that fabulous coach—he was a student of mine at Monmouth College.’”

Simply put, said Lotz, Clifford is “a born teacher—he’s compassionate, talented and inspiring.”

Two years ago, Clifford’s willingness to try something new led to his illustrating work.

“I saw on Facebook that a company was looking for artists,” he said of Read with You Center for Language Research and Development. “They have books that teach English to children from the Asian culture. Authors throughout the United States write stories for these learning books, and I do the illustrations for some of them.”

So far, Clifford has worked on a dozen books, which each feature 30 illustrations, “give or take.” The books are available on Amazon.

“The author sends me the text, and then I ask questions, like ‘Do you want to use animals in the illustrations or humans?’

Sometimes the authors let me have the full vision for the illustrations. ... I love that I get to be very creative with it,” he said.

Clifford creates his artwork for the books with a mouse and the program Adobe Illustrator.

“I layer different shapes, and it’s very similar to the art style I developed at Monmouth with lots of colors,” he said. “For example, if I’m illustrating a turtle, I might use four or five or more different shades of green.”

Now that he’s gained experience with the process, Clifford will offer a class in digital illustration at Washington next year.

As for his wide-ranging set of occupations—which also includes teaching at the Art at the Bodega studio in Washington and helping with its day-to-day operations—the layering of experiences has been the key.

“All the different things I’ve done have led me up to this,” he said.

An art major and communication studies major at Monmouth, Jack Clifford finds an outlet for his skills through teaching, coaching and— recently— illustrating books.

SUMMER 2019

49

ALUMNI NEWS | CLASS NOTES

Class of 2014 – continued thy” section, which has given it an international audience. The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and other popular podcasting platforms. “It’s been an incredible experience pulling my experience from Monmouth to make this endeavor come to life,” said Croisant. “This podcast is truly changing lives.”

Karrah Kuykendall of Moline, Ill., earned a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois. She is a reference librarian in Rock Island.

Taylor Woods, who just completed her first year teaching at Harding Primary School in Monmouth, was one of five teachers in eastern Iowa and western Illinois recognized this year by WQ AD-TV for being a difference maker in her school. “I’m not creating mathematicians and readers and writers. I’m creating citizens,” said Woods, who has her class do a different service project every month. “I want to send them out in the world knowing how they can contribute and how to make the world a better place.”

2015

Stephanie Lankford Baker graduated from A.T. Still University’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo., on May 18. Baker received the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (DO) and was one of 170 new physicians graduating from ATSU/KCOM at its annual May commencement. Baker began her residency at Research Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, in July, where she will be trained as a family medicine physician.

2017

Brad Dulee was awarded the Richard W. and Trudy Gassmann Reynolds Scholarship in Rural Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford. Enrolled in the Rural Medical Education Program, Dulee has been active in the James Scholar Program, the Pediatrics Interest Group and as a volunteer at the Bridge Clinic in Rockford.

BAKER

VANDERPOOL

Megan Horack has taken a new position as the adult services librarian at Warren County Public Library in Monmouth. She completed her master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois in May. Emma Venderpool has received the Distinguished Graduate Student Teaching Award at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, one of only two prizes given to graduate student teachers each year.

Her UMass students in her Latin 120 class nominated her for the award because of her efforts to engage, educate and enlighten them.

2018 CURTIS

RILLIE

50

Natalie Curtis has been named the first Artist in Residence under a new program established by Monmouth’s Buchanan Center for the Arts. A working artist who graduated with degrees in art and mathematics, her work covers a variety of media, from painting and sculpting to graphic design.

She will share her talent through classroom activities, exploring the role of the Buchanan Center with her own installation, and creating a lasting mural that celebrates the history and impact of the Buchanan Center in the Monmouth community.

Hannah Rillie recently completed a yearlong post-baccalaureate fellowship at Monmouth College, during which she helped catalog the College’s art collection. She has been accepted into a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she will pursue a master’s degree in art history.

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Samantha McKelvie ’05 celebrated Scots Day 2019 appropriately, by visiting the historic Scottish fortress Edinburgh Castle.

Submission Guidelines Submit your news online at monmouthcollege. edu/alumni/updates, by email to alumni@ monmouthcollege.edu, or by mail to Monmouth College Magazine, Attn: Alumni Programs, 700 East Broadway, Monmouth IL 61462-1998.

Digital photos should have a minimum resolution of 300 pixels per inch. Please include a photo caption with full names that clearly match faces, class years, date and location. We reserve the right to reject images for any reason, especially those with low resolution and those that require purchase from a photo gallery website. Submissions will be published at the discretion of the editors on a spaceavailable basis.

IN THE SCOTLIGHT

LINDSEY GATES-MARKEL ’06 Creativity takes many forms for professional communicator

By BARRY McNAMAR A

W

hen the theatre lights go down, when her written message is conveyed, when she finds a creative solution for a client—these are a few of Lindsey Gates-Markel’s favorite things.

The lead content strategist at Pixo, a consulting firm in Urbana, Ill., the multi-talented alumna is also a member of The Celebration Company at The Station Theatre and is a published author, specializing in non-fiction essays and memoirs.

“When the lights go down in the theatre for one of our productions, I think, ‘This is my favorite thing in the whole world,’” said Gates-Markel. “But I also have that feeling when I read something I don’t remember writing, and I think, ‘Oh, that really says what I wanted it to say.’ ... At Pixo, helping our clients is about being creative in the ways I ask questions to draw out information—communicating in a way that really helps the client get their message across.

“I’m lucky that I get to feel like all those things are my favorite. It’s all about feeling fulfilled.”

In other words, said Gates-Markel, Monmouth College’s “liberal arts aspect influences me every day.”

“It really taught me to look at things critically and to ask questions,” she said. “When I’m meeting with clients, it’s all about asking the right questions. My education has just influenced me in such a core way and helped me to relate to people with different points of view.”

Gates-Markel began her college journey at Illinois State University, which was a far cry from her 28-member graduating class at tiny Jamaica (Ill.) High School.

“I enrolled as an acting student at Illinois State, but after about three weeks, I realized it was not for me,” she said of what she called “a very competitive” atmosphere.

Gates-Markel started to feel more at home during a stint at Parkland Community College in Champaign, Ill., staying involved in acting but also exploring English and women’s studies.

While looking for a next destination, she and a friend visited some Illinois colleges, and Monmouth checked a very important box.

“It’s corny, I know, but when I came to Monmouth, it really felt like home,” she said. “It just felt so perfectly sized—small, but still plenty to do.”

Gates-Markel jumped right into the theatre scene, earning a role in what she called her most memorable production at

Monmouth—The Laramie Project.

“That was a major production just because of the subject matter,” she said. “You’re in college, and you have certain beliefs. And then art and the people you meet challenge those beliefs. The Laramie Project was a major catalyst for me in that regard —the way it teaches you to have compassion and empathy for people who are different than you.”

Despite her stage presence, Gates-Markel opted not to major in theatre, instead choosing English. Part of the reason, she said, was practicality for future employment, but there were other factors, as well.

“I’d been in community theatre since I was about 12, so I had already proved to myself that I was going to be involved with that craft. It was clear to me that I could major in English and writing and still be involved in theatre. Writing was just as important to me, so by majoring in English, I could have my cake and eat it, too.”

Gates-Markel used her degree as a springboard to a master’s degree in creative writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. She called that a “zag” in her writing journey, as she has since turned her focus to non-fiction writing. Her work has most recently been published in Little Fiction, WhiskeyPaper and Sundog Lit. “I took a class with (English professor) Mark Willhardt where we studied several nonfiction essays,” she said. “I really loved it and was drawn to it. I remember thinking at the time that not much had happened to me yet in life to write about since I was only 20, but that type of writing stuck with me, and it’s what I do now.”

Gates-Markel also hones her acting craft, with such memorable experiences as playing the lead role of Hamlet and starring in a one-woman show. She has also directed a Celebration Company production.

She can certainly identify with the line by Polonius in Hamlet: “This above all: to thine own self be true.”

A communicatons consultant, an actor and an author, GatesMarkel says her Monmouth College experience helped her discover and synthesize her many talents.

SUMMER 2019

51

2019 HOMECOMING AWARDS PREVIEW Goldsborough, Chism to headline 2019 Homecoming awards

M

ore than a dozen accomplished members of the Monmouth College family will be honored during Homecoming weekend, Oct. 18-19.

Award activities will begin Friday evening, Oct. 18, with the annual Alumni Impact Awards, sponsored by the Monmouth College Alumni Board. Receiving the College’s highest honor— induction into the Hall of Achievement—will be emeritus Board of Trustees chair Bill Goldsborough ’65 and trustee emerita Karen Barrett Chism ’65.

Goldsborough, of Glen Ellyn, Ill., is a private investor who previously served as a vice president for Lincoln Capital Management and as an investment officer at Harris Bank.

The holder of an MBA from the University of Chicago, he also taught economics and business administration at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. A member of the Monmouth Board of Trustees since 1985, he was appointed to its executive committee in 1995 and served as chair from 2012-2017.

Chism, of Palo Alto, Calif., is owner of Clinical Compliance Consulting, LLC, which provides clinical compliance support to pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs for cancer and neurological diseases. A former biology teacher, she holds a master’s degree in zoology/education from the University of Iowa and an MBA from Santa Clara University. She served on the Monmouth Board of Trustees from 1994-2017, chairing its Student Affairs Committee.

Receiving the Distinguished Alumnus Award will be Robert G. Riley Jr. ’70 of Des Moines, Iowa. Riley is president and CEO of Feed Energy Co., which delivers naturally-derived, antibiotic-free livestock feed supplements to the agricultural industry. He is co-founder of FEC Solutions, a leading marketer of corn oil RILEY from ethanol facilities. He is also founder and CEO of Riverhead Resources, which assists entrepreneurs in achieving their business potential.

52

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

BILL GOLDSBOROUGH ’65

KAREN BARRETT CHISM ’65

URBAN

William Urban, Lee L. Morgan Professor of History and International Studies emeritus, will be presented with the Distinguished Service Award. His service to Monmouth College—as a faculty member, department chair, adviser, mentor and coach—has spanned more than half a century. He authored a history of Monmouth College in 1979.

SANBERG

Jennifer Ericksen Sanberg ’10 of Kirkwood, Ill., will receive the Young Alumnus Award. She has been Monmouth College’s assistant director of career development and intern coordinator since 2016. Previously, she served as associate director of the Monmouth Fund. She holds a master’s degree in college student personnel from Western Illinois University.

Recognized as Monmouth College Family of the Year will be the Tanney Family, which includes Don Tanney ’79; his sons Mitch Tanney ’06 and Alex Tanney ’11, and Mitch’s wife, Ashley Yeast Tanney ’08. Don Tanney is a member of the M Club Hall of Fame. Both Mitch and Ashley will be inducted into the Hall during Homecoming weekend.

DON TANNEY Professor Trudi Peterson will be honored with the Hatch Academic Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching. The award is distinctive in that nominations are made by Mon-

PETERSON

mouth alumni, based on how influential a faculty member was to their personal development and career success. A member of the communication studies department since 1998 and currently its chair, she is also the College’s women’s studies coordinator. She holds a master’s degree in interpersonal and public communication and a Ph.D. in communication.

On Saturday morning, Oct. 19, the M Club Hall of Fame will welcome new inductees Jaime Jones Goin ’02, Mitch Tanney ’06, Ashley Yeast Tanney ’08 and Dante Daniels ’08.

Goin, of Chatham, Ill., was a four-time all-conference volleyball hitter, and holds the Fighting Scots record of 1,754 kills. Mitch Tanney, who is currently director of analytics for the Denver Broncos, quarterbacked the Scots to a 19-2 record his junior and senior years and holds the school record

Invest in their future, and yours.

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of 9 yards per passing attempt. Ashley Tanney led the nation in basketball rebounding her junior year, averaging nearly 14 per game. She also excelled in volleyball, placing in the career top 10 for both block assists and attack percentage.

Also on Saturday, three individuals—Dwayne Hughes ’87, the late Richard “Doc” Kieft and Amy Stark Spong ’99—will be inducted into the Fraternity and Sorority Hall of Fame, a recognition program established by Monmouth’s Delta Lambda chapter of Order of Omega.

The award recognizes alumni and friends who have achieved top success within their professional areas and have given back to their communities.

Hughes (Theta Chi), of Plainfield, Ill., is senior vice president of supply chain for Hearthside Food Solutions. Kieft was an emeritus Monmouth College chemistry professor and trustee who served as a longtime adviser to Monmouth’s Delta Lambda chapter of ZBT. Spong (Alpha Xi Delta), of Normal, Ill., is a business analyst for State Farm Insurance.

SAMPLE ANNUITY RATES FOR INDIVIDUALS:

Age 70 5.60 %

Age 75 6.20 %

Age 80 7.30 % SAMPLE ANNUITY RATES FOR TWO LIVES: (Joint and Survivor)

Age 70 5.00 %

Age 75 5.50 %

Age 80 6.20 %

Contact the Office of Development and College Relations (309) 457-2323 development@monmouthcollege.edu

SUMMER 2019

53

WEDDINGS

2011 Jill Hennenfent and Kaden Nelson

February 2, 2019 2012 Amanda Lehmann and Matthew Jefferson ’11

November 17, 2018 2013 Brycie Courter and Dan Weiden ’09

May 5, 2018 2017 TaShea’ Tinglin and Dushan Moore Jr. ’16

April 4, 2018

BRYCIE COURTER ’13 AND DAN WEIDEN ’09

Have a wedding or birth photo to share?

TASHEA’ TINGLIN ’17 AND DUSHAN MOORE JR. ’16

54

MONMOUTH COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Email your high-resolution digital image to alumni@monmouthcollege.edu. Be sure to include all pertinent information, including date of wedding or birth, couples and parents’ names and class years (if applicable), and identification of all individuals in photos, if not obvious.

BIRTHS

1998 Michelle and Reese Berry

a son, Everett Reese

June 14, 2018 2006 Rachel McCombs Robertson and Dustin

a son, Lucas James

August 3, 2018 2003 Tara Todd Lewis and Greg

a daughter, Brooklyn Diane

July 26, 2018 2007 Paige Taylor Leath and Quinn

a son, Paxton

October 15, 2018 2009 Felicia Roberts Wachob and Glenn

a son, Glenn “Tripp” Ivan III

November 27, 2018

CRISTIAN COLE STEVENS

2010 Jenny Erickson Sanberg and Ben

a daughter, Charlotte Kathleen

May 27, 2019

Nancy Stevens and Alex a son, Cristian Cole October 14, 2018

2017 Morgan and Brad Dulee

a son, Luke Thomas

January 4, 2019

GLENN “TRIPP” IVAN WACHOB III

BROOKLYN DIANE LEWIS

LUKE THOMAS DULEE

SUMMER 2019

55

OBITUARIES

1940

The Rev. James Manor, 100, died Feb. 9, 2019. He graduated with a degree in political science and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon and the Octopus Club. After graduating from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Manor was pastor of Presbyterian churches in Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. An honorary degree of ministry was conferred on him by Monmouth College.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Ann Jones Manor ’41. Survivors include a sister, Barbara Williamson-Nichol ’53.

1944

Helen Adair Hayes, 96, of Monmouth, died May 13, 2019. An art major at Monmouth, she completed her degree at the University of Illinois, then was a graphic artist until moving back to the Monmouth area in 1974.

1945

Shirley Leiner Greenfield, 95, of Minnetonka, Minn., died April 16, 2019. A member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, she graduated with a degree in business administration before earning a master’s degree at the University of Illinois.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years.

1948

Betty Hagen Maseng, 92, of Columbia, S.C., died April 8, 2019. She studied art and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. Prior to the career she started later in life as a preschool teacher and early childhood educator, Maseng coached Miss Illinois pageant contestants, was active in John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign and lived in Melbourne, Australia, among other highlights. Survivors include her husband of 70 years.

Mary Jo McFarland Sims, 92, of Centerville, Ohio, died April 19, 2019. She studied mathematics and was a member of Crimson Masque before earning a master’s degree at Indiana University. Sims taught mathematics at the University of Dayton and high school and junior high English and math from the mid-1970s until her retirement in 2000.

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1949

Jackie McGinnis Shoemaker, 91, of Lincoln, Ill., died May 8, 2019. She graduated with a degree in sociology and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She taught school in Littleton, Colo., and Monmouth and was the receptionist at the CPA practice of her husband, the late Monmouth College business administration instructor Homer Shoemaker.

Survivors include children Holly Shoemaker Yocum ’75 and Steve Shoemaker ’80.

1950

Max Reid, 92, of Savoy, Ill., died May 5, 2019. He graduated with a degree in physical education and was a member of the football team and Tau Kappa Epsilon. Prior to attending Monmouth, Reid served in the Navy from 1944-46 as a radar man aboard the USS San Francisco in the South Pacific. His military honors include the Victory Medal. He worked for two insurance agencies before opening his own agency in Champaign and DeLand. Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Faye Nicholas Reid ’50.

1952

Emma Jean Thompson Carner, 89, of Rozetta, Ill., died April 1, 2019. She studied home economics and was a member of the synchronized swim team before completing her degree at Illinois State University Teachers College.

Carner taught home economics in the Yorkwood school district for 22 years and was the family nutrition program coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension. She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years.

Survivors include a daughter, Kathryn Carner Flatt ’79.

William Witter, 88, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., died March 21, 2019. He studied geology and political science and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. Witter made his career in the Air Force, serving around the U.S. and in Germany and Thailand. A Vietnam veteran, he earned several medals, including the Bronze Star. He and his wife owned and operated apartments in Myrtle Beach, as well as a grocerette and an ice cream shop. Later in life, he completed his political science degree at Coastal Carolina University, finishing first in his class.

1954

Joseph Carbonari of Houston, Texas, died Feb. 2, 2019.

A member of the golf team and Sigma Phi Epsilon, he graduated with a degree in business administration.

Carbonari also received a master’s degree in education and an Ed.D. in the education of psychiatry from Northern Illinois University. He had an award-winning 40-year teaching career at the University of Houston, including stints as the chair of the psychology department at the school’s University Park campus and associate dean of the College of Social Sciences. Survivors include his wife, Norma Jackson Carbonari ’53.

Thomas Flanders, 86, of Whitewater, Wis., died Aug. 25, 2018. A physics major and member of Theta Chi, Flanders left Monmouth to join the Naval Aviation Cadet program, serving as a Marine Corps pilot. He then returned to Monmouth to complete his degree. Flanders, who worked as an engineer for several large corporations, is survived by his wife of 63 years.

1955

Nancy Earp Brown, 86, of Huntley, Ill., died April 28, 2019. She graduated with a degree in history and was a member of Pi Beta Phi. Todd McKellar, 85, of Vandalia, Ill., died Feb. 25, 2019.

He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. A Navy veteran, he was the founder of McKellar, Robertson, McCarty and Click Insurance. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Barbara Rahn McKellar ’57, and a son, Michael McKellar ’85.

Gordon E. Speer, 85, of Sterling, Ill., died June 5, 2019. A chemistry major, he minored in music, played in the concert band and sang in the choir, where he met his future wife, the late Elizabeth Lucille Glenn ’55.

He also traveled and sang with the men’s quartet, preached for the gospel team and was captain of the rifle team.

He was a member of the American Chemical Society and the honorary music fraternity Pi Alpha Nu. Speer earned a master’s degree in

ALUMNI NEWS | OBITUARIES

teaching science from Northern Michigan University and taught physics, chemistry, general science and computer programming at Sterling Township High School for 32 years. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship and participated in three NSF Summer Institutes—at the University of Southern California (modern concepts in nuclear, atomic and molecular physics); the University of California San Francisco (history and philosophy of science); and with Iowa State University Extension at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico (geology and earth science.) In 1985-86, he passed the initial screening for the NASA Teacher in Space Program. In his spare time, Speer operated his own businesses—Speer Electronics Service, Speer Tax Services and SMILES (“Speer Miles” Automotive Transport Services), worked as a highway designer for the Illinois Department of Transportation and as a fire watch guard for the Byron Nuclear Station.

For many years, he penned a monthly computer column for TRS-80 Magazine. He also sold collectible books to customers around the world on his own website. Speer took his family on camping trips throughout the United States in his custom-designed and built recreational vehicles. He was a member of the EAA (International Experimental Aircraft Association) and Twin Cities Flying Club of Sterling-Rock Falls, Illinois. He enjoyed flying several types of planes and built his own experimental aircraft, an Aerosport Quail. He participated in a record seven-day construction of a complete airplane at the Oshkosh, Wis., Convention of the EAA. An active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Sterling, he sang in its adult choir.

Speer was preceded in death by his wife and his parents, Harland Russell Speer ’26 and Frances May French Speer ’28. Survivors include his sister, Roberta Speer Parkinson ’51, three daughters, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

James Thomas, 85, of Havana, Ill., died Feb. 14, 2019. He graduated with a degree in English and was a member of the basketball team and Alpha Tau Omega. He served in the Marines and was a veteran of the Korean War, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. Among several professional and civic leadership positions, he served as president of Land of Lincoln Insurance Company and Town & Country Realty.

1958

James Moffatt, 82, of Orinda, Calif., died Jan. 23, 2019.

He graduated with a degree in history and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Survivors include his wife of 49 years.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Urie, 86, of Laurinburg, Ill., died Dec. 6, 2016. A philosophy major, he was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years.

1960

Roberta Baer Brown, 80, of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., died Dec. 26, 2018. A member of Pi Beta Phi, she graduated with a degree in music, then received her teacher certification. She taught English, social studies and music to middle school students in Rancho Palos Verdes for more than 40 years.

Judith Stafford Denniston, 80, of White Lake, Mich., died May 7, 2019. She graduated with a degree in English and was a member of Kappa Delta.

Denniston had two stints teaching high school English, sandwiched around being a stay-at-home mom until her three children graduated. Survivors include her husband of 57 years, Donn Denniston ’60.

attaining the rank of captain and earning a Purple Heart among several other awards and medals. An artillery forward observer and battery commander, he was in action in Hue during the Tet Offensive in 1968, just one example of the type of hazardous duty to which he was accustomed. After his distinguished military service, Bingaman had a successful career in real estate and day trading.

1964

The Rev. Stanley Wherry, 76, of Hamlet, Ill., died Nov. 29, 2018. A member of the football team and Theta Chi, he graduated with a degree in psychology, then earned two master’s degrees from the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. Ordained in 1967, his Presbyterian ministry spanned more than 50 years. Wherry served churches in Illinois, New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Mary Ann Gustafson Wherry ’64, and brothers Marvin Wherry’ 62 and Kenneth Wherry ’73.

Donald Yankovic of Friday Harbor, Wash., died in 2017. He graduated with a degree in economics.

1961

1965

1963

1966

Alan Campbell, 79, of Alexandria, Va., died March 3, 2019, from complications due to multiple sclerosis.

He graduated with a degree in speech/communication/theater and was a member of Crimson Masque and Theta Chi. Campbell then entered the Army, excelling in Russian. His first post was at the White House the day after President Kennedy’s funeral.

He was one of four translators for the Moscow-Washington Hotline. Campbell also used his expertise in Russian while working at the Library of Congress and in other roles, including the National Academy of Sciences, the Friendship Force, the Fulbright Fund and the Children of Chernobyl exchange program.

John Bingaman of Denver, Colo., died March 2, 2018, of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He graduated with a degree in psychology and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. Bingaman is in the M Club Hall of Fame for his two-way success on the football team, which included being named to the Little All-America team.

He played in the short-lived United Football League and for the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the Canadian Football League. Bingaman served in the Marine Corps from 1966-69,

Harold Bern Jr., 75, of Castle Rock, Wash., died March 27, 2019. He graduated with a degree in English and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Bern served in the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and was honorably discharged in 1969 as a first lieutenant. He worked in personnel and human resources for more than 30 years in six states, retiring in 2000. He then took on the role of editor of The Swedish American Genealogist.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years.

Thomas Moore, 75, of Little Rock, Ark., died June 25, 2018. An Army veteran, he had a career in human resources that spanned the country.

After retiring, he started his own HR consulting firm.

1967

Paul Davis, 73, of Rock Island, Ill., died March 20, 2019.

A mathematics major, he worked as a computer programmer for the State of Florida’s Department of Labor and Employment Security.

SUMMER 2019

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ALUMNI NEWS | OBITUARIES

Class of 1967 – continued Dennis LaVigne, 74, of Kettering, Ohio, died March 29, 2019. He graduated with a degree in business administration before receiving a master’s degree in economics from Miami (Ohio) University and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Illinois. His career spanned 40 years and included teaching at Illinois Wesleyan University and leadership roles at financial institutions across the country.

1969

Joseph Bergamo of Bethel, Vt., died in 2016. A member of the football team and Theta Chi, he completed his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

William Conley, 71, of Clinton, Iowa, died March 13, 2019. A government major, he earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University. He taught in Keithsburg, Ill., and at three schools in Clinton, retiring after almost 40 years. In 2006, he and his wife started Gazebo Antiques.

1970

Sammy Wallace Blender, 83, of Raritan, Ill., died March 1, 2019. She earned a degree in history. Blender was a teacher for 25 years in the school system in Burlington, Iowa, and was a village trustee in Raritan for more than 30 years.

She had a rich family connection with her alma mater. Survivors include her husband of 64 years, James Blender ’68, children Joela Blender Purlee ’78 and James Blender ’81 and grandchildren Rob Purlee ’04 and Sami Purlee Bast ’06.

William Moore, 70, of Sierra Vista, Ariz., died March 19, 2019, of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He graduated with a degree in history and was a member of the football team and Tau Kappa Epsilon. A decorated soldier who earned a Legion of Merit medal, Moore served in six states with the U.S. Army, as well as Germany and Italy.

Survivors include his wife of 47 years, Cyndy Frazier Moore ’71, whom he married within days of starting officer candidate school.

1972

Philip Fox, 68, of Huntsville, Texas, died March 11, 2019. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and worked for 42 years in management and administration with Butler Manufacturing in Galesburg, Ill., and Visalia, Calif.

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James Houran, 64, of Lemont, Ill., died April 26, 2019. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the football team and Theta Chi. Houran was a salesman and later president for many years of a family-owned business supply store in Chicago Heights, Ill. Michael Palmer, 69, of Hot Springs, Ark., died May 5, 2019. He majored in business administration and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

1973

William Ellison, 66, of Kansas City, Mo., died Aug. 16, 2018. He studied music at Monmouth and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon before completing his degree at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., where he lived his first 35 years. Ellison’s first two jobs were middle school music teacher and announcer on WVIK-FM. He then completed a degree at the Northern Illinois University College of Law and worked for law firms in Chicago and Kansas City, helping make companies pay for environmental issues they caused.

Paula Hargrove, 67, of New Market, Ala., died March 28, 2019. A member of Alpha Xi Delta, she graduated with a degree in music before earning a master’s degree in elementary education from Western Kentucky University. Part of a military family, she taught in many places during her 40-year career, including Germany.

1977

Jackie Morris of Kansas City, Kansas, died Feb. 19, 2019. She graduated with a degree in elementary education and was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

1987

Douglas N. Long, 54, of Interlochen, Mich., died June 1, 2019.

A history and education major, he received his M.S. in counseling from Sam Houston State University in Texas. He began his career on the residence life staff at Interlochen Academy, then spent nine years teaching, coaching and counseling for the Spring (Texas) Independent School District before returning to Interlochen in 2000 as assistant dean of students. In 2003, he moved to the academy’s academic and college counseling department, which he led for nearly a decade. Survivors include a sister, Melody Long Evans ’98.

1989

The Rev. Msgr. Gregory Ketcham, 50, of Bloomington, Ill., died Feb. 8, 2018, of brain cancer.

He followed his father, the late Keith Ketcham ’51, to Monmouth, where he studied biology and was on the football team. Ketcham was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1994 and his first several assignments were in western Illinois, including Monmouth, Raritan, Oquawka, Nauvoo and Dallas City.

He also served larger churches in Peoria, Champaign and Bloomington.

1974

John Pisani, 66, of Davie, Fla., died June 22, 2018. He graduated with a degree in biology and was a member of the football and wrestling teams and Alpha Tau Omega.

1991

1975

1992

Eric Anderson, 66, of Jackson, Ohio, died Feb. 8, 2019, from complications related to cancer and a stroke. Better known as “Hunk,” he graduated with a degree in speech/communication/ theater arts. He first worked as a high school librarian, before moving to Iowa, where he worked at the Sioux City Public Library. In 1982, he earned a graduate degree from Dominican (Ill.) University, and in 1987 became executive director of Ohio Valley Area Libraries. His final occupation was working as an archivist at a former Department of Energy nuclear plant in Piketon, Ohio. He also was the author and creator of the Wired Librarians Newsletter. Anderson, who was an avid Amtrak rider and golfer, is survived by his wife, two daughters and three grandchildren.

Kelly Smet, 50, of Peoria, Ill., died April 9, 2019, of multiple system atrophy. A member of Pi Beta Phi, she graduated with a degree in business administration.

Allyce Adams-Smith, 46, of Clearwater, Fla., died March 16, 2017. She graduated with a degree in sociology.

2009

Sean Gillen, 32, of Peoria, Ill., died May 11, 2019, after going into cardiac arrest during a workout.

A physical education major at Monmouth who played on the football team, Gillen was a football and track coach at Notre Dame High School, his alma mater.

Faculty/Staff

Peggy Kulczewski, 69, of Monmouth, a former lecturer in educational studies, died April 25, 2019. Survivors include her sister, Ruth Shimmin ’82.

IN THE SCOTLIGHT

CRAIG ANDERSON ’91

State high school sports exec says athletics can enrich lives sports as I could. So I got to do that and achieve that; it was what I articipation in athletics is not set out to do. But you never know— just about skill development, there may be something beyond it’s about learning life lessons. that. There are untold opportuniThat’s the philosophy that Craig ties out there.”

Anderson carried away from For Anderson, those opportuMonmouth College, and it’s also a nities began when he decided to storyline he sees play out every day transition to athletic administrain his role as executive director of the tion. Although he lost day-to-day Illinois High School Association. contact with the players on a Anderson recently shared his roster, he took pride in having a Monmouth story with some of the larger impact and influence on the College’s physical education and student-athletes at his next two kinesiology classes, and he also IHSA executive director Craig Anderson ’91 tells Monmouth (Illinois) high schools, Olympia students how athletics can pave a path to professional success reflected on the changing landscape and Washington. and personal satisfaction. of high school sports.

Connections he made along the way with a pair of men who “I played for fantastic coaches at Monmouth,” said Anderson, went on to work for the IHSA—executive director Marty Hickwho played football and basketball for the Fighting Scots after man and associate director Dave Gannaway—led to him going starring at nearby Cambridge High School.

On the gridiron, his coach was Kelly Kane, while his basketto work there and, in 2016, succeeding Hickman as head of the ball coach was Terry Glasgow. Anderson required a pause for organization. an emotional time out while recalling his playing days for the “I’m proud of the network I created,” Anderson told the class. two Hall of Fame coaches.

“Never burn bridges—you don’t know who the next person who’s “The relationships I formed at Monmouth I treasure,” he going to hire you is going to know in your path.” said. “Those days, I will never give them away. They’re unforAs IHSA executive director, Anderson has many respongettable to me. I learned not just skill development, but life sibilities, running the spectrum from attending the state lessons.” tournaments to answering questions from principals and Anderson still vividly recalls an encounter with Glasgow, athletic directors at the IHSA’s 817 member schools to making waiting patiently while “TG” finished a phone conversation. about 3,000 rulings annually on student-athlete eligibility.

“You could tell he was giving a personal reference,” said AnIn addition to helping create a strategic plan for the associaderson. “When he got done, he said to me, ‘Don’t worry, someday tion, Anderson’s time is also devoted to newer issues, including I’ll lie to a future employer about you, too.’ He was joking, of the emerging activities of girls’ wrestling and e-sports, restruccourse, but I remember resolving that day that I didn’t want him turing the state basketball tournament, and the creation of to have to lie about me. It made a significant impact on me.” districts in football.

As it turned out, it was a connection that his other Fighting No matter how these sometimes controversial issues unfold, Scots head coach had that helped Anderson secure his first job Anderson’s big-picture goal remains to create and sustain the after Monmouth. Kane was connected to an administrator at same type of experience for today’s student-athletes that he had Morton High School, where Anderson was hired and spent the during his playing days. next 10 years as a teacher and coach.

“Real success should be like myself,” he said. “I never played Anderson advised the Monmouth students to have an initial in a state championship game, but I created a bond with coachcareer plan, but said sometimes life provides even bigger oppores and teammates that lasts forever. That bond will connect tunities. today’s athletes for the rest of their lives. It’s the relationships “I was a math teacher and a football coach and a basketball coach,” he said of his time at Morton. “I was coaching as many and the camaraderie that are precious.”

By BARRY McNAMAR A

P

SUMMER 2019

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THE LAST WORD

ENGAGING CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT PROVIDES NOURISHMENT TO FUTURE RURAL TEACHERS

G

rowing up in a small, rural midwest town

“where everyone knows your name” made it easy for me to transition to Monmouth College, where professors know all students by name and not by an anonymous number. When alumni are asked to recall their favorite memories while at Monmouth College, they typically recall a connection with a specific professor, coach or alumnus.

Attending Monmouth College provided me and fellow students with interpersonal connections and a positive learning environment. This empowered us to become confident, productive adults and launch us into diverse careers. In my situation, I became an educator—first as a teacher of elementary students with learning disabilities, next as a teacher of middle school students in both regular and advanced classes, and finally as a teacher of teachers at the college and university level.

I trained future educators to make important connections with their students to help them reach their potential and to become productive, involved members of their community. A key to making these connections, I stressed, was to become intimately familiar and involved with the climate and culture of the community in which they taught.

As an educator living in the community in which I taught and trained teachers, I participated in as many local activities as possible: attending sporting events, musicals and plays of my students, teaching Sunday School and serving as a board member of our local education foundation. Educationally and professionally, I developed a year-long program for training student teachers and implemented and coordinated a doctoral program for local educators.

As a student growing up in a small rural town, this was modeled for me by Monmouth alumni John ’47 and Ilene Schleich Lawson ’46. The principal at my high school, Mr. Lawson demonstrated an active professional and personal involvement with students and community, as did Mrs. Lawson, a local teacher. The Lawsons were active members, teachers and elders of the Presbyterian church I attended. Mr. Lawson was a member of the county board for many years and Mrs. Lawson served on the library board for 24 years.

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NANCY SPEER ENGQUIST ’74

Their legacy continued with their daughters and granddaughters, who were and are educators active in their rural communities: Claudia Lawson Moss ’72; her sister, Jonalyn Heaton; and Jonalyn’s daughters Alison Heaton Clark ’04 and Olivia Heaton Logan ’06.

Monmouth College continues to be a community where interpersonal connections with faculty are valued by students and modeled by professors. Today, Monmouth is uniquely poised geographically as well as institutionally to become a leader in producing great teachers to serve a growing need for rural teachers in Illinois and across the United States. The visionary ideas of educational studies chair Craig Vivian and members of his department are creating initiatives for Monmouth College students to change the preparation of teachers and the vision of schools to effectively make connections with students in rural and place-based schools.

As a member of the Rural Schools Collaborative and an educational partner with Monmouth-Roseville Central Intermediate School, the College is helping future teachers learn—through hands-on experience—the power of placebased learning and how to address the continuing challenges of rural education.

Monmouth’s innovative Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools (TARTANS) initiative provides interactive and engaging activities to familiarize student teachers with the climate and culture of the rural community in which they are placed. Designing meaningful and interactive experiences that promote active, long-term learning, application and connections are key components. Positive feedback received from Monmouth students participating in the program indicates they believe they are empowered as educators, have made connections with students and are making a positive impact in the lives of students and in the community.

Nancy Speer Engquist ’74 , Ed.D., is a retired educational

consultant for Illinois State University. Also a former teacher, she has been a member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees since 2002.

Make a Scots Connection!

We are currently finalizing plans for an exciting fall schedule of alumni events.

Watch for details in your mail, email or social media, or visit: monmouthcollege.edu/alumni/events Thursday, Aug. 22

Davenport, Iowa Event

Fri.-Sat., Oct. 18-19

Monmouth College Homecoming

Thursday, Sept. 12

Indianapolis Event

Saturday, Sept. 14

Boston Event

Saturday, Oct. 26

Dallas Event

Wednesday, Sept. 18 Cincinnati Event

Saturday, Nov. 9

Post-Turkey Bowl Celebration

Saturday, Sept. 21

Monday, Nov. 11

4th Annual Wiswell-Robeson Lecture

Thursday, Nov. 14

Philadelphia Event

Tuesday, Dec. 17

Downtown Chicago Event

Cubs. vs. Cardinals Rooftop Party Lakeview Baseball Club 3633 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago Doors Open 12:20 p.m.; First Pitch 1:20 p.m. $80 per person

See Back Cover

Monmouth, Ill.

Monmouth College Dahl Chapel

GRAB SOME FREE CLASSROOM SWAG

Attention teachers, guidance counselors, principals and coaches! We need your help to recruit the next class of Fighting Scots! You can help by sharing your Monmouth College experiences and having some Monmouth gear on display in your classroom.

Just fill out a form at monmouthcollege.edu/swag and we’ll send you a Monmouth pennant along with pens and pencils. If you’re currently working with students in grades 9-12 we’ll also include student referral cards.

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Monmouth College Magazine SUMMER 2019

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