ILLINOIS STATE E-LUMNI NEWS - Volume 3, No. 5
April 20, 2004

DR. AL BOWMAN NAMED ILLINOIS STATE'S 17TH PRESIDENT
In February, Illinois State University's Board of Trustees named Al Bowman as the 17th president of the University effective March 1. Bowman, 50, served as interim president since July 2003. He previously served as interim provost.

For a photo and additional details, please see the Media Relations Web page of the announcement. We hope all 153,682 Illinois State alumni will join us in welcoming President Bowman to his new role!

THE E-NEWSLETTER READERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS
The December, 2003, E-lumni News readership survey was a huge success: more than 1,200 of you responded! In general, it seems that you like what you're getting. We do anticipate some upgrades in the future, but changes won't be immediate.

If you wrote a specific comment and wanted a response, but haven't yet received one, please be patient. With the high number of responses, it will take us quite some time to respond to all comments.

If you'd like to see the survey results, take a look at the E-lumni News Readership Survey Results web page (PDF document).

A special note of CONGRATULATIONS goes to the following individuals who were randomly selected as "runners up" in the prize drawing and each received a free T-shirt:

Amy Chilton '91, Peoria, IL
Deborah (Gunion) Erickson '74, Bourbonnais, IL
Amy (Bleich) Fuller '93, Champaign, IL
Jason Gagnon '97, Cary, NC
Tian Hock Gan '91, Melaka, Malaysia
Lea (Hagerman) Simpson '78, Park Forest, IL
Kelly R. (Prasaun) Harms '00, Oak Creek, WI
Eldonna (Getz) Herzberger '68, M.S. '73, Taylorville, IL
Loraine (Sherman) Isenberger '59, Salida, CO
Linda (Mitsdarfer) Jackson '85, Champaign, IL
Karen Kangas-Preston, M.F.A. '99, Laingsburg, MI
Michael Lesnik '72, M.A. '73, Fredericksburg, VA
Jaime Lynch '02, Urbana, IL
Jane (Mehl) Richter '78, Normal, IL
Susie (McIntee) Schwieger '73, M.A. '76, Waterloo, IA
Rick Shields '76, Dyer, IN
Lynn (Steffes) Stehlik '79, Wilmington, IL

And a big Redbird CONGRATULATIONS to our grand prize winner, who won a very nice Illinois State Alumni sweatshirt: Andrew Hill '91, Cary, Illinois!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ALUMNI E-MAIL
A special THANK YOU to those who took the readership survey for sharing your opinions on frequency of e-mail! While we doubt we will be able to accommodate those who would like to receive the e-newsletter monthly, we appreciate that thought! For the time being, the e-newsletter will continue to come every other month.

As for your overall preferences for how much e-mail to receive from Illinois State, we are working with the entire campus to try to limit the number of group e-mail messages any alum might receive to approximately 4 per month. This should accommodate the preferences of a clear majority.

We are also pleased to announce that we have begun honoring more specific e-mail preferences than just "yes to all" or "no to all." If you are interested in tailoring your e-mail preferences, please visit our E-mail Preferences Web page.

ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS, CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The Alumni Association is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2004 Awards. Among this year's winners are an environmental scientist, an artist and children's book author, a TV actor, and a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox organization. Please see our Awards Web page for details and photos.

Nominations are accepted from fellow alumni for these honors on a year-round basis. The Awards Web page provides criteria and a nomination form. For additional information or assistance, please contact Susan Callahan in the Alumni office.

A QUICK UPDATE ON THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS BUILDING
It's, like, a real building now!

When was the last time you took a peek at our campus' newest building? Don't forget - construction photos are available at the College of Business Web site.

CONGRATULATE A NEW GRADUATE WITH A WEB POSTCARD
Remember those heady days in April when you were mere weeks away from your graduation from ISU? That's where our seniors are today! Do you know one of them?

Commencement at Illinois State will be May 7 and 8. If you'd like to send a customized online postcard to congratulate a new ISU graduate - or if you'd like to congratulate a high school graduate who's headed for Illinois State this fall - take a look at the Alumni Web site's Web postcards! All you need is the recipient's e-mail address. (Note: This service is only for alumni, so you must be registered with the alumni Web site and have a user name and password. If you need to register, start at the First Time Users page.)

FULBRIGHT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALUMNI
A year abroad studying your area of interest, at a university in a country you always wanted to learn more about, and paid for by someone else. . . . If this sounds appealing, consider the Fulbright Program, which aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and more than 140 other countries.

Fulbright Scholarships are designed to give recent graduates, postgraduate candidates, and developing professionals and artists opportunities for personal enrichment and international experience through affiliations with host countries and universities, focusing on study/research projects feasible to do in one year. Applicants must be U.S. citizens with some proficiency in the written and spoken language of the host country; some countries provide language training.

We encourage alumni to consider the Fulbright program. Applicants may utilize the services of the campus Fulbright Program Advisor, Elizabeth Kosuth '01, and assistant director of the Honors Program Becky Mentzer '93, M.S. '96, . Additional details are available on the Honors Program's Fulbrights Web page.

FOLLOW-UP: HOW THEY MET!
You may recall that in a previous issue of the E-lumni News, we solicited stories from "Redbird couples" about how they met during their time at Illinois State.

If you'd like to read a little romance on the Web, see our compilation of these stories at our "How We Met" Web page.

ASK ALUMNI SERVICES

QUESTION: "Hello. I'm planning a vacation to San Diego this summer, and a fellow alum reminded me that one of our mutual friends from ISU moved there some time back. But, we both lost track of her. I would LOVE to try to look her up while I'm there. Can you help me find her?" --- Joyce (Owens) Reider '95, Decatur, Illinois

ANSWER: Joyce, yours is one of the most common questions we get from alumni and one we love to answer! Though for confidentiality reasons we don't give out direct contact information - a fact we're sure most alums appreciate! - we offer you two options.

First, our Web site allows you, once registered, to browse for the individual in our Online Directory. If s/he has an e-mail address on file, you will be able to send a "blind" e-mail -- that is, you won't see the address, but you can still reach the person. This service is not available to the public but only to registered alumni and former students.

Secondly, we offer an "Alumni Locator Service" in which we will, if possible, contact the alum on your behalf and ask him/her to contact you.

You can access both of these services from the Alumni Web site "Find a Friend" page.

QUESTION: "Could you please tell me what the dates are for Homecoming 2004?" --- Robyn (Schlieben) Becker '85, Glen Ellyn, Illinois

ANSWER: Gladly, Robyn! You should save the week of Saturday, October 23rd for Homecoming 2004. This year's theme is "Redbird Roundup," so we're looking forward to a yee-hawing, rootin'-tootin' good time!

This year's Homecoming Reunion classes are 1964, 1959, and - our newest "Half Century" class - 1954. If you are a member of one of these classes, please start calling your friends today! Information and a message board for each class are available at the Reunions Web page.

A growing listing of campus-wide Homecoming activities will become available on the University Web site after May 1st. Stay tuned for more details, pardners! Yee haw!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Details on alumni events can be found on our Events Calendar Web page.