ILLINOIS STATE E-LUMNI NEWS - Volume 4, Number 1
September 9, 2004
BUDGET UPDATE
In July, the Illinois General Assembly passed its fiscal year 2005 budget, ending one of the longest legislative sessions in recent memory. Illinois State and other public universities were forced to pay their bills with reallocated internally-held funds until the budget was finally appropriated. The wait actually brought some positive news to Illinois State. While most state agencies saw a four percent budget reduction, the public university system received level funding from fiscal year 2004. Still, state support for public higher education is currently at the same level as in 1996.
President Bowman’s comments on the budget are available on the Media Relations Web site.
ILLINOIS STATE RETAINS U.S. NEWS RANKING
Illinois State University remained strong in the recently-released U.S. News and World Report rankings, increasing in several subcategories while retaining the third tier ranking it advanced to in 2002.
According to figures released in August, Illinois State improved in the U.S. News subcategories of freshmen retention rate, six-year graduation rate, class size greater than 50 students, SAT/ACT scores and freshmen acceptance rate.
“University rankings are but one small measure of success, but they are signs that an institution is receiving national attention,” said President Al Bowman.
For a variety of University facts that contribute to rankings, take a look at the University Facts web page published by the Planning & Institutional Research office.
INTRODUCING THE REDBIRD EXPRESS CAMPUS SHUTTLE
How many of you lived in Tri-Towers and dreaded the cold winter walk all the way across campus for an 8 a.m. class in Stevenson Hall? That suffering may be a thing of the past for West campus students. Beginning with the first day of classes on August 23rd, the Office of Transportation and Parking launched the Redbird Express shuttle service.
Each class day from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., two brightly-painted red-and-white buses featuring large Redbird logos loop around campus at 15 minute intervals. The shuttle, like other mass transit in Bloomington-Normal, is free to all students, faculty, staff, visitors, and alumni.
For more information, see the Redbird Express campus shuttle web page.
IN BRIEF: UPDATES FROM AROUND CAMPUS
In brief, here are some news notes out of some of the Colleges and other university divisions.
Division of Student Affairs
Officially there hasn’t been a “Dean of Students” on campus for many years, but a recent restructuring of the Student Affairs division has revived that position and its central office for student services, including Student Life, Intercultural Programs, Greek Life, and Community Rights and Responsibilities (a new office combining the former Student Dispute Resolution and Student Legal Services offices). Announcements and new organizational charts are available on the Student Affairs Web site.
College of Arts and Sciences and College of Fine Arts
Alumni of both the College of Fine Arts and the College of Arts & Sciences can take pride in two very nice new Web sites to help them find information about their colleges. Direct links are:
Both colleges have pages specifically for alumni. The links, along with those of other academic units, are provided on the Alumni Web site under "College and Department Alumni Pages."
University Advancement
With just four months remaining, Redefining “normal” is nearing its goal of $88 million as Illinois State prepares to celebrate a successful first comprehensive campaign at its December 31st conclusion. The current campaign total is $83,238,518. University Advancement staff, President Al Bowman and Redefining “normal” volunteers are busy raising the approximately $1 million per month it will take to meet or exceed the $88 million goal. For more information see the Campaign Web site.
HOMECOMING 2004: INVITE A FRIEND TO MEET YOU WITH A WEB POSTCARD
You are planning to come back to campus for Homecoming on October 23rd, aren’t you? There’s a little something for everyone the entire week of October 18-23. If it's been a few years (or more than a few!) since you’ve been back and you’ve been thinking about it, here’s a great idea: Go to the Alumni Web site and send our special Homecoming 2004 Web postcard to a college friend and invite him/her to meet you for Homecoming!
If you’ve already registered with the Web site, you can go directly to the Web Postcards page and enter your user name and password. If this will be your first visit, start at First Time Users to get your user name and password.
If you haven’t thought about someone from your college days for a while and would like to reconnect, you might be able to locate and e-mail him or her through the Alumni Online Directory. If you’re not registered, you might want to update your personal profile soon – just in case someone else is looking for you!
For more information on all activities campus-wide at Homecoming 2004, see the Homecoming Web site: www.homecoming.ilstu.edu. Alumni-specific activities are available from the Alumni Web site.
THE REDBIRDS HAVE LANDED: FALL MOVE-IN (Seeking Your Move-In Story)
Residence Hall move-in at Illinois State University took place the week of August 19th. With 13 residence halls and almost 7,000 students to move in, campus and the Normal community took great measures to prepare for the onslaught of Redbirds. Streets were closed, traffic was re-routed, and more than 400 campus volunteers (students and staff) pitched in to help.
When the residence halls were originally built, plans and room layouts were designed for students to bring an alarm clock and a transistor radio. Today's students come bearing 27" TVs, DVD players, lofts, couches, and much more. Students are provided with cable TV with stations ranging from local affiliates to The Learning Channel to Showtime and HBO. Along with computer labs throughout campus, the residence halls have all upgraded to accommodate students with high speed internet connections in each room.
Would you like to take a peek at how today's students are living? Check out the virtual room tour Web site created by University Housing Services. (Note: You may be prompted to install QuickTime, a free program. Also, if you can't get the page, please try back; thousands of alumni will be looking at it the same time as you!) Have fun looking at the rooms and let that lead you down memory lane about move-in days you remember.
Do you have an especially funny or unusual move-in memory? Then take moment to send us your story! We’ll post some of them on the Web for your reading enjoyment and announce it in a future issue of E-lumni News. Send your contribution by replying to this message or send to Julie Goodlick in Alumni Services, jdgoodlick@IllinoisState.edu.
ASK ALUMNI SERVICES
QUESTION: In response to last issue’s article on the In Exchange (School Street project) dedication, we received the following: "What is the idea behind the name In Exchange? Why that name? I’ve always wondered.” -- Darrel Sutter ’60, M.S. ’68, Normal, Illinois
ANSWER: Hi, Darrel. Good question! In short, that was the artist's name for the project. According to the booklet Campus Art: A walking tour of selected artwork on the campus of Illinois State University (2003), alumni artist Dann Nardi '76, M.S. '78 "... describes In Exchange as 'a location of shared property of both man and nature, an enduring timeless exchange of relationships between the two.' "
If you would like a copy of the booklet on campus art to read about other sculpture and visual art placed around campus, please e-mail Julie Goodlick in Alumni Services.
In a related follow-up, you may be proud to know that, in August, In Exchange was honored with a 2004 Community Beautification Award from the Town of Normal.
QUESTION: “How many graduates were there in May?” -- Anonymous, Bloomington, Illinois
ANSWER: Just about 2,600 graduates became alumni this May. Of course, when we count December and August graduations, we gain closer to 5,000 new alumni each year. As of this writing, our total number of living alumni is 159,409.
Note to new graduates: Welcome! Be sure to check out our New Graduates Web page.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Details on alumni events can be found on our Events Calendar Web page.
