Thursday, July 31, 2008

Two new admissions counselors join C-SC
Anne Ruzicka and Brittany Vermeire have joined the Admissions Office as admissions counselors, effective July 28.

Ruzicka earned her bachelor's degree in communication and theatre from Illinois College and recently finished her master's degree in communication at Saint Louis University. Originally from Quincy, Ill., Anne is happy to be closer to home. She enjoys reading, spending time with family, listening to music, and being outdoors when away from the office. She attends theatre productions whenever possible and hopes to be on stage again someday.

Vermeire also is a Quincy native and graduated from Quincy Notre Dame High School. She received her associate of arts degree from John Wood Community College and completed her bachelor's degree at Quincy University with a degree in communications, specializing in public relations. While attending John Wood Community College, she helped lead the school's dance team and was captain of the John Wood Blazer Girls for two years. When not working, she enjoys camping, running, cooking, and cruising in the Caribbean - she's been to seven different Caribbean locations in two years.

Keller named Director of Residential Life
Heather Keller became C-SC director of residential life in June. She joined C-SC as an admissions counselor last December, aftergraduating from the University of Illinois-Springfield with a master's degree in English. She also earned her bachelor's degree in English and communications at UIS.While pursuing her degrees, Keller worked for three years in UIS residence life. In addition, she has experience as an event coordinator, graduate assistant in marketing, and as a diversity/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender specialist.

"We are delighted to have Heather join the Student Life team," said Wendy Powers, dean of student life. "She brings a wide variety of experience and skills as an educator and student advocate, both in Residence Life and Multicultural Affairs. She has become familiar with Culver-Stockton and our new EXP@CSC curriculum through her work in admissions and will ensure that our residential communities connect in many intentional ways to our academic mission. I have no doubt that she and her staff will further enhance the residential experience for our students, thereby improving student success."

Hotle studies Homer at D.C. event
Patrick Hotle, chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences Division, recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he spent a week attending a program sponsored by the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University and the Council of Independent Colleges. The topic was "Homer Across the Curriculum: The Homeric Hymns and the Poetry of Hesiod." Among the participants in D.C., were faculty from a variety of CIC colleges representing the disciplines of history, English, religion, philosophy, economics and political theory. Participants presented summaries of scholarly work on the theme in a seminar setting and discussed how the works of Homer and Hesiod could be incorporated into a variety of disciplines and classroom settings.

Sherer to lead reading initiatives
Terry Sherer, chair of the Education Division, was elected vice-president of the Mark Twain Reading Council and appointed chair of the Missouri Reading Council International Committee, which will work on providing monies and support for staff development for teachers in the Philippines. Sherer also is coordinating the new partnership called the Tri-State Partnership for Literacy, which includes the Quincy Public Library, Canton Public Library, Muscatine Public Library, Kiwanis, Rotary International, Reading is Fundamental, etc. Earlier this summer, NECAC received a donation of $500 paperback books to distribute to low-income children over the summer. The Tri-State Partnership for Literacy is supporting the effort to distribute books, and Culver-Stockton graduate and retired teacher Dough Wilson is coordinating the effort in Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Marion counties. The group also plans to raise fund to subsidize the costs of obtaining a library card at libraries that have such fees through the program called, "Every Child a Library Card: Confronting the Summer Reading Gap!" Sherer also will be presenting at the Missouri Reading Council Convention in October.