UIS student newspaper staff win awards

Staff of the University of Illinois Springfield’s weekly student newspaper, The Journal, and its semester news-features magazine, Beyond, won seven awards in the 2011 Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) competition.

Winners were announced Saturday, February 18 during an awards luncheon at the 29th annual ICPA convention in Chicago. The Journal and Beyond both won awards in the weekly student publication division comprised of more than 10 schools with enrollments of 4,000 or more. Those schools included UIS, Benedictine, Bradley, Columbia College, DePaul, Lewis University, Loyola, Northeastern Illinois University, Robert Morris College, Roosevelt University, SIU-Edwardsville, and St. Xavier.

“I am really proud of The Journal staff, past and present for the excellence they have brought to our student newspaper. These awards are proof of the hard work and dedication that go into making The Journal the best it can possibly be,” said Kati Maseman, Journal editor-in-chief. “I look forward to submitting quality articles and photos to ICPA next year, and I hope that we can bring home even more awards in the future."

Debra Chandler Landis, UIS student publications adviser, added, “It is indeed an honor to be singled out for awards in a statewide competition of incredibly talented student journalists. I am very proud of The Journal and Beyond staff.”

The awards:

• First Place Sports and Feature Photos: Ryan Voyles of Springfield, Ill., who photographed fans’ reactions and the ensuing celebration for the fall 2011 edition of Beyond following the St. Louis Cardinals World Series win in October. 2011.
• Third Place Sports Column: Ryan Voyles of Springfield, Ill., who described in Beyond what it was like to be at the game in St. Louis last October when the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.
• Third Place, Column: Andrew Majors of Terra Haute, Ind., for a Beyond column about adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
• Honorable Mention, Front Page Layout: Kate Richardson of Taylorville, Ill., and Yu Sun of Dalian, Liaoning, China. The Journal submitted three consecutively dated front pages in this category, in which judges considered such factors as overall design, story placement, use of photos and graphics,
• Honorable Mention, Feature Story: Kati Maseman of Auburn, Ill., for a Beyond story in which she interviewed three women at UIS—two professors and the UIS athletics director—about their careers and breaking through the glass ceiling of career advancement.
• Honorable Mention, News Photo: Colten Bradford of Vermont, Ill., for a Journal photo of students constructing “Box City” during a campus Springfest event aimed at increasing awareness about homelessness.
  

Ray Schroeder named Innovation Fellow by national association

The University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) has named Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois Springfield as its first Innovation Fellow.

“Ray has a proven track record of national and international leadership in the application of digital technology to promote effective approaches to higher education,” said Robert Hansen, UPCEA chief executive officer. “His vision and experience span the strategic, operational and pedagogical aspects of the field.”

As the Innovation Fellow for Digital Learning, Schroeder will serve UPCEA and its members with a combination of articles, white papers, webinars and consulting services through the Center for Research and Consulting. He is also the author of UPCEA’s daily “Online, Continuing, and Professional Education Update,” and is a frequent contributor to UPCEA’s quarterly newsletter, InFocus.

UPCEA is the nation’s leading professional association for deans and directors of adult, continuing, and online education. Its nearly 400 member institutions include most of the best public and private universities in North America. The group’s conferences and publications provide members with strategies that respond to the growing population of adults and non-traditional students seeking continuous learning opportunities.

Schroeder will be honored during UPCEA’s 97th annual conference in Portland, Oregon, which runs March 28-30, 2012.

In addition to the UPCEA honor, the Illinois Council of Continuing Education recently awarded UIS the Innovation 2012 Award for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) held during the summer of 2011. The MOOC, organized by Schroeder, focused on the topic “Online Learning Today...and Tomorrow” and attracted more than 2,600 participants from 70 countries.

"We are particularly honored to receive this recognition from our colleagues at colleges and universities around the state of Illinois,” said Schroeder. “This award is especially meaningful because it recognizes our leadership in innovation in learning in higher education in Illinois."

The content from the free course is still available online at http://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/.

Outstanding Master's Thesis Award presented to English graduate

The University of Illinois Springfield Research Board has awarded English graduate student Stephanie Marie Ebersohl with the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for the 2010-2011 academic year. Ebersohl’s thesis was entitled Sex and the Sacred in Dante’s Divina Commedia.

Ebersohl now lives in Austin, Texas, where she works as an editor and production assistant for a local publishing house and continues her studies in medieval literature in preparation for doctoral studies. She is currently preparing for a presentation at the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with the Magistra journal on female spirituality in the Middle Ages.

The following students received their departments’ Outstanding Thesis or Project Award for 2010-11 and were nominated for the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Project competition:

Communication
Carol Leonie Maria Schulte
“She’s Dying But She’s Not Dead Yet”: End-of-Life Discourses Between Mothers and Daughters
Committee Chair: Elizabeth Ribarsky

Educational Leadership
Bridget Gorokhovsky
Teachers’ Perceptions of the Influence of Curriculum Teams on Curriculum Success and Teacher Satisfaction
Committee Chair: Dan Matthews

Environmental Studies
Natalie (Mentzer) Porter
A Management Plan for the Reconstructed Prairie at the University of Illinois at Springfield
Committee Chair: Tih-Fen Ting

History (UIS Special Merit Award)
Amanda Dahlquist
Legislating Motherhood: The History of the Mothers’ Aid Law in Montgomery County, Illinois
Committee Chair: Deborah McGregor

Human Services
Constance Baker
Age-Related Diseases Among Adults with Down Syndrome
Committee Chair: Carolyn Peck

Liberal and Integrative Studies
Julie Collins Bates
Covering Environmental Conflict: An Analysis of Coalbed Methane Coverage in Newspapers in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming
Committee Chair: Kathy Petitte Jamison

Political Science
Gene W. Giannotta
The Problems of Command: Obama, McChrystal, and American Civil-Military Relations in Operation Enduring Freedom
Committee Chair: Pinky Wassenberg