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CAMPUS NEWS
HEALTH CARE CENTER OPENING ON CAMPUS
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Partnership with OSF HealthCare makes array of affordable services available to all students
Monmouth College and OSF HealthCare are teaming up to help the College’s students stay healthy.
Beginning with the 2021 fall semester, Monmouth will offer a fully staffed student health center on campus. The center, located on the first floor of McMichael Residence Hall, will be available to all students. It will be staffed by OSF HealthCare medical personnel and will specialize in serving the needs of students.
“The student health center has long been a goal for our campus, and it will be great to have it serving students during the fall semester,” said Monmouth Associate Vice President of Student Life and Co-Dean of Students Michelle Merritt ’89. “It would not have been possible without the excellent work of our student leaders, especially those in Scots Senate, as well as the College’s long history with OSF HealthCare. We especially appreciate the efforts of Monmouth alumnus and Board of Trustees Vice Chair Dr. Ralph Velazquez ’79, who is chief medical officer at OSF HealthCare. Dr. Velasquez certainly helped make this a reality.”
The partnership builds on the College’s strong relationship with OSF HealthCare Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth.
“I’m excited OSF HealthCare Holy Family Medical Center will expand its partnership with Monmouth College to provide students with an on-campus health care service,” said OSF HealthCare St. Mary Medical Center President Lisa DeKezel. “Our expertise will give students access to trusted, convenient, high-quality and safe health care—something everyone deserves.”
The College’s student health center will offer services that include treating acute symptoms, such as covid-19, strep throat and the flu. It will also have the capacity to perform the most common tests, offer behavioral health care and provide chronic disease management for medical conditions such as ADHD, diabetes and allergies.
The student health center will offer physicals and shots for allergies and vaccinations—including for the flu and COVID-19. Its personnel will be able to write prescriptions. May graduate Griffin Morrill said the student health center will mean that “Monmouth College will be a healthier and happier campus.” Kara Fisher ’22 said the campus student health center will enhance campus life in a multitude of ways. “I’m excited about having easy access to health care,” said Fisher. “This is a great value to our campus. Some of my friends don’t go to the doctor right now because they don’t want to pay the copay. More of my friends will go see a health care provider now knowing that they will not have a copay.”
Western Region Chief Executive Officer Roxanna Crosser said OSF HealthCare providers “are an incredible community asset.”
“We’re happy this collaboration will allow an opportunity to meet the health and wellness needs of students quickly and easily,” said Crosser. “We believe Monmouth College students will also embrace the convenient, online scheduling, virtual visit options, and digital tools OSF HealthCare offers to provide additional ways students can stay engaged in their physical and mental health.”
A former lounge in the lower level of McMichael Residence Hall is being converted into a reception area for the health center.
CAMPUS NEWS
Vice President for Development and College Relations Hannah Maher interviews Director of Multicultural Student Services Regina Johnson during a Scots Day live stream, while faculty member Jennifer Thorndike looks on.
A RECORD DAY OF GIVING
Scots Nation pulled together to make Monmouth College’s fifth annual Scots Day of Giving the best one yet, despite covid inconveniences.
The April 15 event saw new records established for both dollars raised and donors contributing. In all, 964 donors combined to raise $271,852.
Earmarked to receive those funds were five focused initiatives selected by the College’s Office of Development and College Relations: the Scots Care Fund for students in need; an outdoor Wi-Fi hotspot (with the Parent & Family Council); the Champion Miller 1860 Fund, which promotes campus diversity; the Fighting Scots Society; and the Monmouth Fund.
“There is so much to celebrate about the day,” said Director of Alumni Engagement Jen Armstrong. “It was a good day for Monmouth and our students. And celebrations are most welcome these days.”
Following tradition, bagpipes signaled the start of Scots Day of Giving at 5 a.m., kicking off 18 hours and 53 minutes of activities in honor of the College’s founding in 1853.
Some of the day’s socially distanced highlights included a coffee chat with College Historian Jeff Rankin on “The History of Scots Day;” an ice cream social; and “Sippin’ with the Scots: Italian Wine Edition,” a town-gown event with faculty member Craig Vivian and Sarah Walters, the owner of Monmouth’s Market Alley Wines.
Throughout the day, an anonymous donor pledged to donate $10,000 every time the College reached another 168 donors (the number of years since Monmouth College’s founding), up to 840 donors. That total was surpassed, generating a total challenge gift donation of $50,000.
Research journal returns in expanded format following COVID hiatus
The latest edition of one of the leading multidisciplinary undergraduate research journals in the United States is back after a short hiatus—and it is back in a big way.
The 12th edition of Monmouth College’s Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research is a double issue featuring research articles by undergraduate students from nine U.S. colleges and universities. The schools range in size from residential liberal arts colleges to a state flagship research university.
Topics explored in the double issue include women’s representation in health care on American TV from 1965–2019, an exploration of Quebec French rap, and “Bodies and Boundaries During the covid-19 Pandemic.”
Monmouth’s students drive the journal, published annually since its founding in 2010. The pandemic forced MJUR editors to pause the 2020 edition with a few months left in the publication process.
Having students back on campus for most of the 2020–21 academic year allowed MJUR’s 10 student editors to review the 55 submissions from schools around the world. They selected five more articles to join the four that had been accepted for the 2020 edition.
Faculty adviser Michelle Holschuh Simmons said she enjoys the opportunity to work with some of the College’s top students in putting together the journal.
“I enjoy getting to know the very brightest students on the Monmouth College campus,” said Simmons, who has worked with MJUR since 2016. “We have amazing student editors, and I enjoy meeting the students from all the different majors. This is an opportunity for me to work as a colleague with students, and that has been a really gratifying experience.”
Hill assumes digital media post
Katelyn Hill has been named Monmouth College’s director of digital media.
A native of Indianapolis, Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Ball State University and will complete her MBA at Berry (Ga.) College in 2022.
The former assistant director of the Illinois Small Business Development Center of McLean County, where she helped business owners develop marketing plans, Hill most recently worked as assistant director of hospitality and events at Berry College.
As director of digital media at Monmouth, Hill’s responsibilities include overseeing the College’s social media efforts and helping maintain the primary website.
She is married to Daniel Hill, Monmouth College’s quarterbacks and wide receivers coach.
The Monmouth College TARTANS (Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools) program is designed to help address the growing shortage of talented teachers in rural schools. Two TARTANS, Nathan Schroeder ’21 and Holly Reyner ’21, are are on their way to rural schools. Both seniors completed their student teaching in the Farmington, Ill., school district. Reyner will teach orchestra and general music to grades 4–12 in the WACO (Wayland, Iowa) school district in Wayland, Iowa, while Schroeder will teach 9–12 math in Farmington.
Grads helping fill rural teacher gap
Nate Schroeder ’21 (left) and Holly Reyner ’21 (far right) are joined by professors Michelle Holschuh Simmons, second from left, and Tammy La Prad at the final TARTANS meeting of the 2020–21 academic year.
Campus group addresses issue of anti-Asian violence
When a mass shooting targeting Asian women occurred in Atlanta last spring, members of the Monmouth College Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group responded by organizing a roundtable discussion that was held via Zoom.
Panelists for the March 31 discussion—titled “Asian & Asian American Experiences in the U.S.”—were Monmouth faculty members Jialin Li, Shweta Arpit Srivastava and Michelle Damian.
“We should not ignore this crime,” said faculty member Jennifer Thorndike, the event’s moderator. “This panel is an opportunity to learn, to reflect and to act. May your voices help to build a more inclusive society.”
When it comes to changing preconceived notions and stereotypes, part of the action that individuals can take is to “get yourself out of your comfort zone and do different things,” said Damian, an authority on Asian history.
Damian said she applied that advice to her own life when she began traveling to Japan.
“But even if you can’t travel overseas—especially during the pandemic—you can do other things,” she said. “If you’re from a small town, go to a big city. If you’re from the East Coast, go to the West Coast. Otherwise, the things you see in your daily life are just being reinforced day after day. You can also ask yourself, ‘Do I think this way because this is what I really think, or is it just because that’s what everybody around me thinks?’”
Damian and Li shared some of the “deeply rooted” history of how the Japanese and Chinese have been treated in America, discussing, among other legislation and incidents, the Page Act of 1875, which effectively prohibited the entry of Chinese women into the United States, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which had the same effect on Chinese men.
Flowers left at Gold and Aromatherapy Spa in Atlanta for victims of the March spa shooting.
PHILANTHROPY
By Barry McNamara
Before Nathan Gaskill ’04 was a partner at the accounting firm of Lauterbach & Amen in Naperville, Ill., he was a first-generation college student wondering if he’d have enough money to begin and continue his Monmouth College education.
“First-generation college students can face a multitude of challenges,” said his wife, Laura Haumiller Gaskill ’06. “The financial burden is often one of those barriers to entry, and one we thought we could help lighten that load.”
The couple had Nathan’s experience in mind when they considered supporting Monmouth’s Light This Candle campaign, which will raise a minimum of $75 million for the College’s endowment by Dec. 31, 2022.
In 2015, the Gaskills created the Nathan and Laura Gaskill Accounting Prize.
“If we were going to make another gift, we thought about what that would look like,” said Laura. “Both of our hearts were set on helping first-generation college students.”
The Gaskills responded to the challenges of the Light This Candle campaign by initiating the Dream and Achieve Scholarship. The scholarship is for a first-generation college student, with preference given to students from the local counties of Warren, Mercer, Henderson and Knox. Recipients should also be involved in Monmouth cocurricular activities. Although preference will be given to first-year students, transfer students will also be eligible for the scholarship.
A graduate of Monmouth High School, Nathan studied accounting and business in college. Playing football, he set Fighting Scots career records for the most receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches, earning multiple All-Midwest Conference honors at receiver and on special teams. He also competed at the NCAA meet as a member of the Monmouth track team.
“The scholarship that we’ve done is also inspired by Nathan’s family,” said Laura. “Both sides of his family are from the area. We wanted it to be for local students. Monmouth has impacted Nathan’s life in a significant way; it’s his hometown.”
Laura’s high school experience was different from her husband’s. She came to Monmouth from Naperville Central High School.
“There were a thousand seniors in my class,” she said. “At the graduation ceremony, I sat next to people I didn’t even know.”
Laura knew she wanted a different experience for college, and she set out in earnest to find it, making “13 college visits over the span of a couple of months.” Then a van trip to Monmouth, led by longtime admission counselor Peter Pitts, helped her make her decision.
“I came to campus, and I remember thinking it was the picture of what a small school should look like,” she said.
Laura said she felt the freedom “to try new things” at Monmouth. That had not always been the case at Naperville Central, which she said often felt “fast-paced” in a stressful way.
“At Monmouth, I had the wonderful opportunity to try new things and make new friendships,” she said. “At first, I thought I would study psychology, but then public relations really spoke to me.”
Laura majored in the subject, minoring in English. Until the pandemic, she ran a small PR marketing firm, Gaskill Creative. Laura attended a writer’s workshop at the University of Chicago and is working on a novel—although the pandemic has limited her writing opportunities as her focus has been on the school schedule of the couple’s two children, who are 8 and 6, respectively.
Laura said her ability to shift midstream comes from her Monmouth experience.
“I can point to so many examples from my liberal arts education at Monmouth that taught me to be flexible with what’s happening—from lessons I learned in economics with Professor (Dick) Johnston, to PR classes with Professor (Benita) Dilley, to the flyers we’d put out in Chris Goble’s class,” she said.
The Gaskills with their children, Ryne (left) and Levi.
