News from Illinois Wesleyan, Norther Illinois and Eastern Illinois universities

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN

May Term extends learning options

BLOOMINGTON - Illinois Wesleyan University's May Term aims to bridge in-classroom and out-of-classroom learning.

The optional monthlong program, which continues until Thursday, gives IWU students an opportunity to study a single subject intensively, take a travel course or complete an internship.

From "Chemistry in the Kitchen," to "Mecca to Malcolm, an intensive study of Islam," a variety of topics are covered. Other on-campus offerings this May include "Human Heredity and Forensic Science" and "Sex, Values and Human Nature."

Some May Terms take IWU students to faraway sites - Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica, Emperors and Revolutionaries: Chinese History through Travel and Transcultural Nursing and Healthcare in Hawaii.

For information concerning May Term, contact the IWU Andrew W. Mellon Center at (309) 556-3751.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS

Grad student receives Fulbright honor

DeKALB - Kathy Taylor Schlieper graduated this month from Northern Illinois University with a master's degree specializing in English as a second language.

Come the fall, Schlieper will put her new degree to good use with an eight-month Fulbright appointment to Comenius University in the Slovak Republic. She will teach English to students at the university in the capital city of Bratislava.

"This will give Kathy a chance to see internationally how the teaching of English as a foreign language is done, and it will provide her enormous opportunities and learning experiences to bring back to this country," said Richard Orem, an NIU Presidential Teaching Professor in the College of Education's Department of Literacy Education.

Comenius University is about the size of NIU, Schlieper said, with a faculty numbering about 2,000. She reports for orientation Sept. 20 and, beyond that, has few expectations.

"I am absolutely thrilled. More than 5,000 people applied for 1,100 positions in over 150 countries. It's very competitive, so I feel really fortunate," said Schlieper, who has taught at Kishwaukee Community College and Waubonsee Community College.

EASTERN ILLINOIS

Blair Hall dedicated after renovations

CHARLESTON - John Inyart remembered the blaze on April 28, 2004, as one of the most challenging in his time as a volunteer firefighter.

"The only thing that could have made this worse could have been subzero temperatures," said Inyart, now mayor of Charleston.

He was among dozens of professional and volunteer firefighters who battled high walls and even higher winds to extinguish the inferno that was once the third floor of EIU's historic Blair Hall.

But Inyart was also among the half-dozen speakers who recently helped dedicate the newly renovated Blair Hall just shy of the fire's two-year anniversary. He also found a silver lining in an otherwise devastating event.

Inyart said not only were there no injuries during the fire, but the catastrophe also inspired the university and the city of Charleston to cooperate on the purchase of a new ladder truck for the Charleston Fire Department. EIU President Lou Hencken said the fire caused more than $11 million in damages.

"However, from the chaos, the uncertainty, the inconvenience, we have a better university community - a reborn Blair Hall that will for years and years to come serve this great university," Hencken said.

Michele Steinbacher of the Pantagraph, Aracely Hernandez of The Daily Chronicle and Nathaniel West of the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier contributed to this report.