Chancellor Berman congratulates Chigozie Umeadi for being named GLVC Player of the Week

UIS Director of Athletics Rodger Jehlicka, Chancellor Harry Berman, sophomore guard Chigozie Umeadi, and Head Men's Basketball coach Ben Wierzba.

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University of Illinois Springfield Chancellor Harry Berman congratulated Chigozie Umeadi for being named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week during a meeting on November 22, 2010.

The sophomore guard paced the Prairie Stars to a pair of wins over regional foes during the first weekend of the season.

UIS defeated Lake Superior State, 67-66, behind an 18-point, eight-rebound effort from Umeadi. In the win, he was 7-of-14 from the field and also added a pair of assists and a steal in the victory.

Umeadi lifted the Prairie Stars to an 80-79 win over visiting Northwood the following day. He knocked down the game-winning free throw with just two seconds to play and stole the ensuing inbounds pass to secure the win.

Umeadi finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. He was 6-of-13 from the field and converted 9-of-11 free throw attempts while also adding two assists, a blocked shot and steal.

On the week, Umeadi averaged 19.5 points and eight rebounds per game. He shot 48.1 percent from the field and 65 percent from the free throw line. Umeadi also tallied four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Six inducted into Sigma Phi Omega Gerontology National Honor Society

The Sigma Phi Omega Gerontology National Honor Society ETA chapter at the University of Illinois Springfield recently inducted six new members. Inductees included five UIS graduate students and one community member.

Sigma Phi Omega is affiliated with the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), of which UIS is a member. UIS has had a Sigma Phi Omega chapter for over 20 years, which has formed a strong connection to gerontology programs on campus.

Master’s students inducted:

Donna Cruce: Donna is enrolled in the joint degree program of HMS/MPH with a specialization in gerontology. She is the recipient of a Whitney Young Fellowship, and is currently an Ombudsman Volunteer with the I-Care Program. She has a strong interest in the Pioneer Movement and improving the environment in long term care settings.

Elizabeth Delheimer: Elizabeth works for the Illinois Department on Aging, as Bureau Chief for the Helpline. She has extensive work experience with the Department on Aging with the Helpline and the Circuit Breaker Pharmaceutical Program. Prior to her work with IDOA she was with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Elizabeth comes to the gerontology concentration with extensive experience in the field.

Marita Karrick: Marita is an Elder Abuse Investigator Caseworker with Locust Grove Resource Center in Carlinville. She has served in this capacity since 2000. She is currently writing her proposal for her master’s project that involves conducting a workshop on elder abuse and neglect.

Mary McGuire: Mary relocated from Carbondale to Springfield to become a student in the Human Services Gerontology concentration option. Since beginning her studies at UIS, she has added an additional concentration of Social Service Administration. Mary is a GPSI intern with the Illinois Bureau of Long Term Care. She holds advanced degrees, with a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan. Mary’s interests include gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender aging issues. Her master’s project will focus on this topic.

Tiffany Whitaker: Tiffany is currently an RN, and is employed at SIU School of Medicine as a Research Nurse. She has worked in a variety of other clinical settings utilizing her skills as an RN. Following the completion of her Human Services degree, she will continue her studies in the Nurse Practitioner Program at UIC Peoria with a specialty in Adult/Gerontology.

Community member inducted:

Dorothy Lorene Osborn: Lorene Osborn completed her degree in nursing from Jacksonville in 1937. She worked as a nurse in a variety of different settings including long term care. In 1993 at the age of 83, she completed her Bachelor’s degree from Sangamon State University in Child, Family, and Community. While at Sangamon State, Lorene wrote a paper on Alzheimer Disease, her professor at the time, Dr. Roz Robbert, indicated it was as good as any master level thesis work.

On November 22, Lorene will celebrate her 100th birthday. She was inducted for her lifelong work with older adults and for exhibiting an extraordinary model of successful aging.

For more information contact Carolyn Peck, associate professor of Human Services at cpeck2@uisu.edu or 217/206-7577.

Illinois Issues and WUIS Public Radio journalists honored with statehouse reporting awards

Illinois Issues and WUIS Public Radio won six national journalism awards in the 2010 statehouse reporting contest sponsored by Capitolbeat, the association of state capitol reporters and editors.

Illinois Issues columnist Charles N. Wheeler III won first place in the Commentary/Column/Analysis category for magazines for his Ends & Means columns. He also won a third place award in the In-Depth category for magazines for his examination of the state’s pension problem that appeared in the February issue. Wheeler is director of the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Illinois Issues Statehouse Bureau Chief Jamey Dunn won third place in the Online Beat Reporting category for her reports on the Illinois Issues Blog and third place in the Magazine-Single Report category for her article about the state’s backlog of unpaid bills, which appeared in the March issue.

Dana Heupel, executive editor of Illinois Issues, won a second place award in the Commentary/Column/Analysis category for magazines for his Editor’s Note columns.

Amanda Vinicky, statehouse reporter for WUIS and Illinois Public Radio, won third place in the Radio-Beat Reporting category. Illinois Issues and WUIS are both units of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The awards were announced November 13 during Capitolbeat’s annual conference in Phoenix.

Avery Brundage Scholarships available for the 2011-2012 academic year

University of Illinois students who excel in both academics and athletics are encouraged to enter the 38th annual Avery Brundage Scholarship competition.

Scholarship applications can be submitted online at www.usp.uillinois.edu/brundage. The deadline for submission is February 11, 2011. Paper applications will not be distributed.

Full-time University of Illinois students at the Chicago, Springfield and Urbana campuses, including incoming freshmen, graduate and transfer students, may apply. Grant-in-aid recipients may be eligible for Brundage scholarships, under specific conditions. Academic and athletic excellence will be considered over financial need.

Undergraduate and transfer student applications must rank in the top 25 percent of their college, and incoming freshmen must rank in the upper 25 percent of their incoming class. Graduate and professional students must be in good academic standing.

Students must demonstrate “special athletic ability” in an amateur sport. However, their participation must be for personal development, rather than as preparation for professional athletics. Previous Brundage scholarship winners represent a wide variety of sports from archery and tennis to swimming and wheelchair basketball. Last year, 16 winners were awarded $2,250 each.

The late Avery Brundage, a 1909 U of I graduate, competed in the 1912 Olympics and later was president of the U.S. and International Olympic committees. He established the scholarship in 1974, with a $343,000 endowment to the University of Illinois Foundation. Over the past 37 years, 809 scholarships with a total value of $1,017,200 have been awarded. Brundage maintained his interest in the University through service as a member of the University of Illinois Foundation, President's Council and Citizen's Committee.

For more information contact Gayle L. Layman, Director University-wide Student Programs at 217-333-2030.

Two Human Development Counseling faculty members receive awards

Two Human Development Counseling (HDC) faculty members were honored on Friday, November 12, during the Illinois Counseling Association Annual Conference in Lisle, Illinois.

Dr. Bill Abler received the Couple and Family Counselor Educator of the Year Award by the Illinois Association of Couple, Family Counseling. Dr. Abler was selected as Educator of the Year for his extensive service in training students in the area of Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling (MCFC) and succeeding in getting the MCFC concentration of study accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.

Dr. Jim Klein received the School Counseling Advocate of the Year Award by the Illinois School Counseling Association. Dr. Klein was selected for his demonstration of extreme support and advocacy for school counseling in the state of Illinois, and his significant contributions to the school counseling profession.

UIS announces winner of Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

The University of Illinois Springfield Research Board has awarded Environmental Studies master’s student Vera Leopold with the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for the 2009-2010 academic year. Leopold’s thesis is entitled Feasibility Study for a Small-Scale Wetland Restoration at Jubilee Farm in Central Illinois.

Eight graduate programs nominated finalists for the award. Each of the submitted thesis/projects have, thus, already received departmental recognition for excellence and will be publicly honored at a reception on January 31, 2011.

“The Research Board was impressed with the high quality of all these scholarly works. Determining which among them should be singled out for special recognition was a challenging task,” said Lynn Pardie, associate vice chancellor for Graduate Education & Research.

UIS Outstanding Master’s Theses/Projects: Academic Year 2009-2010

The following students received their departments’ Outstanding Thesis or Project Award for 2009-10 and were nominated for the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Project competition:

Accountancy
Heidi Nance
A Study of the Relationship between Municipal Enterprise Activities and Fiscal Sustainability
Committee Chair: Dr. Leonard Branson

Communication (UIS Special Merit Award)
James K. Anderson
Laughter is Critical: An Analysis of the Sociopolitical Satire on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report Using the Propaganda Model as a Guide
Committee Chair: Dr. Amie Kincaid

Educational Leadership
Neil Calderon
Profiles of School Board Election Voters in Urban Central Illinois
Committee Chair: Dr. Dan Matthews

Environmental Studies (UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for 2009-2010)
Vera Leopold
Feasibility Study for a Small-Scale Wetland Restoration at Jubilee Farm in Central Illinois
Committee Chair: Dr. Tih-Fen Ting

History
John Marcos Reynolds
The Great Black Migration and Its Impact on the Neighborhoods of Chicago’s Black Old Settlers, 1914-1925
Committee Chair: Dr. Cecilia Cornell

Human Development Counseling
Sarah Chism
Coping with Fibromyalgia: A Phenomenological Inquiry
Committee Chair: Dr. Holly Thompson

Human Services
Jill Sonke
Development and Assessment of an Arts in Healthcare Program Model for Rural Communities
Committee Chair: Dr. Denise Sommers

Political Science
Michael Snyder
In Defense of Indeterminate Space: A Critique of Adorno’s Dialectics
Committee Chair: Dr. Richard Gilman-Opalsky

UIS senior honored with Student Laureate Award from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois

University of Illinois Springfield senior Kimberly Bartosiak was honored with the Student Laureate Awards from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois during a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 6, at the Old State Capitol in Springfield.

Bartosiak, a Bethalto, Ill. native, is majoring in Chemistry at UIS with a minor in Biology. She holds a 4.0 GPA at UIS and is currently applying to medical schools in hopes of becoming a neurologist or neurosurgeon. Bartosiak concentrated on Biochemistry as part of her major and has conducted research during her time at UIS.

“I feel very proud to represent UIS as the Lincoln Laureate among so many intelligent and promising students from institutions throughout Illinois,” said Bartosiak.

Each year an outstanding senior from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois is awarded the Student Lincoln Academy Medallion and thereby becomes a Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Student Laureates are honored for their overall excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities.

Bartosiak played volleyball at UIS for 3 years and has been involved in a variety of community service projects. She spends time volunteering at the St. John's Breadline and mentoring underprivileged girls in junior high and high school. She currently serves as a Samaritan at St. John's Hospital.

Alumna receives award for Distinguished Achievement from D.C. group

University of Illinois Springfield alumna Syma R. Mendelsohn is being honored by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington, D.C. with its Award for Distinguished Achievement. Mendelsohn graduated from SSU/UIS in 1975 with a master’s degree in History.

Mendelsohn is Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications for Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes (RCM&D), a Maryland-based insurance consultant. She manages all marketing and communications activities for RCM&D, working closely with the firm’s executive leadership and sales team to facilitate the continued growth of the company.

The Award for Distinguished Achievement is the highest honor the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW) can present to a member and is granted based on lifetime achievements in direct marketing, involvement in the association and contributions to the knowledge and careers of other professionals. Mendelsohn is a longstanding member of the DMAW and has served as both a Member of the Board and President of the organization. She is currently President of the DMAW Educational Foundation.

Prior to joining RCM&D, Mendelsohn was an Executive Vice President with JZA, Inc., a broker/administrator focused on serving associations and nonprofits. Throughout her career, she has worked in senior leadership roles for a number of top national insurance firms, including Marsh Affinity and Geico.

Mendelsohn is a member of and has served in a variety of leadership capacities for several professional organizations and nonprofits including the Professional Insurance Marketing Association and Big Sisters of Washington, D.C.

In addition to her UIS degree, Mendelsohn earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Brooklyn College, CUNY. She resides in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband Martin.

The Award for Distinguished Achievement will be presented during DMAW’s annual “Best of Direct” event on December 2, 2010.