Knox in the News

From the Register-Mail:

The tough economy is hitting everyone hard, including families figuring out ways to pay for college. As a result, some officials estimate large increases in the number of financial aid applications filed for next school year.

U.S. News & World Report says that, in 2008, about 1.4 million more students filled out the Federal Application for Free Student Aid, an increase of about 10.4 percent over 2007. With layoffs increasing and stocks tumbling, that number may skyrocket in 2009….

Ann Brill, director of financial aid at Knox, says that families who have had significant changes in their circumstances such as job loss can apply for special considerations with individual institutions.

Colleges “will address special circumstances that might occur in a family such as a job loss, exorbitant medical and dental expenses that were not covered by insurance. We will absolutely consider those if a family were to contact us,” she said. “It’s definitely something that we see frequently throughout the year.”

From the Register-Mail:

A national report released this week revealed that college endowment funds across the country have taken heavy hits from the volatile stock market….

Locally, though investments have taken a fairly significant tumble, institutions aren’t faring as poorly due to the way they typically spend endowment funds.

Both Knox College and Monmouth College factor relatively small amounts of endowment funds into their annual budgets, about 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively. The schools also use a 12-quarter trailing average when determining the amount of endowment money to spend.

“It averages out the ups and the downs” in the market, said Knox President Roger Taylor. Colleges take the average value of the endowments for the previous 12 quarters, average those numbers and then use it as a baseline for how much money to spend in the next fiscal year.

Taylor said Knox’s endowment has fallen about 20 percent this fiscal year, from $71.4 million on June 30 to about $56 million. According to the NACUBO’s report, the college’s endowment fell 10.1 percent in the 2008 fiscal year, from $79.4 million to $71.4 million.

That 20 percent decline, “I suspect, compared to a lot of folks’ retirement 410(k)s, is pretty good,” Taylor said.

From the Register-Mail:

Four Knox College students have won five awards in a regional collegiate photography competition — more awards than any other college in the ACM 50th Anniversary Photo Contest. The competition was sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the educational consortium of 14 liberal arts colleges in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado and Minnesota.The competition selected photos taken in 2008 by students from ACM-member colleges in off-campus study programs. The Associated Colleges of the Midwest sponsors academic programs in the United States, Latin America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Knox College itself sponsors off-campus study programs in Barcelona, Spain; Besancon, France; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

View the photos at: http://www.galesburg.com/education/x621359301/Knox-students-honored-for-photography

From the Register-Mail:

With students from 48 countries and 47 states, Knox College has been recognized as one of the most diverse and international colleges in America.

Each year at the college’s International Fair, the public is invited to experience culture, cuisines and entertainment from around the world….

Abena Quainoo, a Knox senior from Botswana, is president of Harambee Club, whose members will be preparing several African dishes. Quainoo and co-chef Ewurama-Abaka Sampson, a senior from Ghana, plan a menu of Jollof Rice — rice stewed in spicy sauce with vegetables and beef — as well as fried plantains, pea stew, home-style salad and homemade toffee.

Most of the dishes originate from West Africa, but the cooking crew is from Nigeria, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Botswana, Albania and the United States.

“Back home, food is what brings people together under any circumstance,” Quainoo said. “It is a real pleasure to be able to achieve that in a land that is foreign to most of us.”

From the Register-Mail:

Tighe Burke, a senior defensive end for the Knox College football team has been named to the third team of the 2008-2009 “Associated Press Little All-America Team.”

The AP Little All-America team honors players from Division II, III and the NAIA.

“Tighe is a great football player and this award is well deserved.  I am very excited for him, his parents, and the team overall, ” said Knox coach Andy Gibbons.

Burke finished the season with 54 total tackles, including 31 solos, four forced fumbles and 14 sacks.

From the Quad Cities Online:

G & M Distributors and the award-winning Knox Galesburg Symphony (KGS) will present a performance by the Knox-Galesburg Symphony Trio, featuring David Suda - violin, KGS principal cello Carolyn Suda, and KGS artistic director/conductor Bruce Polay, piano. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 7 at Knox College in the Ford Center for Fine Arts’ Kresge Recital Hall. At intermission, Bruce Polay will be available for autograph signing of his “Pictures for an Exhibition” Music by Bruce Polay CD and the KGS’ “Golden” CD

The KGS Trio, will perform Mozart’s Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564, Suk’s “Elegy” for Piano Trio, Opus 23 and Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F minor, Opus 65.