MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — The Western Illinois University Board of Trustees will hold its annual board retreat Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 2-3 in Riverfront Hall Rooms 103/104 on the WIU-Quad Cities campus. The Board retreat will be live-streamed (audio livestream only) on WIU’s YouTube Channel at youtube.com/user/WesternIllinoisU. The retreat will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 2 with a public comment portion, followed by one action item. The retreat will resume at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3. The retreat is scheduled to adjourn at 2 p.m. No action items are on the Board’s Aug. 3 agenda. The full... 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

Calling all Leathernecks! Alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members should mark their calendars for Western Illinois University’s Homecoming 2021, Friday, Sept. 24 – Saturday, Oct. 2. Current students Daria Levchenko, a senior political science major, from San Diego, CA, and Elizabeth Orwig, a sophomore special education major, from Ohio, IL, will serve as co-directors of the University Union Board Homecoming Committee. This year’s event theme is “Rocky Undercover: What’s Your Alibi?” “We are so excited to see how Homecoming participants take... Read More

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