ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

Graduation Celebrations, May 2014

Graduation Celebrations, May 2014

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Author tomgabrysiak

Educating Nurses to Improve Patient Care

Educating Nurses to Improve Patient Care

"One of the things I tell [my students] is that education is transformational. Every time you go back, you are absolutely transformed by the time you get to the other side.” says Wanda Kay Burns, coordinator of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s degree-completion program for RNs.

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s Wanda Burns explains the push to raise education standards for nurses

CHICAGO (May 1, 2014) — In 2011, the Institute of Medicine released a report that forever changed the nursing profession. Titled "," it called for major overhauls in education requirements for nurses. At its heart was a recommendation that by 2020, 80 percent of all nurses should have a bachelor of science in nursing degree, compared to just over 50 percent today.

Since the report, hospitals and care networks around the country have made shifts to meet the recommendations. Hospitals hoping to earn the Magnet designation from the American Nurses Association, limited to 400 health care organizations around the globe, must meet education minimums for their nursing staff. States have even introduced legislation to mandate education levels. Nurses are returning to school more than ever, with enrollment in RN to BSN programs tripling over the past decade.

“Research shows that outcomes for care from a nurse with a bachelor’s degree compared to a nurse with an associate’s degree are significant,” says , a ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ alumna and coordinator of the in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. “This includes crucial elements of care, including improved patient safety, reduced infections, fewer readmissions, and overall fewer errors.”

“Nursing is quite different from when I entered the field,” Burns adds. “You’ve got to do better than you’ve ever done, with more technology, the patients are sicker than ever, and you have to do it with fewer resources than you’ve ever had. Nursing is caught in the middle of our national question of how can we be doing healthcare better.”

And it’s not just about performance; it’s also about workload. As healthcare settings become more complex, so do the job descriptions of nurses. As the Institute of Medicine’s report says, the role of a modern nurse includes competencies in “leadership, health policy, system improvement, research and evidence-based practice, and teamwork and collaboration.”

“Our BSN completion program is geared towards bridging the gaps in the healthcare system,” says , dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. “We focus on ethics, research, and community health to provide nurses with a broad perspective on patient care. Our nurses are not just holding patient’s hands, they are advocating for patients and by doing so, remaking the way the healthcare system operates.”

Burns echoes this importance: “Until you go back to school, you base all of your nursing on what you and the people around you have always done. We’ve got to get a higher level of evidence on which to base our nursing action. Patients lives are at stake here.”

But returning to school is not an easy requirement, especially for working adults with already full lives. “It’s difficult to return, especially as an adult,” Burns says. She completed her master of science in nursing at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ while working full-time, and is currently working on a doctorate in nursing practice from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“I have students in my program that are struggling with being back in the classroom. One of the things I tell them is that education is transformational. And I’ll say that out of personal experience. Every time you go back, you are absolutely transformed by the time you get to the other side.”

Burns began teaching at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2006 and became the coordinator of the degree-completion program for RNs last fall. She appreciates ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s face-to-face classes and the close-knit relationships that can only form in those settings. She also values ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s urban location and intercultural opportunities.

“Students are taught to value the cultural distinctives of their patients, including attitudes toward pain, childbirth, alternative and complementary medical approaches, family roles, death and grieving, and more,” says Burns. These topics are built into the curriculum in classes like .

Many of the RNs in the program bring their experience of living and working in these communities. “When you’re talking with a group of people with years of experience as nurses, and if they feel safe in that environment, they start engaging in some of the richest dialogue,” Burns says. “That is how we begin to move things forward.”

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Author tomgabrysiak

Students Embark on Service and Learning Trips Across the Globe

Students Embark on Service and Learning Trips Across the Globe

A ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ student washes feet during her Spring Break 2014 trip to India with Global Partnerships. from each of the six Spring Break Global Partnerships trips, including more from India.

CHICAGO (April 24, 2014) — For more than 30 years, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students have put their faith into action through traditional mission trips. These experiences focused on short-term interaction with underprivileged communities and completing projects—sometimes manual labor, sometimes organizing ministries like Vacation Bible School.

But as ministry models have changed and ideas of service have grown, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s started asking if that was the best way. Were these limited-impact trips the essence of global missions? Was it an element of how the University wanted to prepare students for lives of significance and service? Nearly 10 years ago, these questions led to the transformation of what used to be “mission trips” into Global Partnerships.

“Our focus in Global Partnerships is on building relationships, on serving in collaboration with an organization that has an established presence in a community, and on learning,” said , Global Partnerships coordinator. She came to the University in 2007, and has actively worked to establish new partnerships with organizations that can provide both hands-on service and educational opportunities for ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students.

“We want to join in work that God is already doing. We never just go on our own to a location. We can only be there for a week, maybe two at the maximum, and that’s not a sustainable ministry model,” Styles said. “So we’re always working under a local partner that’s serving day-in and day-out.”

For many trips, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ is able to partner with , an arm of the Evangelical Covenant Church. This relationship puts students in touch with women and men who are full-time missionaries around the world in a wide range of ministries. Other frequent collaborators with Global Partnerships include , an organization working in Zambia and Nicaragua, and the , which provides urban mission and service experiences. Some academic departments, like ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s , also serve as important partners for students’ hands-on practical learning as they provide care in clinic settings. According to Styles, these ongoing relationships ensure students are serving around the world with groups that are trusted while also opening up possibilities for internships, jobs, and continued relationships even after students graduate from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½.

“Our partnerships also go beyond the people that we’re serving with on trips,” Styles added. “Our generous , local organizations, and churches also support us along the way, and we’re grateful for them.”

Styles herself has been to all but one of the Global Partnerships locations. Each year, there are between 10 and 13 trips, and around 140 participants, mostly students but including faculty or staff advisors for each group. In some years trips have taken place over spring, winter, and summer breaks. All trips are funded through student-raised donations—around $200,000 each year, in total.

Ten partnership trips take students around the world in 2014

This year, took place over March’s spring break, with another four to come just after the academic year ends in May. These experiences in Alaska, Appalachia, Ecuador, India, Israel and Palestine, Los Angeles, Mexico, Washington, D.C., and Zambia challenge students to step outside their current ideas about faith, service, and justice to learn something new and build relationships with the global church. Global Partnerships aims to keep the idea of service learning at the core of each trip, which, according to Styles, isn’t just about volunteering but requires an attitude of reflection on how that service applies to your own life.

Kristen Coughlin, a first-year student, decided to take a chance and spend her first college spring break on the Appalachia service trip. “This was actually my very first mission trip,” she said. “It was so exciting.”

The Appalachia team partnered with an organization called the , whose goal is to make homes warmer, safer, and drier. They host volunteer groups of all ages from across the country to serve throughout the Appalachian region doing manual labor projects.

“My group took out all the insulation from underneath a house and replaced it all, and replaced flooring in the kitchen—a lot of work that I never thought I’d be doing. It was really fun, and I feel really confident with power tools now,” Coughlin said.

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students divided up into smaller groups to work on multiple homes, and then gathered as a large group in the evening for dinner and reflecting on their service-learning experiences.

“My favorite thing was relaxing with our team and having down time—just spending time together. We shared so much laughter and so much joy on that trip. It was awesome,” Coughlin said.

Dylan Steensland, also a first-year student, was looking for a spring break experience that was more about education and advocacy than manual labor. He chose the Washington, D.C. trip where students partnered with and to learn about hunger, immigration, and mass incarceration before heading to Capitol Hill to meet with Senators and Representatives to discuss the issues.

“I’ve taken mission trips before, but this was an experience that was vastly different,” Steensland said. “It was really about getting out of our comfort zones to learn more about important issues.”

Changing the world takes time

The Washington, D.C. trip is one way that Global Partnerships is helping students explore what Styles described as the tension between wanting to change the world and realizing that systemic change takes longer than a week or two.

“So many students these days want to make a difference. They believe in significance and service, and that’s why they’re here, but realizing that difference might take a generation is hard to swallow,” she said.

In Israel and Palestine, students learned about peace in a conflict-plagued part of the world. from each of the six Spring Break Global Partnerships trips, including more from Israel/Palestine.

Another trip that explored the tension between immediate impact and lasting change was to Israel and Palestine. Styles traveled there with a group of 11 students and one additional faculty member, the first time Global Partnerships has traveled to this region. The group attended the at Bethlehem Bible College. They learned from and dialogued with other students and Christian leaders from around the world, discussing the responsibility of the global church in bring peace, justice, and equality to the Holy Land.

“A lot of us went in without our minds made up about the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” Styles said. “But then you meet people our own age who have college degrees, but know they’re not going to get a job. Or meet people who are just trying to get from their home to their job or to school and experience harassment or persecution. It’s hard to stay still and not to take action in some way.”

Junior Anders Fogel said, “I think I went in a little uninformed. I definitely went in with a little background knowledge, but not enough to have conversations about the issue—and it helped me see that I needed to learn more.”

Throughout the week, Fogel said his group was challenged to think in new ways about peace, their own sense of safety in the world, and how to stay engaged in the issues. After their conference experience, they also visited Holy Land sites, but saw them through the lens of their discussions of peace and conflict, not just as tourists.

“I had a hard time shutting off my ‘conflict meter.’ It was an interesting experience to be at the holy sites and understand the turmoil of the country in a new way,” he said.

Fogel, who had previously participated in other more “traditional” mission trips, described the Global Partnerships experience as leaving him with a “sour taste,” but in a good way. “We built houses on both my previous trips, and it was a ‘nice ending’ to the trip. I could look back and see the house and chalk it up on the ‘nice things that I’ve done’ list. This trip was different because there wasn’t that house built, or a ribbon to tie it up. It left you with a sour taste, knowing there’s a lot of work still to do, a lot of progress to be made. I left feeling that I don’t know what I really did, I can’t see the concrete examples—but I think that was kind of the point.”

“What’s next?”

These trips to Appalachia, Washington, D.C., and Bethlehem were just three of many experiences that ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students are afforded through Global Partnerships. Styles emphasized that the trips themselves are often not the point, but hopes participants will continue to reflect on their journeys and ask, “What’s next?”

“A lot of students who come to trips already with a heart to be in missions or work internationally are able to take advantage of the opportunity to learn what missions is like, what they can do, and to connect with different partners,” Styles said. “Global Partnerships trips are some of the first steps of their journeys, not the last.”

“It’s easier than people think it is, and it’s worth it,” Fogel said. “I’ve spent a spring break on the beaches in Florida, and I’ve spent a spring break on a Global Partnerships trip, and now I’ll take the Global Partnerships trip every time.”

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Author tomgabrysiak

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Introduces New Programs to Prepare Students for Healthcare Careers

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Introduces New Programs to Prepare Students for Healthcare Careers

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s new undergraduate programs will continue the University's strong tradition of preparing indviduals for careers in healthcare.

Bachelor's degrees in health sciences and medical studies will be available beginning in Fall 2014

CHICAGO (April 10, 2014) — ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ will launch two new bachelor of science programs this fall—a and a —which together represent the University’s growing emphasis on preparing healthcare practitioners in an era of fast-growing demand for professionals in these fields.

The health sciences major will prepare students to fill non-clinical administrative or educational positions in a variety of health and allied health programs. The medical studies program will be offered as a second bachelor’s degree for students who need to complete prerequisites for medical school or other health professional program applications.

“These programs are born not just out of the directives of our updated strategic plan, which does call for an increased focus on science and health, but out of years of commitment to preparing students for science careers,” says Nate Mouttet, vice president for enrollment and marketing. Mouttet added that the University is building on its strengths—including a 50-year tradition in nursing—and putting resources into this important area.

The introduction of the new degree programs will coincide with the opening of the , which will provide more than 100,000 square feet of dedicated space for state-of-the-art science laboratories, classrooms, and research, as well as offices and student gathering areas. Dedication of the new facility is scheduled for September 12 and 13.

Health sciences focused on management in healthcare settings

The will provide students with a foundation in the life and health sciences combined with management and leadership courses that prepare them for positions such as clinical services managers, hospital administrators, and community health liaisons. A required practicum will give students the opportunity to work with a local organization to undertake a project that matches their career aspirations.

“This responds to a rapidly growing need on several levels,” says , dean of the , who developed the program. “There are multiple opportunities for specialized careers in the healthcare industry.”

The first health sciences track, available to the program’s students in the Fall 2014 semester, will focus on healthcare leadership. Offered in partnership with the , the program will incorporate courses in leadership and management that will prepare graduates for increased responsibility and career mobility in their jobs.

“Working with area hospitals, I’ve been told that more and more technicians are being asked to take on responsibilities such as budgeting, policy, and regulatory issues,” Duncan says. “They have the technical background for their jobs but have never been trained to in these managerial duties.” She adds that, after this initial track is up and running, a second track—in healthcare education—will be introduced.

The BS in health sciences is expected to attract two categories of students—returning adults who are already working in the marketplace and want to upgrade their associate’s degree to a bachelor’s, and the more traditional student who choose a health sciences major as freshmen.

Medical studies designed as second bachelor's degree opportunity

The is designed for students who have already completed one bachelor’s degree but are looking for additional preparation before applying to professional schools in the health field. These individuals may be career changers or recent graduates who decide to apply to medical, dental, or veterinary school, or to an allied health profession program, and need to fulfill their science prerequisites. While ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ undergraduates can currently choose a (for medical, dental, veterinary science, pharmacy, optometry, occupational therapy, or physical therapy programs), this is the first time the curriculum has been realigned as a post-baccalaureate degree program. The degree is a 56-credit major, allowing students to transfer credits from other bachelor’s programs and take only courses needed to complete the requirements for professional school applications. It is expected that students, who must take at least 30 semester hours at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, will complete the program in one to two years.

“To our knowledge, there is only one other post-baccalaureate program of this kind in the Chicago area,” Mouttet says, underscoring the unmet demand for a program that prepares college graduates to apply to medical school. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is expected to change in 2015 in order to place a greater emphasis on the behavioral sciences. In preparation for this, the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ program will offer students coursework and preparation in these disciplines as well as in the traditional science and mathematics areas.

Both new programs will carry ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s emphasis on providing small class and lab sizes as well as individualized advising that complements coursework. Faculty advisors will work with students to ensure that they stay on track toward their career goals, address any concerns as they arise and, in the case of medical studies students, prepare adequately for health care profession admission exams.

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Author tomgabrysiak

“People Are Not Illegal” Calls for Immigration and Incarceration Reform

"People Are Not Illegal" Calls for Immigration and Incarceration Reform

April 13-14 events spearheaded by University students and community partners

CHICAGO (April 9, 2014) — ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students, staff, faculty, and community partners are seeking answers to a deep question of faith and action: How are we called to follow Jesus in the pursuit of justice? This spring, the campaign is taking up this question around the issues of mass incarceration and immigration in the United States.

“People Are Not Illegal grew out of students’ desire to mobilize the faith community around our Christian value of the image of God—that each human life must be valued and treated with dignity,” according the Richard Kohng, coordinator at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½. The campaign aims to show how legislation on every level should reflect this value.

“This is not a political issue to us, this is a spiritual issue,” Kohng said.

The Faith and Justice student team from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s University Ministries reached out to local community organizers and faith leaders to form partnerships with other faith groups in the effort to bring reform to immigration and mass incarceration policies with this moral value framework in mind.

“These partnerships have put local organizers together at the table with ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students to design the People Are Not Illegal events,” Kohng said. include the Evangelical Covenant Church, Faith Rooted Chicago, ONE Northside, CrossWalk Chicago, Young Leaders Alliance, World Relief Chicago, G92, Great St. John Bible Church, Grace and Peace Church, New Life Covenant, and Willow Chicago.

Events will begin off Sunday evening, April 13, at the 8:00 pm Collegelife worship service in Anderson Chapel. Joshua DuBois, former head of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House and author of , will speak about how the Bible can inspire Christians to follow Christ in pursuit of justice.

On Monday, April 14, a public meeting will start at 2:30 pm in ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s Anderson Chapel. The campaign steering committee has invited public officials and community leaders to discuss the issues of immigration and mass incarceration and how public policy can reflect the idea that all people have inherent value in the eyes of God. Confirmed attendees include U.S. Representative Mike Quigley, Illinois State Senator Daniel Biss, and Chicago Alderman Deb Mell. Chicago poet and activist Malcolm London and the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Gospel Choir will also perform at the meeting, reminding attendees that this action grows out of faith and spirituality, according to Kohng.

“This meeting is a chance for the faith community to rally together, to say to our legislators that this is an issue that matters to us as people of the faith, this is a specific thing that we all care about,” Kohng said.

Following the meeting, at 3:30 pm, participants will begin a march from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to Cook County Jail, with a mid-point rally at New Life Covenant Church in Humboldt Park organized by to focus more specifically on immigration reform. Pastors Wilfredo DeJesus and Danny Flores will address the marchers. The expected time of this stop is 5:15 pm.

The group will then continue on to Cook County Jail at 2600 S. California, where will focus participants on mass incarceration issues. According to Kohng, the major rally topic will be a “Ban the Box” initiative, calling upon legislators to reform the job application process that allows employers to discriminate against job applicants who must check a box identifying a felony conviction. This final rally will begin at approximately 8:00 pm.

For more information about People Are Not Illegal, please .

should be addressed to Nate Mouttet, vice president for enrollment and marketing, at (773) 244-5705 or nmouttet@northpark.edu.

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Author tomgabrysiak

Pam Bozeman-Evans is Passionate About Helping Others Discover Their Passions

Pam Bozeman-Evans is Passionate About Helping Others Discover Their Passions

Pam Bozeman-Evans, Senior Director of Career Development and Internships at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

There’s “no benefit to being risk-averse” as a college student, according to the new senior director for career development and internships

CHICAGO (April 3, 2014) — Pamela Bozeman-Evans has big dreams for ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students.

She came to the University this spring as the new senior director for the and is using her background in nonprofit, community organizing, and higher education to better position ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students in a highly competitive workplace. “Families make a tremendous investment in their children’s education and our office will invest our best resources in connecting graduates to employment opportunities,” she says.

Most recently, Bozeman-Evans spent nearly five years as chief operating officer and chief of strategic initiatives for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in public administration, both from Northern Illinois University.

She says she is grateful for each of her educational and professional experiences that allowed her to focus her career on her core values—the city of Chicago, economic stability for women and children, poverty alleviation, and eliminating racism. She credits her maternal grandmother with asking a question that helped shape her career trajectory: “What good is it to say you’re a good person if you don’t do good things?”

Bozeman-Evans is bringing this question to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s career services, encouraging students to dream big about how their career paths can reflect their passions and values. She says she wants the Office of Career Development and Internships to be a place that “challenges young adult scholars to solve tough social problems.”

This department, a part of the University’s , provides opportunities that include major and career exploration, soft skill development, professional assessments, mock interviews, , and . While they have been focused mainly on , Bozeman-Evans is leading her staff in developing programs for , , , and .

Resumes begin in high school

According to Bozeman-Evans, resumes are documents that grow and change with every new experience, beginning in high school, and reflecting activities and experiences that showcase a person’s talent, passion, and goals. Her goal, she say, is to institutionalize this idea by asking that all students come to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ with a resume, no matter how small or sparse, and consciously work on adding experiences that include job shadowing, volunteering, site visits to organizations, both for-credit and non-credit internships, and employment prior to graduation.

Bozeman-Evans and the staff in the Office of Career Development and Internships are ready to assist students in finding opportunities in all of these categories. “We’d like to use a student’s resume, starting at the very beginning of their time at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, and work with them to build it year over year, so they are better prepared for whatever direction they want to go in,” Bozeman-Evans said.

“Career development and internships are co-curricular endeavors,” she added, “and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ has known this for a while. Faculty get it, support it, and figure out ways to integrate the work that we do into the work that they do.”

“Chicago is our classroom”

Drawing on her passion for the city, Bozeman-Evans also wants her office to help ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ students see the city as a classroom. Drawing on that idea, Bozeman-Evans asks, “How can we get our students to see the world through the rich diversity of the city? We have 77 different neighborhoods in Chicago, and each one has an important lesson in history, social studies, economics, languages, and culture. The opportunities for partnership and service learning are endless.”

Now is the time to take risks

According to Bozeman-Evans, college is like no other in a person’s life, often free of limitations that older adults face. Students can explore new ideas, take chances, fail, and grow, she says.

“There’s a lot of pressure for young people to rush to decide on a major, career, and even start a family,” Bozeman-Evans said. “While it’s important to get started, we also realize that students need to take the time to explore their interests, hone their skills, and then match the two so that they can make a living and have a life.”

“We want to help students grow through diverse experiences without knowing every possible outcome,” she added. “This is a time in one’s life when there’s no benefit to being risk-averse.”

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Author tomgabrysiak

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to Host Bach Week Festival Concerts

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to Host Bach Week Festival Concerts

Richard Webster, Bach Week Festival music director, conducted one of the concerts held at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ during the 2013 festival. Bach Week returns to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ May 2 and 4, 2014.

CHICAGO (March 28, 2014) — ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ will welcome the to its campus in May, making this the second consecutive year that the institution has taken an active role in the Chicago area’s annual two-week celebration of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

The University’s , a student ensemble specializing in Renaissance and Baroque music, and four ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ musicians will join other internationally renowned performers at two concerts scheduled for May 2 and 4 in the campus’ Anderson Chapel. The two ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ performances will represent the final concerts in the 2014 series, which for more than 40 years has been one of the Midwest’s premier classical music festivals. Other concerts, scheduled for April 25, will be in Evanston.

“We are delighted to be able to offer this wonderful opportunity to our students and to the community,” said , dean of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s . ”Part of the school’s vision from the very beginning has been to provide our student ensembles the opportunity to perform with professionals in the field.”

The May 2 concert will feature ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ organist Margaret Martin, who will perform with her husband Christopher Martin, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing Bach’s Concerto in D Major, BWV 972, a piece never before played at the festival. The Martins also performed in last year’s concert on the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ campus.

The evening’s repertoire will also include Sonata in e minor for violin, BWV 1023, featuring violin soloist Renee-Paule Gauthier, who teaches violin at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat Major, BWV 1051, with Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ viola instructor and director of chamber music, and Roger Chase as viola soloists; and Cantata: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 1.

The May 4 concert will feature a soprano solo by , professor of music and director of choral activities at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, in the performance of the G-Major Mass and Cantata, BWV 50. The Chamber Singers, a select University ensemble that includes both graduate and undergraduate students, will join the Festival Chorus for that performance.

The participating ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ are highly accomplished in their fields. Gauthier was named “one the best upcoming violinists of the new generation” in the book Violin Virtuosos, from Paganini to the 21st Century; she is also principal second violin with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Northwest Indiana Symphony. Lasareff-Mironoff has played principal viola with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago Opera Theater, and the Joffrey Ballet. Davids directs the Chamber Singers and University Choir, and is a founding member of the Canadian Chamber Choir. Bach Week musical performers—both vocalists and instrumentalists—are invited from various high-profile musical groups in and around Chicago, including the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as musicians from out of town.

Bach Week a good fit for ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

The annual Bach celebration, which is in its 41^st year, has until recently offered performances only in Evanston. Its original home was St. Luke’s Church; this relationship ended when festival director and conductor Richard Webster left St. Luke’s in 2005 to become music director at Trinity Church in Boston.

“We wanted to keep Bach Week alive but we were essentially a festival without a home,” Webster said, adding that they rented performing space in Evanston as a venue for their concerts. “We had been casting around for a new home when I learned that my good friend and college roommate, Craig Johnson, had become dean of the music school at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½.” Webster said he had long been familiar with ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and with its music programs and approached Johnson about a partnership.

“It’s been exactly the right thing for the festival,” he says. “It brings us a much larger community of students, alumni, and friends to support Bach Week. Last year, we filled Anderson Chapel with a standing-room-only audience and hope to do the same this year.”

The School of Music has been an integral part of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ since the University’s earliest days. Johnson credits the institution’s close connection with the —which has long made music a large part of its tradition—for the fact that music has always figured so prominently in ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s history and academic offerings. While the Bach Festival is one of the institution’s musical highlights, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ offers instrumental, vocal, and operatic concerts for the community .

The school, which has eight and about 40 —most of whom are seasoned musicians—offers , including a BA with four specialty concentrations, and a .

“We’re very excited about our collaboration with the Bach Week Festival and happy to bring these concerts to our campus,” Johnson said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students to enjoy high-level music right on our own campus, and the concerts help expand our reach to our alumni and to the community.”

Tickets for each concert are $30 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $10 for students with ID. They may be purchased online or by calling (800) 838-3006.

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Author tomgabrysiak

Axelson Center’s Symposium Propels Nonprofits Forward with ‘Next Practices’

Axelson Center's Symposium Propels Nonprofits Forward with 'Next Practices'

Registration available for two-day conference featuring keynote speaker Peter Buffett

CHICAGO (March 27, 2014) — is now open for the 15th Annual Symposium for Nonprofit Professionals and Volunteers, a two-day event for nonprofit managers, leaders, and supporters from across the Midwest. This year's Symposium programming looks beyond best practices to explore "Next Practices" for nonprofit organizations, and features a powerful performance by musician and NoVo Foundation co-chair Peter Buffett, son of Warren Buffett.

The , which will be held June 2-3, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago, marks the 15th anniversary of this signature event hosted by ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management. It also marks 15 years of the Center providing valuable resources and outstanding learning opportunities to enhance the performance and effectiveness of individuals and organizations in the nonprofit sector.

Executive directors, fundraising and marketing professionals, volunteers and board members, and program managers and frontline staff will all benefit from attending the Symposium. In addition to timely program content that looks beyond best practices to next practices in nonprofit management, the event is an opportunity to connect with other nonprofit leaders from across the sector. Symposium attendees represent a diverse spectrum of nonprofit organizations, including, but not limited to health and medical organizations, educational institutions, social services, animal welfare groups, churches and other religious affiliations, associations, libraries and foundations.

The event kicks off on Monday, June 2, with a full day pre-conference institute focusing on human capital, leveraging people as an organization’s most valuable resource. An opening keynote, "Human Capital: The Third Bottom Line," presented by Kay Sprinkel Grace of Transforming Philanthropy, LLC, will set the stage for the day’s conversations. Next, Pepper Miller of The Hunter-Miller Group will examine the importance of strategic relationships and the value of effective targeting to diverse communities in nonprofit communications strategies. After a networking luncheon, a panel of speakers will tackle the important question, "Does Workplace Diversity Matter?" Tony Banout of Interfaith Youth Core, Jim Kales of Aspire of Illinois, and Claude Robinson of UCAN will participate in this conversation, facilitated by Catherine Marsh, professor of business and nonprofit management at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½. The closing pre-conference session, facilitated by John Davidoff of Davidoff Communications, connects the day's conversations in a discussion of "Mission-Driven Human Capital."

The Symposium day, Tuesday, June 3, features more than a dozen sessions in critical areas of next practices: cultivating resources, broadening your organization's reach, civic engagement, entrepreneurial solutions, innovation, and organizational health and sustainability. The opening keynote features Mae Hong, director at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Terry Mazany, president & CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, John W. Rogers. Jr., chairman & CEO of Ariel Investments, and Emra Tranter, former president of Friends of the Parks, discussing next practices in board governance and corporate engagement in nonprofit boards.

The day concludes with "Life is What You Make It: A Concert & Conversation with Peter Buffett," a live and interactive multi-media performance recounting Buffett’s personal story, from discovery of the piano through his current philanthropic work with the NoVo Foundation.

Registration is available through Wednesday, May 28: $319 for the Symposium day, $229 for the Pre-Conference day, or $449 for both days. Groups of three or more registering together will save 15 percent on their registration fees. Review the entire event program and register at .

The Symposium day also features a luncheon program where the winners of the and the will be announced and presented. These annual Axelson Center awards recognize outstanding nonprofit management practices and a young nonprofit organization with potential for growth and greater effectiveness, respectively. Learn more about the Alford-Axelson Award and the Excellent Emerging Organization Award at the Axelson Center .

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Author tomgabrysiak

‘Reload’ Urban Youth Worker Conference Celebrates Tenth Anniversary

'Reload' Urban Youth Worker Conference Celebrates Tenth Anniversary

Urban Youth Worker Awards given; early registration through April 2

CHICAGO (March 6, 2014) — On April 5, the will celebrate its tenth year of providing valuable resources and networking opportunities to youth advocates throughout Chicago and the Midwest. The daylong conference, held annually at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, serves hundreds of urban pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, social workers, teachers, and parents.

“Reload is a place for urban youth workers to connect and meet with other urban youth workers,” said , associate director of the University’s (CYMS). The conference was established, she said, out of recognition that “there wasn’t necessarily a place for them to go and gather together. Reload highlights what these people are doing so that they can hear each other’s stories, then collaborate or serve as resources for each other.”

At its tenth anniversary, CYMS Director finds the conference more relevant than ever. “Reload is very important to the growing number of urban churches—particularly in the , where many of the churches experiencing growth are urban, multiethnic church plants,” he said.

“This has become a place that people look for in the early spring to come congregate, process, and pray,” said Hodge. “We get people not only from Chicago, but from Wisconsin, the Twin Cities, Detroit, Iowa, and Cincinnati. If you’re interested in working with young adults, you’re going to find something here that is relevant for you.”

When Chicago Reload launched, Burkhardt said, conference planners were uncertain of how many attendees to expect and how best to plan their experiences. “The overwhelming response was, ‘Thank you for providing a place for us to talk to and meet each other,’” said Burkhardt. It’s in that spirit of gratitude that Reload’s tenth anniversary conference seeks to celebrate and recognize youth workers for the servant leadership they demonstrate.

The inaugural Reload Urban Youth Worker Awards will be given at this year’s conference, including the Urban Youth Worker Award, selected from among those nominated by an external committee; the People’s Choice Youth Worker Award, chosen online from among those nominated for the Urban Youth Worker Award; and the Student Leader Award.

“We wanted to be able to highlight people who are doing the work on the ground,” Hodge said of the awards. “Oftentimes in ministry, there’s not necessarily a lot of recognition. So we really wanted to honor leaders and say, ‘Thank you for the work that you’re doing and the service you’re providing.’”

“Youth ministry’s often a thankless job,” Burkhardt agreed. “So this is a celebration of this group of youth workers continuing to push forward in ministry, as well as a look back at the ten years and what has developed and come from it.”

Celebrating and honoring the achievements of youth workers is a theme that will run throughout Reload this year, one reflected in the conference’s , House Covenant Church Pastor Phil Jackson and life coach Justine Conley.

“What’s particularly interesting about our two keynote speakers is that Phil brought the idea of Reload to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, and Justine has been on our planning team since that first year,” Burkhardt said. “So this really is coming full circle. Phil is the one who said, ‘We need to do this at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½.’”

Author Romal Tune will give a pre-conference intensive workshop on Friday, April 4, addressing how current models of youth ministry both succeed and fail at reaching vulnerable teens in the urban context.

More than 20 with a variety of speakers are planned throughout the day, including concurrent sessions and lunchtime forums. Featured workshops include a session on mentoring with gang interventionist and youth advocate Amy Williams; a session on introverts in youth ministry with student Nilwona Nowlin; and a session on work-life balance with the Urban Youth Worker Institute’s Larry Acosta.

“We also have an early-morning workshop track for people who want to get a little something extra at no additional cost,” said Burkhardt. Among the early-morning sessions will be a fundraising workshop led by Director , with the goal of “building connections between youth workers and nonprofit resources,” Burkhardt said.

In addition to the workshop schedule, the conference will include times of worship, featuring University student Leslie Moore leading a Chicago Reload band.

Another new addition to the conference schedule this year will be an optional pre-conference intensive workshop led by author Romal Tune. The session, “Should Christians Act Like Crips? Innovative Approaches for Urban Youth Ministry and Evangelism,” was added as another way to celebrate Chicago Reload’s ten-year anniversary, Hodge said. “This year, we’re extending Reload into an all-day Friday session, so we wanted to bring in Romal.” Tune will address the effectiveness of current models of evangelism aimed at reaching vulnerable teens in the urban context.

Discounted early registration for individuals and groups ends April 2. Walk-in registration is available April 5. Chicago Reload is sponsored by the Center for Youth Ministry Studies, in partnership with the . 

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Author tomgabrysiak

Biology Major Wins Au Sable Institute Fellowship

Biology Major Wins Au Sable Institute Fellowship

Katherine Patterson, a senior from Park Ridge, Ill., is completing a bachelor of science in biology.

Katherine Patterson will spend the summer studying river and watershed biology in Michigan

CHICAGO (March 4, 2014) — A passion for science has opened many doors for senior Katherine Patterson since she began her studies at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½. This summer, the major will have the opportunity to dig even deeper into her chosen field thanks to the Harold Snyder Fellowship from the . Patterson is the first-ever recipient of this award, which was established in 2013 to .

The Harold Snyder Fellowship award makes it possible for Patterson to take two courses at the institute in the summer of 2014. She earned the fellowship by showing promise and dedication to “do and teach science as an expression of Christian faith and as a commitment to serve and protect God’s earth,” according to the Institute’s press release.

“Dr. Snyder’s mission was ultimately what I want to do as well,” Patterson said. “To teach and inspire students through being in the field, in the wild, amidst the wonder of nature.” She will use the award to take courses in limnology (the study of inland waters) as well as watershed and global development at the institute’s Great Lakes campus in Michigan.

This will be the second summer that Patterson, a Park Ridge, Ill. native, will spend with the Au Sable Institute. In 2013, she studied marine biology and marine mammals at their Puget Sound campus on Whidbey Island in Washington. This hands-on experience, which she found to be “inspiring,” helped her identify that her passion for animals and nature is something she wants to share with others as a career.

“It was last summer that solidified that this is what I want to do and where I want to be,” she said. “I want to teach biology. I want to teach students and people all about God’s creation and how it’s so magnificent and wondrous.”

Patterson came to this realization, in part, through the encouragement and mentoring of her professors. "They've all been very supportive," she said.

, professor of biology, encouraged Patterson to participate in the courses offered by the Au Sable Institute.

“Katie epitomizes the ideals set forth by Harold Snyder,” Vick said. “She is so charismatic and engaged in everything she’s doing. She sees the connections between what she’s learning and experiencing, and is interested in bringing the ideas of science to life.”

The University has had a relationship with the Au Sable Institute for more than 25 years, sending students there for coursework, internships, and research experience. The Institute draws students and faculty from more than 50 Christian colleges and universities across North America, offering biology and environmental education through field courses. “Au Sable is literally a place where faith and learning meet, in a hands-on way,” Vick added. “It’s a natural extension of what we do here at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½.”

“Students at Au Sable can really grow and have opportunities to broaden their perspectives,” Vick said.

Patterson has continued to take hold of opportunities that will enrich her knowledge and skills to be a successful science educator. The University’s Chicago location makes it possible for her to do things like volunteer at the , where she is an exhibit interpreter. “I stand in front of the exhibits, armed with props, and teach guests about wildlife, about the animals, and about Shedd in general,” she said.

Her faculty advisor, , connected Patterson with an internship in the ’s wildlife department. She is working with a team to track and monitor animals for a variety of purposes, including disease control. “It’s really fun and it’s a great hands-on experience,” Patterson said. “I’m learning a lot of skills that you just can’t learn from a textbook.”

But Patterson is also stepping outside the science arena to enrich her skills and learning. She has been involved in the program since her freshman year—acting, writing, directing, and even designing costumes—and is currently their company manager. She draws strong connections between her loves of science and performance, and envisions using her theatre skills for a career in environmental education.

“Learning about how people interact is more of the humanities side, but I also have the science side, and I love that. I think it brings such an interesting perspective, looking at biology from the side of art and human behavior and how we interact. And looking at interactions from the idea of science—how does that happen, why does this happen? It’s a cool meshwork,” she said.

Following her summer at Au Sable, Patterson will return to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ for her final semester, graduating with a bachelor of science in biology in December 2014.
 

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Author tomgabrysiak