Campus News

PREPARING FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Interdisciplinary program helps ready students for Peace Corps service

Participating in the announcement of the Peace Corps Prep program were, from left: Peace Corps Office of University Programs Program Specialist Manuel Colón, Wackerle Career and Leadership Director Marnie Dugan, anthropology professor Megan Hinrichsen, political science professor Jessica Vivian, political science professor Michael Nelson, President Clarence R. Wyatt and educational studies professor Craig Vivian.

Monmouth College officially launched its Peace Corps Prep program in October, opening “amazing opportunities” for students interested in becoming global citizens who can help shape the world.

“This is one of the most exciting developments for the College,” Monmouth President Clarence R. Wyatt said at the announcement event. “The Peace Corps is one of the great legacies of America to the world. We look forward to this being a great hallmark of Monmouth’s contribution to the country and to the world for generations to come.”

An interdisciplinary certificate program housed in the College’s educational studies department, with support for professional development in the Wackerle Career and Leadership Center, the program prepares students for leadership, intercultural competence, foreign language and a professional sector of their choice such as education, health or the environment. Those skills give them a competitive edge when applying for Peace Corps service, and can be built upon and marketed throughout their careers.

“There is a much more compelling case to be made about how and what skills you as a student can acquire to better prepare yourself for Peace Corps service,” said Manuel Colón, program specialist in the Peace Corps Office of University Programs.

The Monmouth Peace Corps Prep program is overseen by two co-coordinators: Wackerle Career and Leadership Director Marnie Dugan and educational studies professor Craig

Vivian. It is assisted by anthropology professor Megan Hinrichsen and political science professor Michael Nelson, who is a Peace Corps veteran.

Vivian and his wife, Jessica Vivian, who teaches political science at Monmouth, are also Peace Corps veterans. Their son Paul is currently serving in the Peace Corps.

“The Peace Corps Prep program will allow students like you to make a significant impression on and a meaningful contribution to others,” Vivian said. “Most important are the experiences that you can have, which will help you in the building of yourself, the building of your identity—what I like to call your life project.”

Taylor Sutschek ’16 is among more than four dozen Monmouth alumni who have served in the Peace Corps. Sutschek returned in August from two years of teaching English to schoolchildren in the South African province KwaZulu-Natal.

“I’m 100 percent certain that my Peace Corps service shaped me into a better global citizen,” she said. “My time living in South Africa gave me so many amazing opportunities and equipped me with the ability to approach and experience different cultures with humility and respect, to listen, and to understand. Peace Corps changed my life, and I am beyond grateful.”

Vivian said that serving in the Peace Corps, which was established by the U.S. government in 1961, will shape a person’s life in numerous ways.

“It is in the self-constructing experiences that you will begin to understand the necessity of doing this work in a community … a community of friends, of colleagues and initially strangers,” he said. “A large part of being in the Peace Corps is being able to transform strangers into those friends and colleagues who will become part of your life.”

THE CENTER FOR CIVIC AND SOCIAL CHANGE

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Helping Students Make a Difference

Political science professor Michael Nelson helped lead the faculty-driven initiative to establish the Center for Civic and Social Change.

Monmouth College has created the Center for Civic and Social Change to help students prepare for careers focused on making a difference in the world.

“This Center will empower our students so that they can lead lives that are directed toward the betterment of societies and individuals’ lives throughout the world,” said political science professor Michael Nelson, who helped lead the faculty-driven initiative.

Monmouth President Clarence R. Wyatt said the Center for Civic and Social Change “represents an important moment in the life of Monmouth College.”

“The essence of the Monmouth College experience has long been to empower young people through the liberal arts and sciences to be forces for good in their personal, professional and civic lives,” Wyatt said. “The creation of the Center for Civic and Social Change gives even greater focus and energy to that mission, and it will serve as a catalyst for additional efforts. The center also demonstrates the vital role that Monmouth plays in preparing young people to lead and create positive change. I thank and congratulate the faculty members who are leading this exciting new development.”

The center brings together five of the College’s dynamic and interdisciplinary minors and programs: Global Public Health Initiative, Global Food Security Initiative, the Peace, Ethics and Social Justice minor, the Rural Schools Collaborative, and the Peace Corps Prep program.

“Members of those programs realized that their missions and work complement one another,” Nelson said. “Creating the Center for Civic and Social Change is a great way for us to bring together the faculty and the students already involved with these outstanding programs. That will allow us to act on the synergies among the programs and build something collectively that will be very effective.”

Nelson said that Monmouth faculty have seen an increase in students who "want to make a difference in the world, but they need direction about how to do it,” adding, “This center will help provide students with the paths that can help channel those passions.”

Monmouth’s curriculum is ideally suited to support the Center for Civic and Social Change.

“Our liberal arts approach encourages us to think about not just our academic programs and our professions, but it also encourages us to consider our broader lives and how these things interact,” said Nelson. “Monmouth’s liberal arts program helps us think about what we can do to be better citizens, both here in the United States as well as in our interactions with people around the world.”

Employers are eager to hire students who have the kind of interdisciplinary experiences offered through Monmouth’s Center for Civic and Social Change.

“We’ve found that employers like to hire students who have been part of programs that are dedicated to making their communities and their world a better place,” said Nelson. “Employers are excited to hire students like that because they have demonstrated a level of capability and responsibility that prepare them to handle a variety of situations and challenges.”

EXCELLENCE IN ALUMNI PROGRAMMING

For the third year in a row, Monmouth College’s alumni programming has been recognized with an award from CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Monmouth College’s first Alumni Science Symposium, held last April, received honorable mention for best new alumni program in CASE District V, which

includes member institutions from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

All alumni science majors and minors were invited to attend the weekend event, to hear from peers in their profession, meet with friends and professors, and help guide current science students in their post-baccalaureate pursuits.

A UNIQUE PRE-COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

Two-Week Summer Program Introduces Talented High School Students to Monmouth

Beginning this summer, Monmouth College will offer a special academy to prepare select high school students for their college experience.

History professor Michelle Damian serves as director of the Scholars Academy.

An intense, residential, pre-college experience, the Scholars Academy at Monmouth College will be the only program of its kind in Illinois and one of few of its kind in the Midwest.

Held June 16-28, the two-week program will give academically talented rising high school juniors and seniors the opportunity “to try on the life of a college student,” said Monmouth history professor Michelle Damian, the academy’s director.

“This unique academy is ideal for a student who is considering going to college, but who might not know what type of college he or she wants to attend,” said Damian.

Attending the Scholars Academy at Monmouth College will give students a sense of the diverse range of subjects offered at a liberal arts college, which could benefit students who don’t yet know what they want to study in college.

“The academy lets them try out a number of things without them having to make a full-time commitment to a specific discipline,” said Damian.

Students enrolled in the Scholars Academy at Monmouth College will take two discussion-based courses from six subjects: anthropology, biology, chemistry, classics, English and media. Class topics include “Good Eats and Forbidden Flesh: Food’s Role in Shaping Humanity,” “How Life Works,” “Food and Forensics in Chemistry,” “Nature and the Environment in Antiquity,” “Write the Whirlwind: Creative Writers Being Heard” and “From Media Consumer to Media Producer: Audio and Video Production.”

Students will have two classroom sessions in the morning, then return to those classes for more “hands-on, practicum-type experiences in the afternoon,” said Damian. “They’ll have the opportunity to engage in stimulating discussions, learn from knowledgeable professors and raise their learning to a whole new level.”

In addition to an intellectual immersion in a highly personalized learning environment, academy participants will

have opportunities to sharpen their leadership skills. Students will engage in discussions and activities focused on leadership and hear from leaders within the College and community. They’ll also participate in leadership activities that will help them build problem-solving skills and self-confidence.

Academy students will live in a Monmouth residence hall, “experiencing college life in all kinds of different ways,” said Damian. “They’ll move beyond high school as they encounter new challenges, meet new friends and step out of their comfort zones.”

Information about the Scholars Academy at Monmouth College is available at scholarsacademy.monmouthcollege. edu. For more information: scholarsacademy@monmouthcollege.edu or 309-457-2345.

EDUCATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT INTRODUCES MAJOR FOR NON-TEACHERS

In recent years, Monmouth College’s Educational Studies Department has offered only one major—elementary education, designed for students wishing to pursue certification for teaching.

In order to serve students interested in education but not necessarily a teaching career, a new educational studies major was recently introduced.

According to Brad Rowe, assistant professor of educational studies, the new major is an option for students “who express a more general interest in the liberal arts study of education and society—a study of the social, political, historical and cultural contexts and issues that shape education.”

Rowe said possible career paths for the new major include school counseling, non-profit organizations, international teaching, speech pathology and college admissions. It also provides a good foundation for admission to graduate school.

BIOCHEM MAJOR NAMED LINCOLN LAUREATE

Sobhi Kazmouz is congratulated by President Wyatt for his selection as Monmouth's 2018 Student Laureate.

Sobhi Kazmouz, a senior biochemistry major originally from Syria, has been named Monmouth

College’s 2018 Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, joining an elite group of Illinois college students honored for overall excellence.

effect of different interactions on protein structure of the E. coli FNR transcription factor.

Selected to work last summer at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, where he was matched with Dr. Jerome Ritz’s lab at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Kazmouz worked on a project to monitor the immune profiles of bone marrow transplant patients with chronic graftversus-host disease.

“He is incredible at research and eloquent in his explanations of his research,” said chemistry professor Laura

Moore, who has collaborated with Kazmouz on site-directed mutagenesis and protein assays as well as studied the

Kazmouz said he hopes to become a medical doctor, working in immunology or oncology.

“I really love the process of scientific discovery and research,” he said. “Even before coming to Monmouth, I was inspired to pursue that path by my parents. My mother is a dentist, and my father is a doctor.”

Outside of the classroom, Kazmouz has served in many leadership roles on campus, including co-president of the Pre-Health Society, supplemental instructor for general chemistry and organic chemistry, member of the editorial board for the Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research, and international student orientation leader. A resident assistant for two years, Kazmouz is a member of two honor societies—Alpha Lambda Delta and Mortar Board—and has volunteered at Monmouth’s OSF Holy Family Hospital.

FARMERS CAN WEAR KILTS

Eight Monmouth students represented the College in the famous Blue Room at the 2018 National Future Farmers of America Convention & Expo in Indianapolis in October. Wearing pins proclaiming “Farmers Can Wear Kilts,” the team showed a video and performed demonstrations to FFA high school attendees. From left are Esther Hubbard, Morgan Abraham, Noah Applegate, Brie Stumbo, Bridgette Davey, Riley Criddle, Declan Crego and Colton Willhardt. They were accompanied by physics professor Chris Fasano.

60 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG

Harlow Blum, emeritus professor of art, retired from teaching in 1999 after a 40-year career, but he may never retire as an artist.

A major retrospective of Blum’s lifetime of work, spanning more than six decades, opened in October at Monmouth’s Buchanan Center for the Arts and ran through early January.

Wide-ranging themes in the exhibit included the effects of global warming, the cycles of nature in volcano eruptions and lava flows, the majestic forms of mountains and canyons, and the serene calm of Japanese landscapes and gardens.

A distinctive feature of the exhibit was his acrylic collage paintings, which make use of sand, resins, bird gravel, Japanese handmade papers and cedar boards, and rusted metals. His “Fire and Ice” works are constructed using expandable foam.

A EUREKA MOMENT

Let the record show that Sept. 18, 2018, was the day that phage was found at Monmouth College.

“We have liftoff,” said biology professor Eric Engstrom, who teaches the College’s phage-hunting course with department colleague Tim Tibbetts. “Our students found phage the world’s never seen before. Tim and I are walking around the ceiling today.”

Phage is a virus that infects bacteria. It’s “a biological entity,” said Engstrom, stopping short of calling it an organism.

“They’re fascinating things,” said Engstrom. “They’re everywhere that bacteria are found, but we don’t know how to think about phage. We’re trying to broaden our understanding. Most of its genes, we have no idea what they do. This opens up a lot of questions, such as are they phage-specific? We just don’t know until we have lots of samples.”

Research was conducted in the 1950s on using phage to treat infection, but that information was pushed to the back burner because of the rise of antibiotics. Phage has become relevant again because some diseases, such as tuberculosis, are resisting antibiotics.

“We’re becoming interested in this again,” said Engstrom. “We let it rust. Can we clean it up and put it back to use?”

Monmouth students aren’t the only ones hunting for phage. The College is part of a five-year, nationwide discovery-based undergraduate research initiative. Other schools participating include community colleges to larger research institutions such as Johns Hopkins University.

ASSESSING THE MIDTERMS

Nationally known political analyst Amy Walter weighed in on the results of the 2018 midterms during a Monmouth College Midwest Matters lecture in November. She told the audience that the election was a stark reminder that there are “two Americas,” adding that the country is “more geographically polarized than at any time since 1860, and we know that didn’t turn out very well.”

LUX SUMMER THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE PREPARES FOR THIRD YEAR

Participants in the 2018 Lux Institute bid farewell at the closing exercises.

High school students from across the United States will converge on campus this summer to grapple with the challenges of hunger and poverty.

The students will participate June 16-30 in the third annual Lux Summer Theological Institute for Youth, funded by Lilly Endowment.

“We’ve been through two years now,” said Monmouth Associate Chaplain and Lux Summer Theological Institute for Youth Director Jessica Hawkinson, who helped start the summer program. “We know the institute is a success. What we have here is something special. Experiences like this are few and far between for high school students.”

The 2019 Lux Institute will be built around the theme “A Place at the Table: Thinking Theologically About Hunger and Poverty.”

Thanks to a Lilly Endowment grant, there is no cost to attend the two-week institute. Families have to pay for students to travel to Monmouth, but a free shuttle is provided from Chicago to the College.

Hawkinson said the Lux Institute offers students a chance to think deeply about a critical topic that affects every society.

“We want them to think holistically about why hunger and poverty exist,” she said. “It’s one of our most essential human rights. We understand the need. Most of the students will have volunteered in a soup kitchen or volunteered on a mission trip. They’ve encountered hunger or poverty. In that regard, it’s an easy topic to take on.” The institute takes that topic to another level.

“We immerse them in the subject,” said Hawkinson. “Solutions to poverty and hunger are not something you teach from one discipline or perspective. There are many ways of thinking about those issues, and approaching it from multiple disciplines is something that Monmouth College does well.”