New IBHE chair

I was pleased to hear the announcement about the appointment of Carrie Hightman as the new chair of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. I know of her support for higher ed in a special way. She was at UIS two years ago, in February 2005, to announce that a $36,000 grant would go to the UIS Office of Technology Enhanced Learning, College of Education and Human Services and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to fund online secondary education toward teaching certification in mathematics. At the time she was president of SBC Illinois, which made the donation to UIS and other Univerity of Illinois units.

Cheryl Jamison

A great highlight of our trip to Arizona last week was the evening with one of our alumni, Cheryl Jamison, the award-winning author of cookbooks (along with her husband Bill). She received her master's in Community Arts Management. It's so interesting to see how her career has taken her to such lofty heights. You can learn more yourself by going to the web site http://www.cookingwiththejamisons.com/. I heartily recommend it.

Illinois House of Representatives honors UIS

Speaker Michael Madigan has introduced a resolution to thank UIS for the hospitality we provided on January 10 when the House came to UIS for it inauguration ceremony. We were delighted to be the host for this historic event, and I am grateful to Speaker Madigan for the resolution. The House is expected to approve the resolutionon February 6. Click here for the full text.