Staff in the Capital Scholars Honors Program
Dr. Marc Klingshirn
Director, Capital Scholars Honors Program
Associate Professor, Chemistry
Dr. Klingshirn joined the Chemistry Department at UIS in 2006 and has taught in the Capital Scholars Honors Program since the Spring of 2007. He became the Director of CAP Honors in the Fall of 2013. When not teaching and administering within CAP Honors, he enjoys spending time in the lab developing green, environmentally friendly laboratory procedures for the high school and undergraduate chemistry curriculum. When not on campus, he enjoys running, kayaking, and exploring his “fascination with water.”
Karen Barker
Senior Coordinator of Recruitment and Operations
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Karen has been with the Honors Program since 2005. She holds a master’s degree in Human Development Counseling from UIS and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology (with minor in Sociology) from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. Karen taught CAP 102 for 9 years. She enjoys working out, is addicted to shopping, and loves spoiling her dog, Ruby.
Cortney Trencevski
Admissions Counselor, Academic Advisor & Student Counselor to the Peer Mentoring Program in the Capital Scholars Honors Program
Cortney joined the Capital Scholars Honors Program in the fall of 2015. She has a master’s degree in Human Development Counseling from UIS and a bachelor’s in Business Administration. Cortney is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Illinois. Outside of the office, she partakes in a variety of hobbies including volunteering, listening to podcasts, health & wellness, and traveling.
Patti Young
Business Administrative Associate
Patti has been with UIS since May 2011. She joined the Capital Scholars Honors Program in Fall of 2019. Patti holds a bachelor’s in Business Administration and Marketing. Outside the office, she enjoys taking classes at UIS to further her education, reading Danielle Steel books, cheering on the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, watching NASCAR and hanging out with her granddaughter.
Dr. Elise LoBue
Instructor, Capital Scholars Honors Program
Elise LoBue joined CAP Honors as an adjunct in 2012, becoming a full-time instructor in 2018. She teaches the freshmen writing sequence, the capstone senior research seminar, various question courses, and a global issues class on the dissolution of the Soviet Union inspired by her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan from 1996-1998. Elise’s scholarly interests include refugee and diaspora populations; postsocialist transitions in the former Soviet Union; interdisciplinary research and writing; diversity equity, and inclusion pedagogy and practice; and gender studies/gender and development. Her current research project involves interviewing Turkish refugees who sought political asylum in Canada after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkiye. Elise enjoys traveling (especially to the beach!), rearranging her garden (always room for more flowers), getting outside as often as possible (unless it is too cold…), eating dark chocolate (especially with breakfast), and hanging out with her four children (when she can catch them).
Dr. Katie Carlson-Eastvold
Instructor,
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Katie Carlson-Eastvold joined CAP Honors as an Instructor in 2022. She earned her PhD in Nineteenth-Century British Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research and writing interests include Romantic and Victorian British literature, the history of childhood, and the genre of microhistory. Recently she completed her first book, a work of popular nonfiction on the phenomenon of children who were bestselling authors in the nineteenth century. Katie is an avid photographer and traveler who is possessed of more hobbies than time. Her family's pandemic project has been to design (and eventually build) a writer's cabin on two small lakes in Northern Michigan. She lives with her brilliant husband, four charming tween/teen stepchildren, a feisty toddler named for a Tennyson poem, and a litter-trained house rabbit with the patience of a dog.
Rith Scott
Student Worker
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Rith has been a part of the CAP Program since Fall 2020 with a major in English and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. They worked as a CAP Peer Tutor for two years, and are currently involved in the student-run literary journal Violet Margins as a Poetry Editor and in the Queer Student Ambassador Program (QSAP) as the Vice President. In their free time, they love to do art, crochet, write, and do makeup. You can spot them on campus talking with friends or with a coffee in their hands.
Ally Perko
Graduate Assistant
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Ally is a board-certified music therapist who grew up here in Springfield, IL. She obtained her master's in music therapy from The University of Iowa in 2021. She is currently a first-year graduate student pursuing her master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling here at UIS. This is Ally's first year as the CAP peer mentoring graduate assistant, and she is looking forward to using her therapeutic skills to help undergraduate students however she can. When Ally isn't working or studying, she enjoys spending time with friends, family, and her pets, camping/hiking, and making music.
Shelby Karch
Teaching Assistant for CAP 111/361
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Shelby Karch is the Capital Scholars Honors Program Peer Tutoring Teaching Assistant. She is currently in her first year in UIS’s Human Development Counseling Program in the Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling Track. She was a Psychology major at Illinois State University and obtained her M.A. in Religious Studies from Olivet Nazarene University where she wrote an over 100-page thesis. For fun, Shelby enjoys reading, painting, and crafting various fun activities.
Joshua Akinwale
Teaching Assistant for CAP 141/142
Capital Scholars Honors Program
Joshua is a CAP program science teaching assistant, he joined the program Fall of 2023, Joshua was born in Nigeria but resided in Saint Kitts and Nevis (a small island in the Caribbean) before moving to the USA. He is currently a Masters's student with a Public health major. He has a bachelor's degree in Microbiology from Bowen University, Nigeria, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Windsor University School of Medicine, St. Kitts. Joshua loves to cook, read, and take road trips.
