UIS professor will be ‘invested’ in virtual ceremony Thursday

Graham Peck will be formally invested as the Wepner Distinguished Professor of Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield on Thursday at 2 p.m.

The ceremony, which can be viewed on Zoom, was originally scheduled for March 19.

During the ceremony, Peck will receive a medallion that symbolizes his position as a distinguished professor. He will be entitled to wear the medallion at special university ceremonies, like commencement.

Peck will present a lecture, “Abraham Lincoln and the Making of an Antislavery Nation,” at the ceremony.

Peck is the author of the 2017 book “Making an Antislavery Nation: Lincoln, Douglas and the Battle Over Freedom” (University of Illinois Press). His scholarship focuses on antebellum American political history, and particularly on Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and the origins of the Civil War.

A ceremony of investiture is held when an endowed chair or distinguished professor is installed. The ceremony, modeled after knighthood ceremonies, began in early English universities.

There are five other Distinguished Chairs and Professorships at UIS, including Michael Burlingame, the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies. A renowned scholar, Burlingame has published a dozen books on the life and times of Lincoln, including the award-winning two-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life.”

This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on September 19, 2020..

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What's wrong with roses? Springfield author explores the dark side of valentines

Roses are an enduring Valentine's gift.

Aphrodite was the goddess of love in Greek mythology. According to some stories, the falling of her blood led to the first red rose.

The modern story of rose production also comes with a dark side. In Kenya, conditions for workers, the majority of them women, have long been a concern of human-rights activists. Sexual harassment, underpayment and overwork are reported as common problems.

Megan Styles, a Springfield native and professor at University of Illinois Springfield, explores the ethics, ecology and economy of rose production in her book recently released by University of Washington Press, Roses from Kenya.

In addition to an exploration of controversial labor practices, the book is also about a lake and the confluence of wildlife, commerce, power and politics surrounding it.

Styles became interested in the issue while a graduate student at the University of Washington where she was working toward her doctorate and came upon the topic, which combined her interests in Eastern Africa, ecology and ethnography.

"I literally Googled Kenya, environment and agriculture. And I came up with all of these really sensational articles in the BBC News and mainly the U.K. newspapers about Kenyan flower farming and the horrible labor conditions." She realized there was potential for a lesser-explored area of research on the environmental impacts of the industry.

In the U.S. market, many flowers sold come from South America. Styles suggests consumers ask questions about their origins if they harbor concerns about the ethical implications of the flowers they buy. As her book points out, consumer activism has been a key to bettering conditions and shining a spotlight on the practices in Kenya.

This story appeared in the Illinois Times on Feb. 13, 2020.

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Susan Koch: Resolving to pursue a graduate credential

The following is an excerpt from a column by University of Illinois Springfield Chancellor Susan Koch. This column appeared in The State Journal-Register on December 21, 2019. 

With the first day of January just a few days away, the time-honored tradition of making a New Year’s resolution may be on the minds of SJ-R readers. For the nearly half of Americans who make a resolution each year, self-improvement — including the decision to enhance one’s educational attainment — is among the most likely commitments. For more and more adults who have a bachelor’s degree, that commitment results in the pursuit of a graduate credential — a master’s degree, doctoral degree or, perhaps, a graduate certificate.

The graduate education experience can also build new skill sets and accelerate both professional networks and personal growth. Today, the highest percentage ever of American adults (more than a third of the adult population) has at least a bachelor’s degree and about 13.1 percent also have an advanced degree. The trend toward increasing educational attainment is evident at UIS where this year about 37% of our students are pursing graduate work in one of more than 20 areas of study.

What are the benefits of earning a graduate credential? What are the opportunities at the University of Illinois Springfield to do so? I recently had an enlightening conversation with several graduate program leaders about who pursues a graduate degree and why it can be a valuable investment. 

Among the most robust graduate programs at UIS are the master’s and doctoral programs in Public Administration. According to Professor Adam Williams, who directs the MPA, the program is one of the top five such programs in the country — with applicants not only from Illinois but also from across the United States.

“State and local government are our main areas of focus,” says Dr. Williams, “and we typically have about 200 students pursuing their degree either on campus or online.” “Our location in the state capital provides unique access to a community of public affairs scholars and practitioners,” adds Williams, “and the master’s program as well as specialized certificates in areas such as labor relations, community planning, nonprofit management, public procurement and child advocacy are especially useful for working professionals who need to gain more knowledge for efficiency and effectiveness in their current jobs and to advance in their careers.”

Som Bhattacharya, Dean of the College of Business and Management, is fond of saying he came to UIS from Florida almost a year ago for two reasons. He wanted to live where he could experience all four seasons and, more importantly for this discussion, he saw a “lot of potential in the College of Business and Management.”

“For students coming to our MBA program with professional experience,” says Dean Bhattacharya, “we no longer require the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) – which has ceased to be a good predictor of success in MBA programs. We are also creating graduate micro-credential programs in areas like data-analytics, cyber-security and negotiations to better serve local and regional employers.”

According to research on human behavior, a New Year’s resolution (with commitment behind it) can present a real opportunity for self-improvement. With so many options available at UIS, earning a graduate credential presents a prospect for self-improvement that is a valuable investment.

Sharon Graf, UIS ethnomusicology professor

Why you should know her: Sharon Graf, an associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Illinois Springfield, a musician, and a sailor, took a 15-month sea voyage to study the music, culture, and language of the Pacific Islands in 2010. She and her husband sailed there from Alton, Illinois on their 42-foot yacht, the Larabeck.

What is ethnomusicology? “The study of people making music. It encompasses a global perspective, so we look at people making music around the world.” She studied anthropology and music in college.

Why did you go to the Pacific Islands? “I had a very special opportunity because my husband, Michael Graf, wanted to go on a sailing trip. It wouldn’t have been possible without his interest and expertise. I wanted to visit and learn more about the world and other cultures.”

What did you learn about music in these cultures? “People in the Polynesian triangle were pioneers of sailing and populated all these islands, and their languages and musical customs are related. I find that really fascinating. It was interesting to go from island to island, to see the linguistics part of it, the ways their greetings were different but very related. The same with musical customs.

This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on July 29, 2019.

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UIS faculty, students to tackle asylum issues at Texas border

In May 2018, Deborah Anthony spent a week hearing cases at the largest family detention center in the United States.

The women and children mostly from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras told Anthony, an associate professor in the legal studies department at the University of Illinois Springfield working in Dilley, Texas, about 75 miles from the Mexican border, horrific stories of severe domestic violence, rampant gangs who extorted money and family members who “disappeared” in their homelands. 

They had presented themselves to U.S. Border Patrol agents for asylum, but even on this side, Anthony recalled, they endured threats of sexual abuse and violence. They were also called names, kicked and spat upon, they told her.

Anthony sometimes worked 15-hour days, all without pay, and watched colleagues, frazzled by the experience, go to other parts of the facility and break down emotionally. So Anthony did the only logical thing she could do in her mind: she committed to working another week at the facility in August.

This time, Anthony will take another legal studies colleague, assistant professor Anette Sikka, whose background is in immigration law and international human rights.

Six UIS students — Graciela Popoca, Vanesa Salinas and Sonia Hernandez, all of Chicago; Maria Zavala of Carpentersville; Yuli Salgado of Evanston; and Alex Phelps of Washington — are also going on the trip and will serve as English-Spanish interpreters.

The Dilley Pro Bono Project, formerly known as The CARA Project, is a partnership among several agencies.

Attorneys, like Anthony, are helping the women prepare for the initial phase of their asylum application, called the “credible fear interview.” It amounts to, Anthony said, hearing their stories and situations and helping them identify the parts that are going to be relevant to their cases legally.

“In order to get past the issues, we have to learn to discuss the (difficult) issues,” Phelps said. “I want to be able to get out of my comfort zone and confront these issues.”

“You can sit for 1,000 hours in a classroom,” Anthony said,” and not develop the same type of understanding from going there, talking to the people, understanding their experiences and witnessing government procedures: how (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is operating, how the detention center is operating, how the legal aspects of the asylum process work. “We’re a public affairs (institution) and we have a mission of engaged learning and engaged citizenship, and the university has been really great in helping us get this to happen.”

This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on June 23, 2019.

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For Charlie Wheeler, 50 years watching what happens in Springfield as a reporter, educator is enough

Charlie Wheeler has forgotten more about the Illinois Legislature than most reporters will ever know — and he hasn’t forgotten much, least of all the time an ill-tempered state senator purposely dumped a bowl of hot soup on him.

Longtime readers of the Chicago Sun-Times might remember Wheeler by his elegant byline, Charles N. Wheeler III, matched by the equally elegant writing style he used to explain the legislative complexities in a way everyone could understand.

More recent readers might know him for his insightful comments, offered from his perch as director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he has helped mold a generation of top young journalists.

Wheeler, 77, is retiring this summer after an amazing 50-year run as a close observer of the Springfield scene — the first 24 years with the Sun-Times, the last 26 running the reporting program. 

More than 700 students have come through the program since it was started in 1972 by the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon between stints in public office. Many former students went on to distinguished careers in newspaper, radio and television newsrooms across the country, creating an accomplished alumni roster I won’t even try to list to avoid leaving somebody out.

The hands-on experience and training under the close supervision of professional journalists have made the PAR program so successful.

When Wheeler joined academia in 1993, the Illinois Senate passed a resolution in his honor. “Throughout the course of his reporting on the General Assembly, one thing you could always say: Charlie reported it accurately because he actually did read the bills, more than what we do sometimes,” former state Sen. Emil Jones of Chicago observed that day. It is indeed one of Wheeler’s golden rules: Read the bill. It seems simple. But you would be amazed how often reporters and lawmakers alike don’t do that in the crunch of a legislative session.

Wheeler says the reporting program he’s leaving will continue. A search for his successor is underway.

This article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on May 31, 2019.

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Survival Training Leads to Book on Arctic Wilderness Exploration

Joe Wilkins once lived a double life. By day, was a quiet professor at the University of Illinois  Springfield. But when he was away from teaching, he led another, more dangerous life.

During his days in the Air Force in the 1960s, he was trained in arctic wilderness survival in Alaska.

For decades, he used that training to explore, and now document, the beauty and danger he experienced.

His new book is the culmination of those travels. It’s called “Gates of the Arctic National Park: Twelve Years of Wilderness Exploration.”

Wilkins, the very “Indiana Jones”-like author, is a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

“Gates of the Arctic National Park” documents his explorations in Alaska between 2005 and 2017. 

And a side note: All net proceeds from the book’s sale will benefit veterans in need through the Joe Wilkins Veterans Scholarship Fund at the University of Illinois at Springfield.