Knox in the News

From the Register-Mail:

You don’t have to read the latest Centers for Disease Control reports to know that shaking hands with hundreds of people sounds like a case of swine flu — ahem — H1N1 virus waiting to happen.

As such, Knox College took special precautions this year with its opening Pumphandle, the annual event where the entire campus shakes hands.

Each year on the day before Knox’s convocation, each student, faculty and staff member lines up. Starting at the line’s beginning, each person walks through, shaking hands as they go. When at the end, they stop and the people who arrived after them come to shake their hands.

Basically, at handshake train’s conclusion, one gets tired of saying “hello,” and a lot of skin has touched a lot of skin.

“Both at Pumphandle and in daily life we’re warning students to be cautious about H1N1, but not panic,” said Knox President Roger Taylor.

…..

This year’s Pumphandle line spiraled across the east lawn and was visible from East South Street before finally snaking  up to the third floor of Knox’s historic Old Main.

Although a few students shook hands wearing rubber gloves — likely a playful gesture that fit with some of the other costumes on display at Pumphandle — neither Neiehoff or Vanskike was concerned about getting sick.

“We are already versed in proper hygiene,” said Vanskike, an economics major who along with Niehoff graduated from Carl Sandburg College in the spring. “We are not afraid of the ‘swine flu’.”

Instead, they looked forward to their next two years at Knox.

“It was good experience,” Niehoff said.

“I’ll never miss it,” Vanskike added.

From WGIL radio:

One local official says students can strengthen their own self confidence by celebrating the achievements of other students and alumni at their school. Roger Taylor greeted new and current students as well as faculty Thursday with the Opening Convocation at Knox College.

Taylor says at the school, they nurture academic excellence by recognizing their fellow staff and alumni and says it’s at the core of teaching and learning. Taylor says the staff and students play an integral role in that specific aspect.

“The college can be better than its buildings and facilities,” Taylor told the students. “The college can be better than the administrative team that leads it. But a college can never be better than its faculty.”

Taylor was among the schools officials who recognized some of the staff and students with awards. The Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prizes for distinguished teaching went to Jeremy Day-O’connell and Steve Fineberg. The Faculity Scholarship Prize for a student who exhibited exceptional academic ability and significantly contributed in extra curricular activities went to Sarah Kurian. The Janet C. Hunter Prizes for salaried and hourly staff went to Scott Sunderland and Pat Pendergast.

74th District State Representative Don Moffitt was on hand for the ceremony and also welcomed the students to the community of Knox and their bigger family in Galesburg.

From The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK):

The University of Oklahoma’s School of Dance is welcoming guest artists Helen Simoneau, Kathleen Ridlon, Nathan Trice and Darrell Moultrie, who will teach and help with choreography during Contemporary Dance Oklahoma’s 2009 season.

Simoneau, of Quebec, Canada, has danced for Athena Vabla in London and was an apprentice for Isabelle Van Grinde in Montreal and spent four years teaching at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Ridlon is an assistant professor of dance at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., and director of Midwest Dance Group.

During her 20-year professional career, Ridlon taught dance at colleges and professional dance schools, after-school programs, nursing homes and community organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.

From Reuters:

People want to save the planet but are unwilling to make radical lifestyle changes like giving up air travel or red meat to reduce the effects of climate change, a straw poll by Reuters showed.

As leaders gear up for another round of climate change talks later this month in New York, motivating people to change their lifestyles will be crucial in ensuring cuts in planet-warming greenhouse gases, experts say.

Over 40 percent of Britain’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change, come from the energy we use at home and in travelling.

A straw poll of 15 British men and 15 British women between the ages of 25-75 in central London, showed all were willing to make small changes for the environment, such as recycling, but few would commit to more fundamental changes to behaviour.

“I try to minimise using my car but I wouldn’t give it up,” a 42-year-old man, Emerald Wijesinthe, told Reuters.

Changing small habits like leaving appliances on standby are relatively easy, but more radical changes face resistance.

“We know from plenty of evidence in social, personality, and clinical psychology that people generally do not like to change their identities - they prefer stability,” Tim Kasser, psychology professor at Knox College in Illinois, told Reuters.

From the Register-Mail:

A member of President Obama’s White House staff will deliver the address at Knox College’s opening convocation Thursday.

Tina M. Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, will join Knox College in formally opening the 2009-2010 academic year. Tchen, a Chicago lawyer before her appointment to Obama’s staff, heads the office previously known as the Office of Public Liaison. The Office of Public Engagement coordinates White House events, arranging public speaking engagements for the president, vice president and White House staff, and seeks public opinion on issues.

From the Peoria Journal Star:

Knox College will receive a $50,000 grant to implement a program to increase the college completion rate of Latina women at the college, the not-for-profit organization Excelencia in Education announced Tuesday.

Knox College was one of 20 colleges and universities across the nation to receive the award.

The SEMILLAS grants, supported by the Wal-Mart Foundation, are part of Excelencia in Education’s “Growing What Works” national initiative. The initiative aims to accelerate Latino student success by refining and replicating model educational programs that advance Latino achievement in two-year and four-year colleges.