Knox in the News

From mediabistro.com:

Thanks to our randomly stumbling across this story in Peoria, Illinois’ local paper, the JournalStar, this weekend, now on our must-read list is Lance Factor’s new book Chapel in the Sky: Knox College’s Old Main and Its Masonic Architect. As best we can describe it, the books sounds like The DaVinci Code  for the architecture set, telling the story of Factor’s discovery that the Illinois’ college’s centerpiece building, home to one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, was designed by a Freemason-connected Swedish architect who secretly built it using Masonic principals despite the fact that the college was rabidly anti-Masonic (this was all in the mid-1800s, so that explains why people would have strong Masonic leanings one way or the other).

From the Register-Mail:

Just days after announcing plans to retire, Knox College President Roger Taylor said finances are in better shape than when he began his term. The outgoing president also said the recession means the college will likely provide more financial aid to students and that his biggest regret is not completing the renovation of Alumni Hall.

Taylor sat down for an interview in the conference room of his office in Old Main. With the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, he was the picture of a working college president.

Taylor served as interim president of the liberal arts college beginning in 2001. He was selected as the college’s 18th president in February 2002…..
Regrets?

“Yes, I’d hoped to finish renovating Alumni Hall. That’s my biggest disappointment,” Taylor said. “I have not been able to persuade major donors to make major gifts. But, hey, I’ve still got a year left and I haven’t given up.”

History is valued at Knox. Old Main is the last remaining building where a Lincoln-Douglas debate took place. A picture of the Rev. George Washington Gale, who came to west-central Illinois with a group of settlers from New York to form a planned community around a college, hangs on the wall of the conference room. Knox College will celebrated its 175th anniversary Feb. 15, 2012.

The original circular and plan for the college hangs on the wall of a hallway in Old Main.

“It’s not a musty old document,” Taylor said. “Somewhere in the document it tells about providing access to a college education regardless of financial ability. That’s still part of the college’s mission.”

From the Register-Mail:

Winners and honorable mentions were announced Thursday from the Knox-Galesburg Symphony’s 17th annual Young Pianists Competition sponsored by Carl Sandburg College on April 3….

This year’s judges were Dr. Bruce Polay, artistic director and conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony and professor of music at Knox College, and Bryan Shilander, pianist, accompanist and teacher at the Metropolis School of Performing Arts in Chicago.

From the Register-Mail:

Knox College Board of Trustees Chairman Jan Koran said a search committee to find a replacement for retiring President Roger Taylor should be ready to make a recommendation to the board at its retreat in Chicago in the last week of April. She said the committee should be ready to begin its work in May.

“The goal is to have a candidate selected by the latest by June of 2011,” Koran said, “and hopefully on board by the beginning of the term in September 2011. It could be sooner.”

Koran said she believes the idea is to make the transition from Taylor to the new president in such a way as to tie it into the college’s 175th anniversary celebration. The 175th anniversary of the charter being granted to Knox is Feb. 15, 2012. Celebration events will take place during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Taylor is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Anne, who is pro bono counsel for the college. That means she does not charge the college for the work she does. Both Anne and Roger Taylor are 1963 graduates of Knox College.

Just as Koran includes Anne Taylor in speaking about Roger Taylor’s term, Taylor also talks about his wife in that capacity. He said she deserves the credit for helping break down some of the town vs. gown issues between Galesburg and Knox. His wife is on numerous advisory boards in the city and has a tea every Christmas for Galesburg-area alumni.

From the Peoria Journal Star:

Symbolism that eluded detection for more than 150 years has become a modern-day Knox College version of “The DaVinci Code.”

Philosophy professor Lance Factor recounts how he cracked the code and deciphered the messages in his new book, “Chapel in the Sky: Knox College’s Old Main and Its Masonic Architect” published by Northern Illinois University Press.

Just months after hitting store shelves, the book has gone into its second printing.

“We felt positive about this book, but we didn’t expect we’d go into the second printing so fast,” said Linda Manning, assistant director of marketing and sales manager at Northern Illinois University Press.

The mystery at Knox started presenting itself to Factor almost subconsciously. He has taught at Knox for 40 years, and walking to his office in Old Main, he’d wonder why the building’s windows spanned multiple stories. He wondered why there were precise triangular grids in the transoms above doors, what purpose the niches in the corner towers served and what the patterns on the floor meant.

The building was designed by architect Charles Ulricson, a Swedish immigrant who was living in Peoria and was commissioned to design the Knox College building which was completed in 1857.

From the Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.):

We tend to think of certain personality traits in black and white terms. A sense of humor, for instance, may be considered highly valuable, while swearing is certainly not. Recently, however, researchers are finding upsides to our perceived faults. In moderation, some experts say, certain flaws can actually be strengths.

Gossip
Swapping the latest juicy tidbits about David Letterman’s extramarital affair may seem unkind. But as long as you know when to keep your mouth shut (that means not spreading rumors about your boss), gossiping about other people may help you bond with peers and could even teach you valuable lessons about your own relationships. “We are naturally fascinated by other people,” says Frank McAndrew, a professor of psychology at Knox College who studies the habit. “In fact, gossiping is part of human nature.”