MACOMB, IL – – Western Illinois University is one of five Illinois colleges and universities, and the only four-year public university, to recieve $1.3 million in grant funding from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) to strengthen and diversify the early childhood workforce. Western recieved $225,516 for the coming year, which will be used to address the shortage and grow the qualified pool of early childhood educators for the rural McDonough County region. Boh Young Lee, project director and WIU associate professor, was able to recruit 14 participants who will begin courses... Read More

The 34th annual Mary Olive Woods lecture at Western Illinois University has been postponed for 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Michael Rea, the John A. O’Brien professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Philosophy and Religion at Notre Dame has been rescheduled to deliver the lecture, “The Hiddenness of God,” in September 2021. Rea has taught at the University of Notre Dame since 2001. His research focuses primarily on topics in metaphysics, philosophy of religion and analytic theology. He has written or edited more than 10 books and 40 articles, and... Read More

MACOMB, IL — In a typical summer, Western Illinois University’s (WIU) Office of Study Abroad and Outreach (SAO) hosts an average 10 summer camps, programs in which youth in grades 4 and up spend a week on campus. During their week on campus, University faculty and staff give students a snapshot of what their degree programs and departments have to offer. This summer, along with many other things across campus, our camps looked quite different. Instead of campers getting to come to campus, they met via Zoom, and WIU faculty and staff worked hard to make it an engaging experience, despite... Read More

MACOMB, IL – A Western Illinois University graduate student has published a peer-reviewed journal article based on research about how social capital and frequency of media exposure affects the well-being of individuals in China. Fanbin Zeng, of China, is starting his second year as a graduate student in the WIU Department of Communication. For his article, published in the journal “East Asia,” he analyzed the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey, a nationwide, comprehensive and continuous social investigation project in China. Before coming to WIU, Zeng was an associate professor with... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL –- Professor Roger Viadero, director of Western Illinois University’s Environmental Science Ph.D. program, was recently recertified as a Certified Senior Ecologist (CSE). Viadero is an aquatic environmental engineer with expertise designing, conducting and leading large-scale environmental assessments that involve stakeholders from a variety of academic, regulatory and nongovernmental organizations. He is also board certified by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, with a specialty in hazardous waste management and site remediation. Michele Rehbein,... Read More

MACOMB, IL — The Western Illinois University Food Pantry is looking for students, staff or faculty members of the WIU community to volunteer with the food pantry this fall. The pantry is operational every Thursday from noon-5 p.m. Those who run the food pantry are taking safety measures to keep all patrons and volunteers safe and healthy. Those interested in volunteering with the WIU Food Pantry should fill out the Google Form or contact Casey Hendrickson at CV-Hendrickson@wiu.edu, and someone will be in contact.  Read More

MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University English Professor Rebekah Buchanan has the perfect “How I Spent my Summer Vacation” essay just in time for back to school. Over the summer months, Buchanan embarked upon an initiative to purchase books by diverse authors for every classroom in the Macomb Community School District No. 185. As a result of donations of books, and funding to purchase books, Buchanan, working with Linda Cox, owner of New Copperfield’s Book Service in Macomb, was able to obtain more than 160 books for every teacher in Macomb. Donation-wise, that equals close... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – A total of 238 undergraduate students enrolled at Western Illinois University were named to the 2020 Summer Dean’s List. The total includes 47 students at the WIU-Quad Cities Campus. To receive this award, an undergraduate student must earn at least a 3.6 grade point average on a scale of 4.0, which equals an A in a minimum of 6 credit hours of graded courses; pass-fail hours are not counted (e.g., student teaching, internships). Students earning Dean’s List honors are listed by Illinois counties, cities and towns, as well as other states/towns and other nations. The... Read More

MACOMB, IL – If ever the catchphrase “following in your father’s footsteps” applied to someone connected to Western Illinois University, it would be the late Dean Emeritus of Graduate Studies Hank Sather, and his daughters, Kristi, Signe and Ingrid. Not only did Sather influence nearly a decade of students in the University’s biological sciences department, his daughters followed his example to earn degrees in and advance to careers in biology. A lifelong educator, Sather went beyond the traditional classroom with his students for a series of summer field trips to America’s... Read More

MACOMB IL – Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation, the Western Illinois University Physics Department’s Astrophysics Research Laboratory provided $3,000 scholarships to two undergraduate students and a full-time Research Assistantship to a graduate student to participate in a 2020 Summer Research Experience. Under the supervision of Professor of Physics Esteban D. Araya, students conducted research in the area of star formation, based on data analysis of observations conducted with the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico, and the Arecibo Observatory in... Read More