MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Kirk Hare, Western Illinois University Facilities Management supervisor, has been named the deputy director of maintenance and operations. Hare has served as a supervisor for WIU Facilities Maintenance moving crew since August 2011. He joined the Facilities Maintenance staff as a building service worker in December 2008, serving in that role until his promotion to supervisor in 2011. Hare also owned and operated Pro-Clean in Macomb from 2004-2013. Before joining WIU, he worked as a salesperson for Western Distributing Company in Macomb from 1996-2008, and as the building... Read More

MACOMB, IL – Heather Norman, underwriting and outreach coordinator for the Tri States Public Radio (TSPR) at Western Illinois University, has been named the general manager. Norman replaces Julie Murphy, who has served as acting general manager since 2019, who stepped down June 30. Norman joined the TSPR staff in 2014 as the underwriting and outreach coordinator, and in 2019, assumed the responsibilities of the TSPR development director. Previously, she was the director of the Galesburg Civic Art Center from 2001-2014. Norman has also served as a bookkeeper for Cornucopia in Galesburg from 2008-2009. “Heather’s... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – A Western Illinois University faculty member is part of a social media research study recently published in the journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Associate Professor Christopher Carpenter and Erin L. Spottswood, a faculty member at Portland State University in Oregon, co-wrote “The Hyperperception Model: When Your Partner’s New Friends Inspire Jealousy and Failing to Use Social Distancing.” Carpenter said he and his colleague were interested in romantic jealousy associated with observing the interactions of one’s romantic... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Amber Schultz, former vice president for enrollment management at Edgewood College, Madison, WI, has been named Western Illinois University’s new vice president for enrollment management, effective Aug. 1. Schultz served as the vice president for enrollment management at Edgewood College from 2019 through 2021. In this role, she led the enrollment management division, which encompassed undergraduate and graduate admissions, marketing and strategic communications, student services, financial aid and scholarships. During her tenure at Edgewood, Schultz achieved the... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — COVID-19 has created challenges for many college students and their families across the nation, and Western Illinois University is working to ease the financial stress that is affecting its students as a result of the pandemic. According to WIU Financial Aid Director Bobbi Smith, the WIU Office of Financial Aid has in place the financial circumstance appeal to generate a new review of financial aid eligibility using projected 2021 income versus earned 2019 income. “If students and their families have been financially impacted by the pandemic, we encourage our students... Read More

In a message from Western Illinois President Guiyou Huang, he mentions that WIU students and staff are expected to be vaccinated against covid going into the fall semester. His message in full, released yesterday, reads: Dear University Community, As we prepare to resume the traditional in-person experience this fall at Western Illinois University, to further safeguard the members of our WIU family (and beyond), we expect members of our University community to get their COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the semester, which begins August 23. Getting vaccinated will help our communities mitigate... Read More

Ashley Katz, interim director of the University Union at Western Illinois University, has been named the director of the Union, effective July 1. Katz has served as interim director of the University Union at WIU since January 2020, and has also served as assistant director of the Union since April 2015 and as the facilities manager for the building from May 2011-April 2015. She has also served as a member of the COVID-19 response team since March 2020, coordinating the University’s event guidelines and protocols. She began working at WIU in July 2009 as a space administrator 1 in Scheduling... Read More

A Western Illinois University School of Agriculture alumna has been chosen to attend a 10-day training at Texas State University (TSU) to bring more detailed agriculture mechanics skills to her high school students in Chester, IL. Emily Millburg, a 2019 graduate with a degree in agriculture education, is in her second year as an agriculture teacher at Chester High School near St. Louis, MO. Between July 25-Aug. 5, Millburg will attend the Agriculture Mechanics Academy at TSU, which will include training in small gas engines, electricity and welding. “The Academy is geared toward providing... Read More

Western Illinois University emergency management students, along with professional emergency personnel and educators, have the benefit of hands-on training and numerous other learning opportunities as a result of a collaborative partnership between the WIU GIS Center, WIU School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA)‘s emergency management degree program and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute (ILETSBEI) based at WIU. Recently, a hands-on (drone) sUAS Flight Operations Course was held on the WIU-Macomb campus, where participants learned... Read More

A Western Illinois University junior music education major is transitioning the lessons from her academic experience into leading a children’s theatre production. “The Odd Kingdom” was written by and is being directed by Racquel Rawlins, of Beardstown. Rawlins said the park district’s program director asked her to stage a children’s production this summer because of her experience leading a choir for young girls in the area. “I had directed shows previously to raise money for the opera house,” she said. The show, which includes 14 area children ranging... Read More