EIU Media Relations

Eastern to Celebrate 50 Years of Graduate Education

Eastern Illinois University will celebrate 50 years of graduate education on April 14, 15 and 16 by welcoming 50 outstanding graduate alumni back to campus, where they will be recognized for their achievements.

Eastern began its graduate education curriculum in 1951 with an initial enrollment of three students. The university currently enrolls more than 1,700 graduate students across all of its academic colleges, and confers approximately 500 graduate degrees each year.

To acknowledge Eastern's 50-year achievement in Graduate Education, the Council on Graduate Studies asked that graduate programs identify 50 outstanding graduate alumni from the past five decades. These individuals will return to campus to be honored with a series of events in celebration of this milestone in the Graduate School 's history.

Award recipients will be welcomed to campus by the Graduate Student Advisory Council. Recipients will be recognized informally during the annual Distinguished Graduate Students Award Ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

On Friday, April 15, events begin with a Provost's Breakfast and tour of Eastern's recently completed Human Services Building. Award recipients will then meet with students and faculty from their respective disciplines, followed by a luncheon. Recipients are invited to the annual endowment tea that afternoon. The culminating event of the day will be a formal banquet, beginning at 5 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom.

The celebration will conclude the following morning with a Presidential Breakfast in Old Main, where a history of graduate education is on display in the first-floor hallway.

Members of the community who would like to attend the banquet honoring the 50 Outstanding Graduate Alumni may purchase tickets for $25 from Lori Henderson, cslah@eiu.edu or 581-8341.

The 2005 Outstanding Graduate Alumni are:

Outstanding Graduate Alumni Representative of the Original Class of Graduates

• Dwight Baptist of Brentwood, Tenn.; business (1952); retired district director of the Internal Revenue Service District of Tennessee.

From Eastern's College of Arts and Humanities:

• Gary Noffke of Farmington, Ga.; art education (1966); professor emeritus and former chair of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.
• Jamie Willis of Mattoon; art (1986); teacher of art, Charleston public schools, and Illinois Art Education Association's Teacher of the Year (2003).
• Sandra Miller of San Francisco , Calif.; communication studies (1986), vice president of Marketing Management Analytics.
• Howard Kamerer of Crete; communication studies (1992); former president and chief operational officer of Allied Telesyn, Inc., and founder of Converge Systems, Inc.
• Ray Wallace of Jonesboro, Ga.; English (1992); dean of arts and sciences and professor of English, Clayton College and State University.
• Anita Obermeier of Albuquerque , N.M.; English (1985); associate professor of English, University of New Mexico.
• Klaus Grillmaier of Kennett Square, Pa.; history (1993); regional CIO for Dupont's Energy Polymers and global information technology leader for marketing and sales, Dupont Marketing Division.
• Delaine Donaldson of Effingham; history (1966); retired history teacher, Effingham public schools.
• Joy Matthiessen of Des Plaines; historical administration (1989); executive director of the Des Plaines Historical Society and the Illinois Association of Museums' 2000 Museum Professor of the Year.
• Leo Landis of Clive, Iowa; historical administration (1992); director of interpretation at Iowa Living History Farms.
• Helen Krehbiel-Reed of Charleston; music (1967); professor emeritus of music at EIU.
• Dennis A. Sparger of Belleville; music (1965); music director and conductor for the Bach Society of St. Louis and professor of music at Southwest Illinois College.

From Eastern's College of Business and Applied Sciences:

• Walter T. Knollenberg of Birmingham, Ala.; business (1972); vice president and chief financial officer for the U.S. Pipe and Foundry Company.
• Stanley C. Hollen of Dellwood , Minn.; business (1973); president and CEO of Liberty Enterprises.
• Carole Corder of Charleston; family and consumer sciences (1980); chief clinical dietitian, St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital, Effingham.
• Jackie Schaefer of Charleston; family and consumer sciences (1979); assistant director, Child Care Resources and Referral.
• Eulalee Anderson of Charleston; gerontology (1984); retired advisor, International Programs at EIU, and recipient of the Eastern Illinois University Alumni Service Award.
• Eileen Brewer of Springfield; gerontology (1986); elder abuse coordinator for the Illinois Department on Aging.
• Anthony F. Gilberti of Marshall; technology (1983); chair of the Department of Industrial Technology Education, Indiana State University.
• John Elder of Effingham; technology (1995); vice president for manufacturing, HN Automotive.

From Eastern's College of Education and Professional Studies:

• Marilyn Holt of Olney; educational administration (1988); superintendent of the East Richland ( Illinois ) school district.
• John Dively Jr. of Springfield; educational administration (1990); executive director of the Illinois Principal's Association and former principal of Carbondale High School.
• Sandra Westbrooks of Evergreen Park; early childhood, elementary and middle level education (1974); dean, College of Education at Chicago State University.
• Joshua Quick of Robinson, early childhood, elementary and middle level education (2000); principal of Washington Elementary School in Robinson.
• Barbara Hill of Charleston; counseling and student development (1963); retired vice president for academic affairs and acting president of Eastern Illinois University.
• Nathaniel Anderson of Belleville; counseling and student development (1977); retired superintendent of East St. Louis public schools.
• Sharon Jackson of Hindsboro; physical education (1986); director of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.
• Brendan Roach of Wellington, New Zealand; physical education (1992), president of Wellness Consultants, Limited.
• Christina Edmonds-Behrend of Coal City; special education (1997); special education teacher with Reed-Custer school district, Braidwood.
• James Gunnell of Springfield; special education (1992); division administrator for Special Education Services, Illinois State Board of Education.

From Eastern's College of Sciences:

• Dan Royse of Pennsylvania; biological sciences (botany) (1974); professor of plant pathology at Pennsylvania State University.
• Rick Miller of Charleston; biological sciences (zoology) (1986); obstetrician and gynecologist, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.
• Michael Conlin of Springfield; biological sciences (environmental biology) (1971); director of the Office of Resource Conservation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
• Joy Smoots of Hampstead, N.C.; biological sciences (natural sciences concentration) (1972); professor of biological sciences, Cape Fear Community College, Cape Fear.
• Al Bowman of Normal; communication disorders and sciences (1976); president of Illinois State University, Normal.
• Joseph Gregory Balskus of St. Augustine, Fla.; communication disorders and sciences (1977); chief of staff and brigadier general, Florida National Guard.
• Roger Bumgarner of Seattle, Wash.; chemistry (1983); professor of microbiology, Washington State University.
• Matt Madigan of Mattoon; chemistry (1981); chair of the Department of Mathematics and Science, Lake Land College, Mattoon.
• Marvin Lee Breig of Bolingbrook; physics (natural sciences concentration) (1987); teacher, Hinsdale Central High School.
• Rosemary Faye Buffat of Kell, chemistry (natural sciences concentration) (1995); teacher and former head of the Department of Science, Centralia High School.
• Richard Grabowski of Carbondale; economics (1972); chair, Department of Economics, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
• Tom Milowski of Libertyville; economics (1991); vice president, Bank One, Libertyville.
• John Ziebarth of Santa Fe , N.M.; mathematics (1975); director of advanced computer laboratories, Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• Paul Tougaw of Valparaiso, Ind.; mathematics education (1972); coordinator of professional development and placement, Valparaiso University.
• Julie Curry of Clinton; political science (1985); former Illinois state representative, lobbyist and consultant.
• Chris Seper of Euclid, Ohio; political science (1997); technology editor, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
• Steven McArthur of Livonia, Mich.; clinical psychology (1978); professor, Wayne State University , and director of insomnia program at Hutzel Hospital.
• David Murphy of St. Charles; clinical psychology (1974); professor, Wabaunsee Community College in Aurora, and winner of the 2002 Society for Teaching Psychology Award.
• Mark Shatz of Zanesville, Ohio; school psychology (1977); professor of psychology at Ohio University.

In addition to the 50 Outstanding Graduate Alumni, other special guests returning to campus to commemorate achievements in graduate education include family representatives of Donald Luallen and Anna Butler Brown. Both were members of the original class of graduate candidates.

Former deans and directors of the Graduate School will also join the celebration. They include Martha Hamand, who will represent Lavern Hamand, the first dean of the Graduate School, as well as former deans David Buchanan and Larry Williams. Bud May, former director of Grants and Research, will also return to participate in campus events.