Amanda Wilczynski honored with Student Laureate Award from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois

University of Illinois Springfield senior Amanda Wilczynski was honored with the Student Laureate Awards from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois during a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Old State Capitol in Springfield.

Wilczynski, a Compton, Ill. native, is majoring in Computer Science at UIS with a minor in Accountancy. She holds a 3.56 GPA at UIS and plans to enter the work force after graduation and earn her master’s degree.

“I am extremely honored to win this award and be among so many other outstanding students from other institutions around Illinois,” said Wilczynski.

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.

Wilczynski is a ministry leader in the Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) group at UIS. She takes part in the planning, execution, and review of all the CSF events. She also volunteers by leading a weekly bible study group. Wilczynski serves as a peer mentor for the Capital Scholars Honors Program and is employed as a student worker in the UIS Chancellor’s Office.

Avery Brundage Scholarships available for the 2012-2013 academic year

University of Illinois students who excel in both academics and athletics are encouraged to enter the 39th annual Avery Brundage Scholarship competition.

Scholarship applications can be submitted online at www.usp.uillinois.edu/brundage. The deadline for submission is Monday, February 13, 2012. 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 $2,500 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 38 years, 828 scholarships with a total value of $1,057,200 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 Tim Gilles, scholarship coordinator for University-wide Student Programs at 217/333-2030.

Chancellor Koch kicks off Access Illinois scholarship initiative at UIS with $25,000 donation

Susan J. Koch, University of Illinois vice president and UIS chancellor is helping to kick off Access Illinois: The Presidential Scholarship Initiative on the Springfield campus with a $25,000 personal donation.

In establishing the Dennis D. and Susan J. Koch Scholarship Fund, Koch said she plans to lead by example and won’t be shy about asking for private support from friends of the University to fund badly needed student scholarships at UIS.

“Providing access for students is a personal matter for me and for my husband, Dennis,” said Chancellor Koch. “We’re looking forward to watching the progress of the UIS students who receive this scholarship.”

The fund was established in honor of both Koch and her husband’s parents and grandparents, who made it possible for each of them to seek a higher education.

“When my father, the son of an electrician and the grandson of an Illinois miner, was given the opportunity to attend a public university here in Illinois, it changed his life and the lives of our entire family forever,” said Chancellor Koch. “My husband’s grandmother, a pioneer farm wife on the plains of South Dakota, provided my husband and his brother the financial means to attend college.”

University of Illinois President Michael Hogan launched the Access Illinois initiative in June. The goal is to raise $100 million or more over the next three years to fund scholarships on the Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield campuses. The fund will increase financial aid to help students and their families offset tuition costs that have risen sharply as state funding for the University has declined over the last decade.

The initiative will solicit donations from the University’s more than 600,000 alumni from all three campuses and other supporters, seeking general-use gifts that can be used to meet current needs as well as endowed scholarships that provide financial aid in perpetuity.

For more information on the Access Illinois initiative at UIS, visit www.uis.edu/accessillinois or contact Vicki Megginson, associate chancellor for development, UIS, and senior vice president, University of Illinois Foundation at 217/206-6058 or email vhens1@uis.edu.