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AROUND CAMPUS

After meeting goal months early, Campaign continues momentum

Although spring did not come early to the Midwest this year, Monmouth College achieved an early milestone in April, passing the $75 million goal of its Light This Candle Campaign. That mark was met more than eight months ahead of the Campaign’s scheduled final day.

“We are quite pleased that we have exceeded our $75 million goal well before our Dec. 31, 2022, completion date of the Campaign,” said William Goldsborough ’65, national Campaign chair. “This success reflects very favorably on the Monmouth College community and its strong sense of engagement and commitment. Many thanks to everyone who has generously participated in this effort so far, with special thanks to the great work by our vice president for development and college relations, Hannah Maher, and her staff. This is yet another example of why it’s great to be a Scot!”

Of the $77.3 million raised thus far through the Light This Candle Campaign, $56.6 million has come through current gifts and $20.7 million has come in the form of deferred gifts.

Launched in March 2019, the Campaign has four objectives: increasing scholarships and student financial aid; creating more opportunities for faculty and staff support and academic innovation; enhancing the College’s living-learning environment by increasing funds for facilities; and building an even stronger culture of philanthropy through a larger annual fund and deferred gift register.

President Clarence R. Wyatt said that exceeding the Campaign’s goal so far ahead of schedule is “an extraordinary achievement.”

“The Campaign’s exceeding its $75 million goal 8½ months early is an extraordinary achievement and worthy of celebration for many reasons,” Wyatt said. “First, it is a testament to the leadership of Campaign Chair Bill Goldsborough and Board Chair Mark Kopinski ’79, and the hard work of Vice President for Development Hannah Maher and the entire alumni/development staff.

“Also, this achievement is inspired by the vision, ambition and generosity of the College’s trustees, faculty and staff, alumni, parents and friends. Most important, we celebrate this accomplishment because it strengthens Monmouth College’s ability to do what it has done for generations—to change for the better the arc of young people’s lives.” Kopinski, whose Campaign gift made with wife, Debbie, supports faculty and academic innovation, said that this support of faculty will benefit students in many ways.

“We strongly believe that access to faculty development funds is essential for the College faculty,” said Kopinski. “This gift will help to allow pedagogy to remain fresh and for faculty to continue research in their area of interest. Ultimately, students benefit from these endeavors in co-research opportunities and robust

topical discussions.”

Maher said that a chief reason the Campaign has exceeded its goal early is because of a combination of a deeply committed base of donors and a strong team of development officers.

“It has been a pleasure to work with an outstanding development team and our generous donors, both who are striving to see a stronger future for Monmouth College,” Maher said. “The vision of the Light This Candle Campaign has been to pass along to those who will follow us at a college that is even more of an institution of high opportunity and high achievement. Having exceeded our Campaign goal well before our completion date is a strong signal of how important this shared goal truly is. I look forward to what is still to come for Monmouth through our Campaign close at the end of 2022.”

Wyatt said that during the current stretch run the Campaign “will continue to achieve even more for the College and its mission.” $75M Our Goal

103%

$77.3M Raised

AROUND CAMPUS

A group of 50 Golden Apple Scholars participated in a four-day institute on campus in June. The scholars, who are all students at Illinois colleges and universities, are training to be teachers in the state.

Summer institute attracts future Illinois teachers

During the first full week of June, Monmouth College hosted 50 students from Illinois colleges and universities and their instructors. It was one of 11 Golden Apple Scholar Institutes held this summer throughout the state.

“The Golden Apple Foundation is dedicated to recruiting teachers for underserved Illinois K-12 schools, and their summer institute is part of their education program for Golden Apple Scholars who are preparing to be teachers,” said Monmouth education studies professor Michelle Holschuh Simmons. “We’ve been working with Golden Apple for a long time at Monmouth, and every year we have about 10 Monmouth students who are Golden Apple Scholars.”

Two of those Scots—Molly Parsons ’23 and Gabi Ramirez ’23 —participated in the Monmouth scholar institute, which was the equivalent of a 300-level college course.

The 50 scholars who attended will complete 50 hours of assisting teachers in summer school programs. The experience is meant to help develop their career and give them extra skills, as they commit to teaching in a school in need in the state of Illinois for five years.

For example, the scholars learned about “purposeful seating charts” for their future classrooms, paying attention to such concepts as seating advanced learners near other students who might need help, and seating students who might need to leave the classroom more often than others closer to the door.

The Monmouth institute focused specifically on preparing the scholars for student teaching and using mock interviews to help them get ready for entering the teaching field. A panel discussion included two Monmouth alumni, Bonnie Worthington Johnson ’17 and Vanessa Schumacher Witherell ’08.

Monmouth receives high national ranking in academic stewardship

Within the first few words of Monmouth College’s mission statement is the phrase “provides a transformative educational experience.”

That term may be hard to quantify, but Academic Influence—a team of academics and data scientists—has made the attempt through its machine-learning algorithms, which cull data from scores of online sources.

In its first Academic Stewardship rankings, Academic Influence ranked Monmouth No. 31 among the nation’s 4,000 colleges and universities and second in Illinois.

“This group took its inspiration from a series of podcasts by Malcolm Gladwell that decried how the standard academic rankings reward ‘schools that have a lot of money and spend it lavishly’ and penalize schools ‘that focus on making education more accessible to those with little or no money,’” said President Clarence R. Wyatt. The Academic Influence authors wrote that “schools that are exemplary in Academic Stewardship are doing everything in their power to help students and faculty to achieve their full potential.”

To arrive at their final Academic Stewardship rankings, Academic Influence used what its creators call “a precise mathematical formula,” gleaned from publicly available data, to measure two criteria: stewardship of financial resources and stewardship of human resources. Respectively, those criteria are defined as “using the money they have responsibly without waste” and “doing their best to help students, faculty and administration to flourish.”

SPRING BREAK CONFERENCE

Director of Student Equity, Inclusion and Community Regina Bannan Johnson ’01 traveled to Charlotte, N.C., during spring break to be part of the 23rd annual White Privilege Conference presented by The Privilege Institute. She helped facilitate the Black Women’s Think Tank, a space to unpack generational-racialized trauma and healing pathways. Students accompanying Johnson (at left) to the conference were: Gabriela Madu ’23, Reggie Willis ’22, Nyasaina Kwamboka ’23 and Justin Douglas ’22.

Former controller Tharp assumes finance and business VP post

After a national search, Holly Tharp, who was previously Monmouth College controller, has been named vice president for finance and business at the College.

She replaces Melony Sacopulos, who was named associate vice chancellor for capital financial management at the University of Pittsburgh in April.

After earning her bachelor of business degree in human resources and marketing from the Western Illinois University in 2006, Tharp earned a second bachelor’s in accounting from WIU in 2010. She then received a master’s degree in higher education administrative services from McKendree University in 2013.

Previous to Monmouth College, Tharp worked more than six years at WIU, in positions that included assistant bursar, accounts payable manager and accountant. She began her affiliation with Monmouth in 2017, serving 4½ years as assistant controller, and since September 2021 as controller.

“In both of these roles, and in her work since Melony’s departure for the University of Pittsburgh, Holly has demonstrated her devotion to the College and the community, her keen intelligence, and her ability to think and act as a strategic partner to grow revenue by recruiting more students and retaining them more effectively,” said President Clarence R. Wyatt. Holly Tharp

From professor and student to colleagues in art

Lotz and Scott at the opening of their joint exhibit.

In the end, coming up with a name for their joint exhibition was harder than actually making the art for Monmouth art professor Stacy Lotz and 2003 graduate Dusty Scott, whose works were on display at the Galesburg Community Arts Center from May to July.

“When we decided to do a show together, we asked ourselves, ‘Do we want there to be a common theme or idea?’” said Lotz. “We didn’t like that restriction. We wanted the freedom to go through with crazy ideas for pieces that we wouldn’t normally make. So we decided, let’s just make work.”

Scott said the title of the exhibit, “Bridges,” referred to “bridging the gaps—maybe for people who have never set foot in a gallery,” said Scott. “Sometimes, in that circumstance, they might feel intimidated—that they didn’t ‘get’ the art. But you don’t have to get any of this. We’re just trying to connect with the viewer in a lot of different ways and bridge that gap.”

When Scott was a Monmouth student, one of his professors was Lotz, who joined the faculty in 1995 and is now the longest-tenured member of the College’s art department.

“Dusty’s not my student any more, he’s my colleague,” said Lotz. “That, for me, is the best part of this—that the two of us get to do this. It’s about the relationships you build with people, and the relationships we hope to build with the community. … Since the time he was a student, Dusty and I have talked about art and what it means to be an artist in a rural community—to make art that speaks to your community.”

AROUND CAMPUS

‘This place reminds me I am not alone’

CHAMPION MILLER CENTER

promotes student equity, inclusion and community

By Barry McNamara

Below: Students affiliated with the Champion Miller Center greet wellwishers at an open house following the dedication.

On what was called “an incredibly historic day for our campus community,” Monmouth College dedicated its first facility in honor of a person of color on April 20.

The College dedicated the Champion Miller Center for Student Equity, Inclusion and Community. The building, 727 East Broadway, has been known by several names over its existence, most recently the Center for Intercultural Life.

Because of uncertain weather, the dedication ceremony was held inside the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium, and the ribbon-cutting was held on the steps of the Champion Miller Center.

With the name change came a change in a title for Monmouth staff member Regina Bannan Johnson ’01. She is now the College’s director of student equity, inclusion and community.

“There are so many words that could describe how I am feeling today,” Johnson said in a message to the campus community. “Never in a million years would I have thought my college research (on 19th century Monmouth resident Champion Miller) would become more than just words, facts and dates written on pieces of paper.”

Born into enslavement, Miller (1808–1882) purchased freedom for himself and then his family. Taught to read and write by a Monmouth seminary student, he became a pillar of the Monmouth community. Alongside his brother, Richard Murphy, and Monmouth College’s first president, the Rev. Dr. David A. Wallace, Miller was a founder of the First African Church of Monmouth (later Fourth Presbyterian)—“an accomplishment nothing short of spectacular for a Black man of that time,” said Johnson.

Among the findings from Johnson’s research was a line from Miller’s 1882 obituary: “No man in Monmouth is more respected.”

“He led me to his inspiring story, and he changed me all those years ago,” said Johnson. “He defied odds most of us would find impossible to understand.”

Other speakers who took part in the dedication ceremony included Monmouth President Clarence R. Wyatt, the Rev. Charles Burton ’92, Board of Trustees member Dr. Harvey Echols ’81 and student Elizabeth Guzman ’24. Gabriela Madu ’23 and Mark Thigpen ’22 sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Wyatt said there have been “burdens on too many Americans for too many generations. We have an obligation and an opportunity to lift those burdens. As we dedicate the Champion Miller Center today, we should also dedicate ourselves to the example of Champion Miller and dedicate ourselves to be champions for all.” During his time as a Monmouth student, Echols and his good friend believed—mistakenly, as they

Dr. Harvey Echols ’81

‘This place reminds me I am not alone’

eventually learned—that they were trailblazers as the first two students of color to serve as head residents on campus. It turns out, said Echols, that they stood on the shoulders of giants who were students a few years before them. Similarly, said Echols, Champion Miller “is a giant upon whose shoulders we stand today.” “He was the absolute trailblazer,” said Echols. “This place reminds me that I am not alone,” said Guzman of the support she’s received from other students in the facility, which she called her second home. “I hope the Champion Miller Center attracts others to this community, and hopefully they can find a home here, too.”

The Champion Miller Center for Student Equity, Inclusion and Community was founded to provide an array of academic and support services, fellowship and inspiration to students of all ethnicities and backgrounds, particularly disadvantaged, marginalized and first-generation college students. “Today and for many, many days and years to come, the Champion Miller Center is a space and opportunity for all students and, importantly, for our most marginalized students, to feel safe, to grow and to challenge themselves,” said Johnson. “If we don’t keep learning, we will never be capable of real change. I call each and every one of us to commit to be ‘the change’ and to living what it means to be a champion for change.” Elizabeth Guzman ’24 During the month of August, a group of students participating in the Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activities (SOFIA) program will conduct research on the life of Champion Miller and other early members of the local Black community in Monmouth. Although it is unmarked, the gravesite of Champion Miller was recently located in Monmouth Cemetery.

Gabriela Madu ’23 co-student manager of the Champion Miller Center, triumphantly celebrates after cutting the ribbon to formally open the Champion Miller Center. From left are Co-Dean of Students Michelle Merritt ’89, Dr. Harvey Echols ’81, President Clarence R. Wyatt, Madu, Mark Thigpen ’22, Regina Bannan Johnson ’01 and the Rev. Charles Burton ’92.