Molly Lamb of Chatham has been named the new executive director of the University of Illinois SpringfieldCenter for State Policy and Leadership (CSPL). She will start in the role on Monday, June 1, pending formal approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Lamb comes to UIS from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) where she has worked for 11 years. She most recently served as the deputy director of IDPH’s Office of Health Protection. She began her public sector career as an emergency response coordinator for the Logan County Health Department and has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Lincoln Land Community College.
“Molly brings unparalleled enthusiasm and a wealth of ideas to this position,” said Dennis Papini, UIS provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “She advanced a variety of initiatives that are centered squarely on advancing the visibility and impact of the Center for State Policy and Leadership, and her knowledge of how state agencies work will offer her insight into collaborations with UIS.”
At IDPH, she crafted and led the successful adoption of raw milk sales regulation rulemaking in Illinois, championed the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) Vaccines For Children (VFC) immunization re-join project, managed significant organizational structural changes at IDPH and designed centralized grant system to ensure standardization, consistency and improved decision-making.
“CSPL has a rich capacity and demonstrated success in promoting evidence-based policy and practice,” said Lamb. “Evaluating and understanding governmental infrastructure, workforce needs and policy and engaging partnerships are key to advance change and build a strategic roadmap. I look forward to continuing to strengthen the visibility and capability of the CSPL to best serve UIS and Illinois, grow leadership and workforce development opportunities and promote applied research and innovation to address publicly-identified and emerging issues.”
Lamb is currently completing a doctorate in public health leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is expected to graduate this year. She holds two master’s degrees from UIS in public administration and public health and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Lamb replaces David Racine who is retiring after 10 years serving as executive director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership.
The UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership promotes evidence-based policy and practice in the public sector. The center’s mission is carried out through research that informs public decisions and understanding; internships, training programs and applied problem solving that strengthens public leadership; and journalism that educates and engages citizens in public affairs.
The center is comprised of the Child Protection Training Academy; Graduate Public Service Internship Programs; Illinois Innocence Project; Illinois Institute for Public Finance; Innovate Springfield; Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies; NPR Illinois; Office of Electronic Media and Survey Research Office.
David Racine, executive director for UIS’ Center for State Policy and Leadership has been chosen to receive the 2020 Rail Splitter Public Service Award, given by the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
Racine was chosen as outstanding individual whose career exemplifies public service.
He began his career with the American Public Welfare Association in Washington, DC, and went on to serve as a senior policy advisor, legislative director and was the founding staff member and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Points of Light Foundation.
Racine came to UIS to direct academic research and training at the Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies. He now serves as the executive director over that program and also oversees UIS’ Survey Research Office, NPR Illinois, GPSI, Innovate Springfield, the Illinois Innocence Project and Child Protection Training Academy.
Racine also offers his expertise to community projects including MOSAIC, the Community Health Roundtable and Sangamon County Continuum of Learning.
Racine will be presented with the award during the chapter’s annual spring banquet and awards ceremony on March 16, 2020 in the UIS Student Union Ballroom.
Gov. JB Pritzker has named John J. Hanlon, executive director of the University of Illinois Springfield’sIllinois Innocence Project, as one of 15 members to the Governor’s Task Force on Forensic Science, created in August 2019 through Executive Order 19-13.
“I am extremely honored to accept the Governor’s appointment to the Task Force on Forensic Science,” said Hanlon. “Proper understandings and applications of forensic evidence are absolutely crucial toward a more fair and reliable criminal justice system.”
The group is tasked with analyzing the operations and oversight of critical Illinois State Police laboratories, ensuring they use the latest forensic technologies to solve crimes and protect the public, and make recommendations to the legislature and other stakeholders as forensic science continues to evolve.
“With over 70,000 forensic assignments each year, the Illinois State Police operates one of the largest lab systems in the nation, and this task force will ensure it operates at its best and truly delivers justice,” said Gov. Pritzker. “The experienced leaders serving on this task force will take a systematic and proactive approach to further reducing backlogs and support public safety and first responders.”
The Illinois Innocence Project praised Gov. Pritzker for placing Illinois among just a handful of states taking the initiative to look at forensic science policy and practices.
“This task force is a critical first step toward increased understandings and fairness pertaining to forensic sciences processes and applications in our criminal justice system. Hopefully, the development and implementation of best practices will serve to provide justice for the guilty and at the same time reduce and even prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people in Illinois,” said Hanlon.
The University of Illinois Springfield, which serves as the home office of the Illinois Innocence Project, is one of just two higher education institutions represented on the Task Force.
“John Hanlon’s input on this task force will help to bolster the important work already being done by the Illinois Innocence Project,” said UIS Chancellor Susan Koch. “The Project is an important part of UIS’ commitment to providing students with real-world experiences and to serving the public good.”
This new task force follows national calls for the establishment of scientific standards for forensic evidence. A 2009 National Academy of Science report, now considered groundbreaking, concluded that numerous forensic disciplines lacked scientific validation and acceptable standards. The report called for strengthened oversight, research and support to ensure an increased reliability of testing, analysis and conclusions.
The 2016 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report concluded two important gaps that warranted attention: 1) the need for clarity about scientific standards for validity and reliability of forensic methods; and 2) the need to evaluate specific forensic methods to determine whether they have been scientifically established to be valid and reliable (i.e. bitemark comparison, hair microscopy, blood spatter analysis, ballistics).
Illinois State Police (ISP) Director Brendan Kelly will chair the Governor’s Task Force on Forensic Science.
Other members include:
Megan Alderden – director of criminology, DePaul University; former executive director, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Dr. Ponni Arunkumar – chief medical examiner, Cook County
Amy Campanelli – Cook County public defender
Major Jeff Connor – Madison County chief deputy sheriff
Brendan Deenihan – deputy chief of detectives, Chicago Police Department
Claire Dragovich – executive director, DuPage County Crime Lab
Phil Kinsey – executive director, Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Lab
Holly Lemons – Montgomery County circuit clerk, president of the Illinois Association of Court Clerks
Cathy MacElroy – St. Clair County public defender
Sarah Toney – managing partner, Toney Law Firm, LLC
Carrie Ward – executive director, Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Amy Watroba – assistant state’s attorney, DuPage County
Robin Woolery – ISP assistant deputy director, Division of Forensic Services
The Illinois Innocence Project, founded in 2001 at the University of Illinois Springfield, provides pro bono legal advocacy and guidance to those who have been wrongfully convicted in Illinois but have credible claims of actual innocence; educates students and the public about criminal justice system failures that lead to wrongful convictions; and works with policymakers and law enforcement to change rules, laws and practices to minimize wrongful convictions.
The Samuel K. Gove Illinois Legislative Internship Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois Springfield will honor three individuals who have served as legislative interns at the state capitol as part of the Illinois Legislative Staff Intern Program (ILSIP).
David Menchetti, John Nicolay and Kevin Schoeben will be inducted during a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019 at the Old State Capitol. A reception will be held before the event at 5:30 p.m.
Inductees are selected based on their contributions to Illinois and its citizens. The Hall of Fame is also recognition of the important role that public service internships play in developing public sector leadership.
Menchetti is a shareholder in Cullen, Haskins, Nicholson & Menchetti, P.C. in Chicago and concentrates his practice in the representation of injured workers throughout Illinois before the Workers’ Compensation Commission, the circuit courts and the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts. He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law and attained a bachelor’s degree with distinction from Stanford University. Menchetti is a former staff counsel to Illinois State Senate President Philip J. Rock and served as counsel to Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, Jr. Active in the legal community, he is listed in “Who’s Who in American Law” and has been selected by his peers as a Leading Lawyer and Super Lawyer. He has received the President’s Award on three occasions from the Illinois Trial Lawyers and was named Lawyer of the Year for Workers’ Compensation by Best Lawyers in America. By appointment of the Governor, he has served on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board and the Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board. He has also been inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Nicolay has been a partner of Nicolay & Dart LLC since its founding in 2005. Previously, he worked in and around the legislature directing state governmental representation at Winston & Strawn LLP and serving as general counsel to Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip, where his responsibilities included staffing and operations for the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to joining the Office of the Senate President, he served in a variety of capacities as legislative liaison for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office where he helped secure passage of more than 50 pieces of legislation, including major sentencing and evidentiary reforms, as assistant state’s attorney, and practiced in the area of commercial and governmental litigation at Shefsky & Froelich, Ltd. He also served as a legislative aide to former Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, and as a special assistant to Governor James R. Thompson. Nicolay was named a Rising Star by his peers in 2008 and a Super Lawyer in the area of Government Affairs as recent as February 2019. He is past president and serves on the board of directors of The Advocacy Group, an international governmental affairs organization. He serves as the vice-chair of the Illinois Governor’s Mansion Association as well as the on the Board of Trustees of MacMurray College. Nicolay received a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from MacMurray College and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. He is admitted to practice in the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.
Schoeben began his 30-year career in state government as an ILSIP intern for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s research/appropriations staff in 1989 and remained on staff through 1999, primarily staffing several committees for state and local government appropriations for public safety, pensions, transportation and state capital programs. Thereafter, Schoeben was the legislative director for three terms under former Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes, with notable work toward the establishment of ethics reforms, the state’s rainy day fund and other fiscal and transparency reforms. He went on to become the deputy director of planning and programming for the Illinois Department of Transportation for four years under Secretaries Gary Hannig and Ann Schneider. In this position, he was responsible for initiating multi-modal and intermodal transportation programs that led to the AASHTO award for Water Transportation in 2014, and he served on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Marine System Transportation Advisory Taskforce. He served as chief financial officer at the Illinois Board of Higher Education during a challenging period for state universities and colleges, students and faculty due to the recent budgetary impasse. Schoeben joined Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s team shortly after her election in 2016. He has served as the assistant comptroller of fiscal policy since that time, a position that includes responsibilities with the development and implementation of fiscal reporting, cash management, budget, human resources and operational activities.
The Hall of Fame is hosted by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The Hall of Fame is named for the late Samuel K. Gove, founding director of the internship program and one of the founders of Illinois Issues magazine. Established in 1990, the Hall of Fame, including this year’s inductees, now numbers 71 individuals, among them a former governor and several former and current state and federal legislators. The names of the Hall of Fame’s members are inscribed on a plaque that hangs on the fourth floor of the Illinois Statehouse.
Tickets for the Nov. 12 event are $65 per person and may be purchased online at https://cvent.me/dzlyG. The deadline to register is Nov. 7, 2019. Reservations are required. For more information about the event, call 217-206-7163.
Three Springfield educated journalists are the newest inductees into The Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois Springfield. Trif Alatzas of Baltimore Sun Media, Patty Culhane of Al Jazeera and Natasha Korecki of POLITICO are the 2019 inductees. The award-winning journalists’ experiences range from bridging print to digital, to reporting from the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and covering the criminal trials of two consecutive Illinois governors.
Trif Alatzas is publisher and editor-in-chief of Baltimore Sun Media. A 1989 graduate of the PAR program, he interned in the Illinois State Capitol with United Press International and Gannett News Service. Under his leadership, Baltimore Sun Media has been recognized with more than 40 national awards including being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times during the past four years.
Patty Culhane joined Al Jazeera in 2009. Before joining she worked as a correspondent for MSNBC/NBC covering the Bush administration. She has been a journalist for 24 years, working in Iowa, Illinois and Norfolk, Virginia where she covered the U.S. military, travelling extensively through the Middle East covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is a 1995 graduate of the PAR program.
Natasha Korecki is a national correspondent for POLITICO, covering the 2020 presidential race. Before that, she authored and launched POLITICO’s Illinois Playbook. She previously worked as chief political writer at the Chicago Sun-Times covering federal courts and law enforcement during a golden age of political corruption prosecutions in Chicago. Korecki reported on the criminal trials of two consecutive governors – George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich – and created the “Blago Blog,” which drew a national following. She is the author of “Only in Chicago” (Agate) based on the Blagojevich probe and trials. Korecki is a 1997 graduate of the PAR program.
An induction ceremony will be held on April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Conservatory Room of the Inn at 835, located at 835 S. 2nd St. in Springfield. Register online at go.uis.edu/PARHallofFame2019 or call 217-206-7163. Charles Wheeler III, the retiring director of the PAR program, will make closing remarks on the status of state government reporting.
The PAR Hall of Fame honors program graduates who have had distinguished careers in journalism and recognizes the contribution the UIS PAR program has made to journalism and to the state of Illinois. The PAR Hall of Fame is named in honor of Bill Miller, an award-winning journalist who served as the PAR program’s director for 19 years. The PAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is sponsored by NPR Illinois, the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership, Illinois Times, the Illinois Press Association and the UIS Office of Advancement.
The UIS Public Affairs Reporting program is a one-year, professionally-oriented master's degree program that prepares students to become working reporters covering public affairs in its broadest sense — informing readers, listeners and viewers about ongoing events and activities that impact the public.
For more information, contact Nichol Timms with the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217-206-7163 or ntimm3@uis.edu.
University of Illinois Springfield Professor Beverly Bunch, Ph.D., will serve on a panel during a one-day conference by the Volcker Alliance and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The conference, “Preventing the Next State Budget Crisis: Improving Budget Transparency to Bolster Fiscal Sustainability,” will discuss strategies for avoiding a state budget crisis, including long-term forecasting, stress-testing, and management of fiscal reserves and physical assets.
The conference is expected to draw attendance from government officials, academia, business leaders, public policy analysts and the media.
Bunch will participate on a panel that will address, “Deferred Infrastructure Maintenance: How to Measure It, How to Finance It.” She will share information obtained from her participation in a national study of the fifty states’ budget processes sponsored by The Volcker Alliance.
“Preventing the Next State Budget Crisis: Improving Budget Transparency to Bolster Fiscal Sustainability” takes place all day on September 17, 2018, at the Chicago Federal Reserve.
The Samuel K. Gove Illinois Legislative Internship Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois Springfield honored four individuals who have served as legislative interns at the state capitol. Mark Denzler, Marcilene Dutton, DeShana Forney and David Joens were inducted during a ceremony at the Old State Capitol on Monday, March 12, 2018. Inductees are selected based on their contributions to Illinois and its citizens. The Hall of Fame is also recognition of the important role that public service internships play in developing public sector leadership.
Mark Denzler is vice president & chief operating officer for the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA), a statewide advocacy organization representing nearly 4,000 member companies and facilities. Denzler assumed his current post in January 2006 and is responsible for all government affairs, membership and human resource activities. Prior to IMA, Denzler served in various posts including overseeing Illinois government affairs for State Farm Insurance, a Fortune 50 company headquartered in Bloomington. He served as director of government affairs for the IMA and was a legislative analyst in the General Assembly focusing on taxes, education and transportation. Denzler was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn and reappointed by Governor Bruce Rauner to Illinois Workers' Compensation Advisory Board. He serves on the Board of Directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, Sangamo Club, and sits on the National Public Affairs Steering Committee for the National Association of Manufacturers. Denzler is a 2015 selection as an Edgar Fellow at the University of Illinois and a graduate of the inaugural class of the Crain's Chicago Business Leadership Academy. Denzler is a 1993 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and currently lives in Springfield with his wife and son.
Marcy Dutton serves as general counsel to the Teacher’s Retirement System of Illinois (TRS) which is a $6.4 billion pension fund providing financial security to retired public-school teachers employed in school districts outside of the City of Chicago. Prior to joining TRS, Dutton worked for eight years at the Illinois State Board of Education as its deputy general counsel although she pitched in and served as general counsel twice when called upon to do so. The majority of Dutton’s professional career has been public school and public service focused. Dutton graduated from Millikin University with degrees in political science and English. After completing the legislative internship program in 1986, she attended Louisiana State University where she earned a Juris Doctor degree. A lifelong learner, in 2010 she completed the Chief School Business Official endorsement program offered by the University of Illinois Springfield. Since 2007, she has taught school law classes at UIS on a part-time basis. Dutton and her husband live in Chatham.
DeShana Forney is senior director of government and community relations for Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, subsidiaries of WEC Energy Group. In this role, she is responsible for leading the company’s Illinois government and community relations strategy. Prior to joining Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, Forney was the associate director of governmental relations for the University of Illinois. She has more than twenty years of legislative, budgetary and management experience, which includes leading the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) as its executive director, serving as the director of public safety and house legislative liaison in the Office of the Governor, and working on Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s issues development staff. In addition to her government affairs work, Forney has held numerous senior political campaign positions in races for state legislative, constitutional, Supreme Court and countywide offices, and formerly served as the Democratic Party of Illinois’ deputy executive director. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and a master’s degree in political studies from the University of Illinois Springfield. She was born and raised in Springfield.
David Joens, director of the Illinois State Archives, worked on the Illinois Senate Democratic staff for seven years. A U.S. Army veteran and former newspaper reporter, he was a press secretary for Democratic members of the Senate, including the Senate’s Black Caucus. In 1996, he began work as the assistant director of the Illinois Legislative Studies Center at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he authored two “Almanac of Illinois Politics” books. In 2000, he moved to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, where he worked for four years on the policy staff. In 2004, he was picked by Secretary of State Jesse White to serve as the fifth director of the Illinois State Archives, a position he holds today. Joens has an undergraduate degree from Northern Illinois University, two master’s degrees from the University of Illinois Springfield and a doctorate in Illinois history from Southern Illinois University. In 2012, he authored the book “From Slave to State Legislator: John W. E. Thomas, Illinois First African American Lawmaker.” Joens is married to Mona Martin, who is also a former legislative staff intern and who was inducted in the Samuel K. Gove Hall of Fame in 2013. They live in Springfield.
The Hall of Fame is hosted by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division. The Hall of Fame is named for the late Samuel K. Gove, founding director of the internship program and one of the founders of Illinois Issues magazine. Established in 1990, the Hall of Fame, including this year’s inductees, now numbers 68 individuals, among them a former governor and several former and current state and federal legislators. The names of the Hall’s members are inscribed on a plaque that hangs on the fourth floor of the Illinois Statehouse.
For more information, contact Rob Fafoglia with the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217/206-7163 or rfafo2@uis.edu.
Three journalists whose range of experiences includes coverage of major national and international events, public health and environmental dangers, politics and local history, are the newest inductees into the Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois Springfield.
The inductees, who will be honored March 6, include Kansas City Star reporter Scott Canon, Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Michael Hawthorne and former State Journal-Register editor and reporter Mike Kienzler. The three are all graduates of the UIS Public Affairs Reporting Program.
Canon was a member of the PAR class of 1982 and has worked for the Kansas City Star since 1989. He has covered the bombing of the Oklahoma federal building, the Columbine school shooting, the NATO occupation of Kosovo, the start of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 and 2007 and tsunami recovery in Sri Lanka. He's also covered political campaigns, statehouses and periodically produced investigative work. As part of a science writing fellowship, he visited the Arctic Circle and Antarctica. He began his career at the Champaign News-Gazette and the Santa Barbara News-Press.
Michael Hawthorne is a member of the PAR class of 1989. As an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, he focuses on public health and environmental stories. In 2013, Hawthorne and two colleagues were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. Their stories exposed a deceptive, decades-long campaign by the tobacco and chemical industries to promote the use of harmful, ineffective flame retardants in household furniture. Other stories by Hawthorne prompted new laws and health reforms at the federal and state level. Before joining the Tribune in 2004, Hawthorne wrote for the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Champaign News-Gazette and the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Mike Kienzler is a graduate of the first PAR class of 1973. He spent not quite 40 years as an editor and reporter with The State Journal-Register, the Springfield daily newspaper. He was metro editor and deputy metro editor for most of that period, with prime responsibility for the paper's election and government coverage, among other duties. Since retirement in 2013, Kienzler has been founding editor of SangamonLink.org, the online encyclopedia of the Sangamon County Historical Society. Kienzler is a member of the Illinois State Historical Society Advisory Board and a recent past board member of the Lincoln Monument Association, a support group for the Lincoln Tomb State Historic site.
An induction ceremony will be held on March 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Conservatory Room of the Inn at 835, located at 835 S. 2nd St. in Springfield. Register online at http://go.uis.edu/parhof or call 217/206-7163.
The PAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership. The Hall of Fame is named in honor of Bill Miller, an award-winning journalist who served as the PAR program’s director for 19 years.
The UIS Public Affairs Reporting program is a one-year, professionally-oriented master's degree program that prepares students to become a working reporter covering public affairs in its broadest sense — informing readers, listeners and viewers about ongoing events and activities that impact on their daily lives.
For more information, contact Rob Fafoglia with the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217/206-7163 or rfafo2@uis.edu.
As director of the office, Donoso will lead many important community surveys, such as the Sangamon County Economic Outlook Survey, in partnership with The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, and the biennial Sangamon County Citizen Survey, which gauges resident’s opinions on a variety of topics.
At the Pew Research Center, he worked as a research associate in the Religion and Public Life Project. Prior to that appointment, he was a professor of political science and international relations at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador. He is considered an expert in comparative politics in Latin America, with an emphasis on public opinion research, democracy and judicial politics.
While in Ecuador, he co-founded PRIME Consulting, a social science and survey research firm, and worked as National Research Director for the National Electoral Council of Ecuador.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and a master’s and doctorate degree in political science from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Donoso takes over for Ashley Kirzinger, former director of the UIS Survey Research Office, who left the university in 2015.
Journalists at WUIS, the public radio station of the University of Illinois Springfield, recently received four awards from the Illinois Associated Press.
Statehouse Bureau Chief Amanda Vinicky won the second place award for best investigative report for her story “Judges’ Pensions”.
Vinicky also won best sports report for her story “Rivals Help Tornado-Shattered Team.” WUIS Harvest Desk Editor Peter Gray won the second place sports award for his story on “Kids and Concussions”.
WUIS Executive Editor Bill Wheelhouse won the first place award for best hard news feature for his story “Crop Insurance”.
For more information about WUIS, visit their website at www.wuis.org.
David Racine has been named the executive director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership (CSPL) at the University of Illinois Springfield. He has served as interim executive director since June 2010.
Racine came to UIS in the Fall of 2007 through a successful national search for a new director of the Institute for Legal, Legislative, and Policy Studies at UIS, a unit within the Center for State Policy & Leadership. He has held a number of administrative leadership, consulting, and project management positions, accumulating more than 35 years of experience working with public policy, public affairs research, and program development in a variety of public and private sector organizations.
“David’s expertise and experience make him an ideal person to lead the Center for State Policy & Leadership, and I am delighted that he has accepted the position,” said Lynn Pardie, UIS Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. “I know that the Center will continue to advance under his leadership.”
Prior to joining UIS, he led a foundation-funded national organization, Replication and Program Strategies, devoted to the scale-up of effective health, education, and social programs. He was the founding staff member of the Points of Light Foundation and served for a time as its executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also served for eight years as Director of Government Affairs and Social Policy for the American Public Welfare Association, the national organization representing state and local human service agencies. Racine was a senior policy advisor to New Jersey Governor Tom Kean during his second term and legislative director for U.S. Senator Jack Danforth at the start of his third term.
Racine holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Center for Public Administration and Policy.
University of Illinois Springfield public radio station WUIS has entered the next phase of its commitment to inform the community with the creation of the WUIS Food Desk and the assignment of a dedicated journalist to the beat. Bill Wheelhouse initiated the move from his current position as general manager to become an executive editor assigned to the WUIS Food Desk. Randy Eccles will serve as general manager.
The WUIS Food Desk is the result of a “Desk Initiative” to increase local/regional reporting capacity. This expansion is being funded through a mix of grants, business support, and major gifts. GROWMARK is one of the first business supporters to sign on as WUIS seeks additional funding to sustain the Food Desk initiative. WUIS is also seeking funding to hire a reporter for an education desk.
In addition, WUIS had become a partner and sub-grantee in the Harvest Public Media network (harvestpublicmedia.org). Harvest is a Local Journalism Center (LJC) funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s (CPB). This collaboration will extend the reach of stories throughout the Midwest and, on occasion, nationally.
With Wheelhouse’s shift back to reporting, current development director Randy Eccles will serve as WUIS’ general manager. Eccles noted, “The addition of the Food Desk to our Statehouse Bureau and local news coverage will provide listeners with more information to make choices about what we eat and to better understand one of the biggest businesses in central Illinois.”
WUIS is central Illinois’ source for NPR. WUIS content is available from Springfield at 91.9 FM, 91.9-1 HD, in west-central Illinois at 89.3 FM; and streamed worldwide at WUIS.org and on the NPR mobile app. WUIS broadcasts two additional HD Radio channels, the all-classical WUIS Classic at 91.9-2 HD and the adult alternative WUIS Xponential at 91.9-3 HD. These are also streamed at WUIS.org. The listener-supported media outlet’s mission is to enrich central Illinois through independent journalism, arts programming and community outreach. For the program schedule, events, and other information, call the station at (217) 206-WUIS (9847) or visit WUIS.org. WUIS is a community service of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and field. Based at KCUR in Kansas City, Harvest covers these agriculture-related topics through an expanding network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest. The other Harvest Public Media partners include Iowa Public Radio; NET, which operates public TV and radio networks statewide in Nebraska; KBIA in Columbia, Missouri; WUIS in Springfield, Illinois; and KUNC in Greeley, Colorado.
The Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting Hall of Fame honored three graduates from the University of Illinois Springfield’sPublic Affairs Reporting program who have distinguished themselves in the field of journalism. Nina Burleigh, Jim Prather, and Jim Webb were inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday, January 28, 2013.
The Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) Hall of Fame was named in honor of Bill Miller, an award-winning journalist who served as the program’s director for 19 years. After a semester of classroom study, students work six months in the Capitol covering state government and politics under the supervision of professional journalists. More than 600 students have completed the program since the first class graduated in 1973. Illinois Issues, the state’s leading public affairs magazine, and WUIS-91.9, the capital city’s NPR station, established the bi-annual event in 2006. Both are units of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at UIS.
Nina Burleigh is a journalist and the author of five books. She writes the weekly Bombshell column at the New York Observer. Her last book, The Fatal Gift of Beauty, was a New York Times bestseller. In the last several years, she has covered a wide array of subjects, including American politics, the Arab Spring, Israeli archaeological forgers, Iraq war veterans and drug addiction, Arab feminism, Iraqi immigrants in Nebraska, the NYPD and human trafficking in New York City, Nazi-looted art at the MOMA, a small-town Italian mayor murdered over slow food politics, Arctic travel, Chinese immigrants to Italy, and expat life in Italy. She covered the Clinton White House for Time and wrote human interest stories for People magazine as a staff writer based in New York in the 2000s. She has written for numerous publications including Businessweek, The New Yorker, the New York Times and New York Magazine, is a contributing editor at Elle and has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, The Today Show, 48 Hours, MSNBC, CNN and, on NPR and many radio programs.
Born and educated in the Midwest, based in New York, Burleigh has traveled extensively in the Middle East and lived in Italy and France. She lives in New York with her husband and two children. Nina received her bachelor’s degree in English from MacMurray College, a master’s in English from the University of Chicago and her master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting from UIS (then Sangamon State University) in 1984.
Jim Prather began his career as a government reporter for WICS-TV in Springfield. He later went to work as a government reporter for KARK-TV in Little Rock, Ark., where he covered the Bill Clinton-Frank White gubernatorial campaign and the ensuing Clinton administration. Prather made the transition to management when he became the assignment editor for KTHV-TV in Little Rock. Later, Prather served as news director at KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi, Texas, KTXS-TV in Abilene, Texas, and KSBY-TV in San Luis Obispo, Calif. In 1989, he became assistant news director at WMAR-TV in Baltimore. Two years later he was named news director at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee.
During his 12-year tenure in Milwaukee, Prather rebuilt the organizational structure and culture in the Today’s TMJ-4 newsroom to provide more viewer-focused newscasts. In August 1995, Prather was named general manager of Today’s TMJ-4. With the help of a resurgent NBC prime time, a strong leadership team and a strategic plan which focused on winning breaking news, weather and investigative reporting, Today’s TMJ-4 became the dominant news leader in the Milwaukee marketplace.
In 1997, Prather was named executive vice president of the Journal Broadcast Group. In December 1998 he became president of the television group. In August 2003, Prather moved to Las Vegas and took on the role of vice president and general manager of KTNV, a station in the Journal Broadcast Group’s largest revenue market. In July 2005, Prather was named executive vice president, Television and Radio Operations, of Journal Broadcast Group. He now oversees radio and television station clusters in Boise and Tucson, and a Journal Broadcast Group duopoly in Palm Springs.
A graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Prather holds a bachelor of science degree in radio-television and political science, and a master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield.
Jim Webb is the editor for a Chicago Tribune investigative team focused on state and local government. Prior to that, he was the paper’s Illinois political editor from mid-2005 to mid-2010. In addition to supervising daily coverage of Chicago City Hall, Cook County and Illinois state government for five years, Webb oversaw state and local campaign coverage for the paper. During that time, he was the lead editor for the newspaper’s investigations of pay-to-pay politics involving former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hiring corruption under then-Mayor Richard Daley and influence peddling involving City Hall zoning.
In his current role, Webb works with a team of reporters focused on the relationships between powerful public officials and private interests. The team has produced a series of stories about how Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has built a political empire while repeatedly taking public actions that benefit private clients of his property tax law firm. Starting before the election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Metro investigations team has examined Emanuel’s creation of a campaign fund juggernaut, outlined the new mayor’s increasing reliance on privatization and exposed his resistance to transparency on everything from speed cameras to school closings.
Prior to joining the Tribune, Webb spent 18 years as a reporter, desk supervisor and news editor for The Associated Press.
After receiving a B.A. in journalism from Bradley University, Webb interned with the AP at the Illinois statehouse as part of the master’s program in Public Affairs Reporting at the University of Illinois-Springfield. Upon graduation in 1987, he parlayed the internship into a series of jobs with the AP in St. Louis, Louisville, Frankfort, Ky., and Philadelphia before moving to the Chicago bureau in 1989.
Patty Culhane, (keynote speaker at the Bill Miller Hall of Fame reception) is a UIS Public Affairs Reporting Program graduate of 1995. She joined Al Jazeera in 2009 and is now the White House correspondent for the network. Before joining, she worked as a correspondent for MSNBC covering the Bush administration, where she traveled both domestically and internationally with President George W. Bush. From 2000 to 2006, she worked at NBC affiliate WAVY-TV in Norfolk, Va. as a military reporter. She has been a journalist for 17 years, working in Iowa, Illinois and Norfolk, Va., where she covered the U.S. military, traveling extensively through the Middle East covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)web site is being honored by the National College Learning Center Association and the Learning Support Centers in Higher Education web portal. The center is the recipient of the second place 2010 Web Site Excellence Award.
The award was presented to CTL Mathematics Specialist Nicole Meismer during the 25th annual NCLCA Conference in Charlotte, NC on September 30, 2010. The center was presented with a wall plaque and certificate as part of the award. In addition, the center will also receive the 2010 NCLCA/LSCHE Web Site Excellence Award icon for display on their homepage.
The website was judged on factors such as general appearance, having a mission statement and showing evidence of supporting online students.
“We were all very impressed by the web site for the Center for Teaching and Learning,” said Alan Craig, president of the National College Learning Center Association.
Web sites were judged by leaders of NCLCA and LSCHE along with past first-place award winners.
David Racine has been named the Interim Executive Director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership (CSPL) at the University of Illinois Springfield. He succeeds Tony Halter who retired on June 15, 2010.
Racine came to UIS in the fall of 2007 to lead the Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies (ILLAPS). Under his leadership, grant funding for ILLAPS activities has increased from $2.4 million to $4.1 million, a 70% increase.
The Center for State Policy and Leadership is the policy center of the University of Illinois Springfield. The Center researches, evaluates, and helps form effective public policy; educates citizens on public affairs issues; and provides leadership and professional development programs. The Center provides a national stage for scholars, students, policymakers, and citizens to exchange ideas, engage in research, and expand our understanding of public policy issues. The Center's media units, WUIS public radio, Illinois Issues magazine, and the Office of Electronic Media, are key resources in fulfilling its mission.
Racine will continue to serve as Director of ILLAPS while carrying out the duties of Interim Executive Director, CSPL. As Director of ILLAPS, Racine oversees research and evaluation projects that focus on improving the linkage between the mental health and criminal justice systems, testing instruments for improved detection of high risk DUI offenders, strengthening the design of services for adults with autism, and disseminating mobile crash reporting technology among police departments. He also oversees state training systems for probation officers and DUI management, customized management and leadership training services for public and nonprofit employees, and the Illinois legislative internship program.
Prior to his appointment at UIS, he served in a variety of consulting and project management roles, including staff appointments with Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey and Senator John Danforth of Missouri. He is an expert in the area of program replication and has numerous publications addressing that subject as well as the topics of program evaluation, voluntary organizations, and intergenerational communities.
Racine holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Center for Public Administration and Policy.
The University of Illinois Springfield continues its dominance as a leading institution in the study of the life of President Abraham Lincoln. The 2009 Lincoln Legacy Lecture series was held on October 15, 2009 focusing on “Lincoln and the Environment”.
Dr. Mark Fiege, associate professor of History at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins talked about how Lincoln’s views on the environment were shaped by his time on the farm working outdoors in Illinois. Dr. Fiege is the author of a book on the environmental history of the United States that is forthcoming from the University of Washington Press in its Weyerhaeuser Environmental Series. Fiege met with a group of UIS students before his lecture to answer their questions about Lincoln.
“We’ve had a long history of top notch Lincoln scholars here and this just continues that,” said UIS History Club President Matt Parbs.
The Legacy Lecture was moderated by Dr. Michael Burlingame, professor of History and Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS. Burlingame taught History at Connecticut College for over 30 years before accepting the appointment at UIS this year. His recent two-volume biography, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) has been described as the definitive study.
“I’m deeply honored to hold the Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies and I hope I can live up to the high standards set by my predecessor,” said Burlingame.
Burlingame travels all around the world speaking about the life of our 16th president, but plans to return to Springfield to study at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.
