Future teacher Moeller learns how to build a softball program

Like most college seniors, Brianne Moeller is concocting a plan that will land her a job.

The University of Illinois Springfield softball player, who will earn her degree after completing a student teaching requirement in the fall, hopes her sports background and knowledge increases her marketability. She figures a school could kill two birds with one stone by hiring someone who can teach and coach.

Moeller has been a valuable piece in the puzzle for UIS for several seasons. She also was a standout in softball, volleyball and basketball at Nashville High School.

“I think that’ll help me get a teaching job,” she said. “Also, I don’t know how my life would be without sports. I think that will be a good transition. I’ll still be a part of it in some kind of way.”

Moeller was featured in a April 22, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

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20100422-SJR-Future-teacher-Moeller-softball.pdf

These students who pray together stay together

On a recent Friday evening, in a room in the Student Life Center at the University of Illinois Springfield, Todd Magruder reflects on the early days of the Christian Student Fellowship on campus.

Before UIS became a four-year university, the fellowship catered to upperclassmen and graduate students at what was then known as Sangamon State University.

Christian Student Fellowship has its share of followers. Its Friday night services, which include praise and worship and a sermon, typically draw 50 to 60 students from the UIS campus and neighboring Lincoln Land Community College, from a variety of faith backgrounds.

The CSF group was featured in a April 18, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100418-SJR-These-students-who-pray.pdf

UIS students being asked to pay for construction of student center

University of Illinois Springfield students will vote later this month on whether to increase student fees to build a student union on the UIS campus.

“The student union is the primary intersection and the living room of a campus,” said Derek Felix, the UIS student representative on the U of I board of trustees and co-chairman of the project.

The student-driven proposal would be funded by an increase in fees of up to $200 per semester for full-time students and $100 per semester for part-time ones. A referendum on the proposal will be held in conjunction with the UIS Student Government Association elections April 28-29.

Voting takes place online through the UIS homepage at www.uis.edu.

The student center proposal was feature in a April 16, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100416-SJR-UIS-students-student-center.pdf

U.N. Club at UIS receives global award

The University of Illinois Springfield Model United Nations Club received one of the Model U.N.'s highest global awards recently in New York City.

The UIS delegation was one of 17 to win an Outstanding Delegation Award at the 2010 conference, which ended April 3. More than 400 international colleges and universities competed at the event.

Model United Nationals is a conference that simulates a U.N. meeting.

"We've been participating for over 25 years in the National Model U.N. Conference, and this is the top award we've got so far," said Driss Elakrich, head delegate.

The award was featured in a April 15, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100415-SJR-UN-Club-at-UIS2.pdf

Politics can't get between two UIS roommates

Maybe those folks in Washington, D.C., could learn something from Matt Van Vossen and Ryan Melchin.

Van Vossen, 20, president of College Democrats at the University of Illinois Springfield, and Melchin, 21, chairman of the College Republicans on campus, are juniors who have been friends since freshman year, and they live in the same on-campus four-person townhouse this year.

“We mostly get along,” Van Vossen said. While they’ve done some arguing in their time in school together, he added, “We know where we stand by now on most issues.”

Van Vossen and Melchin were featured in a April 13, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100413-SJR-Politics-can't-get-between-two-UIS-roommates.pdf

UIS studying accelerated degree potential

When interim University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry asked college officials to find out what it would take to create an accelerated degree program, he kick-started the process at all three U of I campuses.

But University of Illinois Springfield provost Harry Berman said the three-year degree idea is “relative to the traditional full-time student.”

“It’s a matter of affordability for higher education, which is a big concern for all of us,” said Berman. “We’d have to look and see what majors we could do it in.”

Berman's comments were featured in a April 4, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100404-SJR-UIS-studying-accelerated-degree.pdf

UIS students leave for volunteer spring break

A record number of UIS students and three advisers left Friday night for a week of volunteering in Galveston, Texas, helping with recovery efforts following Hurricane Ike. The hurricane washed over Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula on Sept. 13, 2008.

More than 300 college and university students from across the country will stay 20 to 25 in a room at Alamo Elementary School for the week. They will be bused to several sites to do a variety of work, said Kelly Thompson, director of the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center at UIS.

“When you do service for an entire week with someone, you can see the change you’ve made in someone’s life,” said Jaleesa Earthely, a UIS junior from Bolingbrook who is making the trip. “That gives me joy.”

The story was featured in a March 13, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100313-SJR-UIS-students-leave-for-volunteer.pdf

Move-in day for freshmen at UIS

UIS freshmen students were moving into the dorms on Wednesday, August 19th. Most students were able to get their belongings inside before tornado sirens sounded mid-afternoon.

The move-in process was featured in an August 20, 2009, article of the State Journal -Register and on WICS TV.

Download a PDF of the article

UIS%20freshmen%20move%20into%20dorms.pdf

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Freshman determined to graduate

Though UIS freshman Christal Luster isn't the first of her siblings to go to college, she is the first to enroll with the intention of graduating and pursuing a career of her own. Everyone else in Christal's immediate family – both parents, her two sisters, and her brother – works for the family company, Clintex Laboratories, near Chicago.

Luster credits the small-campus atmosphere at UIS with helping her make the transition and keep up her resolve.

Read the article that appeared in the December 6, 2008, State Journal-Register
20081206-sjr-FreshmanDetermined.pdf