PDF CONGRATS, GRADUATES! - UIC Today

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For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago

May 3

2017

Volume 36 / Number 31 uicnews.uic.edu

CONGRATS, GRADUATES!

Photo: Elizabeth Monge

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UIC News | Wednesday, May 3, 2017

LETTER FROM THE CHANCELLOR

Bittersweet goodbye as grads embark on new adventures

"You are the reason I take such pride in my job," says UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis.

Dear graduates,

First and foremost, congratulations! I look forward to this time of year, as the spring brings vibrant colors to campus and a sense of renewal and optimism. But I write this note with mixed emotions. As chancellor, some of my most memorable times at UIC have been those spent interacting with students. You are the reason I take such pride in my job, and saying goodbye to those graduating is bittersweet for me. This is an exciting time in your life and you have worked hard -- sometimes through very difficult obstacles -- to achieve your goals. You deserve to celebrate! But please remember that you will always be part of the UIC family and I hope that you will reflect on your time at UIC with joy and accomplishment. UIC faculty and staff work tirelessly to provide you with the finest education so you can flourish in whatever career path you take. And others are taking notice. This year, UIC rose into the top 200 Universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, based on our success in teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. This is an outstanding achievement and we should all celebrate. Even though we are in challenging financial times, we continue to enroll and educate more students such as you, and conduct cutting-edge research that gains international recognition. We continue to provide excellent health care services and to support the sur-

rounding communities, the city, and the state in numerous ways. And we continue to set the national standard for comprehensive diversity and inclusion.

The success of our students has always been and will continue to be our first priority. We are working to continuously improve the student experience, to modernize the physical infrastructure of our campus, and to create life-long learning opportunities to solve real world problems.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you for choosing UIC. We invite you to return to campus as often as possible, to visit your favorite faculty and staff members, to interact with the future generations of students, to see an outstanding musical or theatrical production at the UIC Theatre, or take in a sporting event or educational symposium. This was not only your home while you were a student here, but we want you to call it home for the rest of your life. You will be missed.

Good luck with all your future endeavors. I am confident that you will achieve wonderful things and continue making us proud.

Go Flames!

Sincerely,

Michael Amiridis Chancellor

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UIC celebrates the Class of 2017 during its commencement ceremonies May 3?7. Sheryl Underwood, comedian, UIC graduate and host of CBS daytime show "The Talk," and Carlos Tortolero, founder and president of the National Museum of Mexican Art, will receive honorary degrees from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Miguel ?ngel Mancera Espinosa, the mayor of Mexico City, will receive an honorary degree from the College of Medicine. Kevin Lynch, vice president of technology at Apple, will receive an honorary degree from the College of Engineering.

HONORS COLLEGE

Wed. May 3, 7 p.m. / UIC Forum

EDUCATION

Thurs. May 4, 6:30 p.m. / UIC Pavilion

RUDY VALDEZ

Rudy Valdez, 787 EIS systems engineering lead at Hamilton Sundstrand, is commencement speaker.

Valdez is an aftermarket systems engineering lead for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. He previously was director of operations for the space division of Hamilton Sundstrand.

Valdez received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from UIC in 1987.

NURSING

Thurs. May 4, 1 p.m. / UIC Pavilion

AFAF IBRAHIM MELEIS

Commencement speaker is Afaf Ibrahim Meleis, professor of nursing and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Meleis is an internationally renowned nurse scientist and medical sociologist. Her five decades of scholarly contributions have informed generations of nurses around the world and influenced their education, practice and research programs.

She previously was the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing and director of the school's WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership from 2002 through 2014. Before her work in Pennsylvania, she spent 34 years as a professor at the University of California San Francisco and Los Angeles.

GLORIA LADSONBILLINGS

Gloria Ladson-Billings, scholar and distinguished professor at the University of WisconsinMadison, is commencement speaker.

Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education in curriculum and instruction and faculty affiliate in educational policy studies, educational leadership and policy analysis and Afro American studies.

Her research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students.

PHARMACY

Thurs. May 4, 7:30 p.m. / UIC Forum

RUSSELL SECTER

Russell Secter, president of Regennera Therapeutics, will give the commencement address.

Secter has about 30 years of sales and marketing experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning traditional medical markets, generic pharmaceutical markets, dental pharmaceutical markets and biopharmaceutical company startups. Previously, he was CEO of PDx Biotech and president of OraPharma, a company acquired by Johnson & Johnson.

He received his bachelor's degree in pharmacy from UIC in 1978.

APPLIED HEALTH SCIENCES

Thurs. May 4, 2 p.m. / UIC Forum

TIM GROVER

Tim Grover, owner of Attack Athletics and Michael Jordan's personal trainer, will give the commencement speech.

Grover has also trained Hallof-Famers and champions such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and hundreds of other star athletes.

He is the author of Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable and Jump Attack.

SOCIAL WORK

Fri. May 5, 9 a.m. / UIC Pavilion

JAMES GLEESON

James Gleeson, associate professor of social work, is commencement speaker.

Gleeson will retire from UIC in May. During the ceremony, he will be awarded the Jane Addams College of Social Work Pioneer Award, which was established to recognize alumni who have made significant, innovative or pioneering contributions to a community, state, or nation consistent with the mission of the college.

UIC News | Wednesday, May 3, 2017

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COLLEGE CEREMONIES

URBAN PLANNING & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Fri. May 5, 10 a.m. / UIC Forum

JES?S "CHUY" GARCIA

Cook County Commissioner Jes?s "Chuy" Garc?a is commencement speaker.

Garcia is the commissioner for the 7th District on the Cook County Board.

In 1992, he ran for Illinois State Senate and became the first Mexican-American elected. He ran for mayor in 2015 and forced the first runoff election for that position.

He received his bachelor's in political science and master's in urban planning at UIC.

MEDICINE

Fri. May 5, 2 p.m. / UIC Pavilion

PEDRO GREER & MIGUEL ?NGEL MANCERA ESPINOSA

Pedro "Joe" Greer Jr., professor of medicine at Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, will make the commencement address.

Miguel ?ngel Mancera Espinosa, the mayor of Mexico City, will receive an honorary degree during the ceremony.

Greer is an advocate for health equity by engaging communities to create effective health and social policies and accessible health care systems.

He previously ran a private practice and was chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Mercy Hospital in Miami.

Mancera, who has served in his role since 2012, is widely regarded as one of Mexico's most effective political leaders. His administration has distinguished itself by its significant advances in health care and administrative reform, as well as its opposition to human trafficking.

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Fri. May 5, 3:30 p.m. / UIC Forum

JULIE MORITA

Julie Morita, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, will speak at commencement.

Since Morita assumed her role in 2015, the city's public health department has developed and launched Healthy Chicago 2.0, a four-year plan to assure healthy equity by addressing the social determinants of health. The health department has also recently led efforts to pass several tobacco prevention initiatives, including raising the age for purchasing tobacco products to 21.

She previously was the health department's chief medical officer, leading the city's response to the pandemic influenza outbreak.

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UIC News | Wednesday, May 3, 2017

COLLEGE CEREMONIES

BUSINESS

Sat. May 6, 9 a.m. / UIC Pavilion

DONALD HERMANEK

Commencement speaker is Donald Hermanek, chief client officer for Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.

Hermanek received his bachelor's in marketing from UIC in 1970.

Hermanek has more than 35 years' experience in the automotive claims and salvage industry.

He previously was vice president of business development for Consolidated Services Corp., vice president of National Sales for Safelite Glass Corporation, and vice president of sales for ADP.

DENTISTRY

Sat. May 6, 10 a.m. / UIC Forum

CLARK STANFORD

Clark Stanford, dean of the College of Dentistry, is commencement speaker. Former associate dean for research and professor of prosthodontics at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, he is a researcher whose work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, private foundations and industry.

He is the author of 20 book chapters, 117 published papers and more than 140 research abstracts.

ENGINEERING

Sat. May 6, 2 p.m. / UIC Pavilion

TRINA ROY & KEVIN LYNCH

Trina Roy, a senior software developer at Pixar Animation Studios, is commencement speaker.

Kevin Lynch, vice president of technology at Apple, will receive an honorary degree during the ceremony.

Roy, who received her master's in computer science from UIC in 1995, was a research assistant in the Electronic Visualization Laboratory.

She started her software career at Silicon Graphics, Inc., before starting at PDI/DreamWorks, where she wrote physics-based simulation code for Shrek.

At Apple, Lynch has focused on the software of the Apple Watch and the company's health software. Before he joined Apple in 2013, he was chief technology officer at Adobe.

ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & THE ARTS

Sat. May 6, 7 p.m. / UIC Pavilion

KEVIN COVAL

Commencement speaker is poet, author and educator Kevin Coval.

Coval is the founder of the Louder Than A Bomb poetry festival, editor of The BreakBeat Poets, artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, and frequent guest on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam." His acclaimed new book, A People's History of Chicago, features 77 poems and a foreword by former student Chance the Rapper.

LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES

Sun. May 7, 10 a.m. / UIC Pavilion

HENRY BIENEN, SHERYL UNDERWOOD & CARLOS TORTOLERO

Henry Bienen, president of The Poetry Foundation, will give the commencement address.

Sheryl Underwood, comedian, UIC graduate and host of CBS daytime show "The Talk," and Carlos Tortolero, founder and president of the National Museum of Mexican Art, will receive honorary degrees.

Bienen served as Northwestern University's president from 1995 to 2009 and continues to serve as president emeritus. The Poetry Foundation, which he currently leads, aims to discover, celebrate and share the best poetry. The organization publishes Poetry magazine, which was founded in Chicago in 1912 and is the oldest monthly magazine devoted to verse in the English-speaking world.

Underwood, a 1987 graduate in communication and theatre, is owner and CEO of Pack Rat Productions. She is the founder of Pack Rat Foundation for Education, working to support historically black colleges and universities and students in higher education.

Tortolero founded the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago in 1982. He received his bachelor's in secondary education and history at UIC.

He previously was a teacher, counselor and administrator in the Chicago Public Schools system. He was a member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees from 2009 to 2011.

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Since 1966, the Silver Circle Award has been presented to some of UIC's best teachers. Winners, who are honored at their college commencements, receive $500 and their names join a long list of distinguished colleagues. But what makes the award especially meaningful is its selection committee: the graduating seniors.

Joseph Zanoni

Research Assistant Professor Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences School of Public Health

Joseph Zanoni has been teaching for more than 30 years.

He started out as an early childhood special education teacher but found his way to public health through becoming involved in grassroots efforts around the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

Now, Zanoni leads training and research projects at the Illinois Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Education and Research Center, where he works with personal and home care aides, their unions and employers to ensure the health and safety of these workers on the job.

Zanoni co-teaches "Using the Public Health Toolbox," a course aimed at seniors enrolled in the undergraduate public health degree course in the School of Public Health. The course cul-

minates in a practice-based project. "It's not research," said Zanoni, director of continuing education and outreach for the Illinois Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Education and Research Center. "They learn while doing."

Small groups of students in the class partner with local community organizations to tackle a particular issue. One group created a video of interviews with temporary workers from the Chicago Workers Collaborative talking about problems with precarious work to be shown to elected officials involved in drafting legislation that impacts these workers.

"These participatory projects integrate everything the students have learned throughout their studies," Zanoni

said. "Health literacy, epidemiology, popula-

tion health, community outreach, all in one project."

Zanoni wants to instill in his students the ability to think critically, and to understand what is feasible and practical when it comes to public health. "These field experiences expose the students to the real world and support the development of the skills they will need as either public health workers, or for continuing their education as graduate students," he said.

"I am so thrilled when our students succeed in their careers after they leave our class and I can see that they have taken all the elements, or tools, and have applied them to solve problems."

-- By Sharon Parmet, sparmet@uic.edu

Jean Mills

Whether it's with patients or students, Jean Mills enjoys educating others.

Mills serves as a clinical instructor in UIC's Urbana regional nursing program, teaching pathophysiology and pharmacology, clinical concepts and processes of adult health, and client/patient education and health literacy. A former patient educator at Urbana's Carle Foundation Hospital, Mills' transition to a college campus from a medical center has been seamless.

"When I am in clinical rotations with the students, I have patient contact and I love interacting with them," Mills said. "But I love teaching students. I have the best of both worlds."

Mills was the first in her family to enter the health care field. As a young girl, she would tag along to her mother's medical appointments, becoming enthralled with the hospital environment. Seeing all of the nurses busily working around her, she inquisitively asked what

they were doing. When she learned more about nursing, she wanted to make it her lifelong profession.

Mills began her career as a staff nurse in the intensive care unit of a Kankakee-area hospital. After four years, she transitioned to coordinator of nursing education, meeting the orientation and continuing education needs of staff nurses. She eventually moved to Carle Foundation Hospital, and while there, she began teaching part-time in Urbana's regional program in 1999. She became a full-time UIC instructor in 2005.

The work as a college nursing educator is challenging, but incredibly enjoyable, she said.

"The students are what make it rewarding," Mills said. "It's all of us together that make a difference, in producing a good nurse, a good product. I've loved being a nurse."

Krista Jones, director of Urbana's regional campus, has more in common

with Mills than being nurse educators. In 2011 and 2014, Jones herself was the recipient of the Silver Circle Award. Jones, who also serves as clinical assistant professor, said Mills is a "remarkable educator."

"Jean has an engaging, interactive and participative teaching philosophy that fosters students' appreciation and learning while nurturing students' creativity and confidence," she said. "I am thrilled to see her hard work and dedication rewarded with this prestigious honor."

While she was excited to learn of her Silver Circle Award, Mills said she was not expecting it.

"I hold the people who have won this award in high esteem," Mills said. "It is a great honor to join them as a recipient of the Silver Circle."

-- By Sam Hostettler samhos@uic.edu

Clinical Instructor Biobehavioral Health Science Regional Nursing Program, Urbana

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Felecia Williams

Clinical Assistant Professor Biomedical & Health Information Sciences College of Applied Health Sciences

After graduating from UIC's Health Information Management (HIM) program, Felecia Williams spent nearly 15 years working in management and as a consultant to hospital systems and insurance providers before returning to the university as a full-time faculty member in the College of Applied Health Sciences.

A clinical assistant professor, Williams teaches online and classroom-based courses in the HIM program. She describes her teaching style as dynamic and based in real-world scenarios.

"I use the classroom as a space to answer questions and discuss real-life situations," Williams said. "I want my students to understand that data management in health care is not just about formulas, equations and spreadsheets

-- it's about understanding the information and using it to telling a story."

Williams teaches three undergraduate courses on campus: HIM 317: "Principles of Health Information Management," HIM 319: "Alternative Health Records," and HIM 367: "Systems Analysis." In these courses, she meets students at the beginning of the program.

"I love it when students come back after their first internship, or once they have started a job, and tell me how they used what they learned in class," Williams said. "Seeing that lightbulb go on in my students is the best part of teaching."

Williams also teaches HIM 451: "Health Information Management Theory and Practice," for online students who already have an undergraduate degree

and are pursuing new careers, professional education and degree opportunities. Her online course mimics the campus-based courses, but in both environments, Williams considers it her responsibility to present information in a way that reaches her students.

"My teaching methods and approaches change based on my students -- they are here to learn and I am always looking for new ways to help them as best I can," Williams said.

"I want to provide students with the building blocks of a successful career in HIM and give back to the profession."

Williams also has a master's in public administration from Roosevelt University and is a registered health information administrator.

-- By Jackie Carey, jmcarey@uic.edu

Joshua Prudowsky

Whether it's teaching Chicago high school students how to effect local health policy changes through his work with Mikva Challenge, or teaching public health literacy to undergraduates at UIC, Joshua Prudowsky has one overarching goal: to educate, engage and mobilize his students.

He has taught the 400-level undergraduate course, part of UIC's relatively young undergraduate public health degree program, for the last three years.

A significant portion of his class focuses on media literacy -- the use of media, including social media, to promote public health messages.

"How do you get 100,000 people to change a negative health behavior?," Pru-

dowsky said. "Media plays such a key role in public health that it's important to understand it and learn how to leverage it to influence people towards more healthful behaviors."

In the class, students look at how different media outlets cover the same health story, analyze Super Bowl ads and develop their own public health-related media campaigns. Students do market research to be sure they are reaching their target audience through the media platforms that audience uses.

Prudowsky said that for young people, Snapchat, followed by Instagram, are the most popular media channels. The learning goes both ways.

"My students are always teaching me

new things, especially about social media because they are such heavy users," he said.

Prudowsky, who grew up in Chicago, credits his parents with instilling a sense of civic awareness and social justice -- two components that sit at the heart and soul of public health.

"I was probably at more protests by the time I was 8 than most people have been to in their lives," Prudowsky said.

Prudowsky wants to pay it forward. "I want to help produce a group of public health activists who, if they believe in something, they'll fight for it, and so I hope to instill in them a strong passion for public health," he said. -- By Sharon Parmet, sparmet@uic.edu

Lecturer Community Health Sciences School of Public Health

Julia Vaingurt

"When I come to the classroom, I'm quite psyched about the material I'm going talk about," said Julia Vaingurt, associate professor of Slavic and Baltic languages and literatures.

She's equally enthusiastic about hearing the students' opinions on the subject matter, be that Russian literary classics or European and Russian modernism.

"That also shows them that this in an environment where we are all going to learn something exciting," Vaingurt said.

Students sometimes get aggravated by the absence of clear-cut solutions offered by literary texts. She believes an orientation toward exploring the questions provoked by their material, rather than focusing on the search for answers, is a valuable exercise.

Associate Professor Slavic & Baltic Languages & Literatures College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

"If we have an involved, engaging argument that means something vital has occurred there," she said.

Her teaching and research also focuses on the Russian avant-garde, an artistic movement that sought to "shock people out of complacency" by experimenting with various forms and creating works that could have been perceived as strange.

"The avant-garde artists aimed at creating a revolution in thinking through art," she said. "Their belief was that an encounter with strangeness would jolt their audiences out of the rut of conventional thinking."

Vaingurt wants her courses to have a similar effect on students.

"It is essential to me that in my cours-

es students acquire vital professional skills," she said. "But, in my view, good liberal arts and sciences education should give students more than just vocational training. It should expand your worldview, engage you in critical and ethical reasoning. It allows you to discover and acquire new intellectual interests and pursuits, and ultimately enhance your well-being."

At UIC since 2005, Vaingurt appreciates the interest that students have in other cultures.

"This is a wonderful symbiosis for me because students are open to learning," she said. "They are capable of approaching another culture with empathy, sensitivity and curiosity."

-- By Brian Flood, bflood@uic.edu

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Mitchell Roitman

Associate Professor Psychology College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Students in Mitchell Roitman's class spend a day inside their heads to understand how the brain and body work together to generate behavior.

They write "a day in the life of my brain" paper to explain mundane aspects of life -- what happens when the alarm clock goes off or they skip breakfast and feel hungry -- in neuroscience terminology.

"I want students to see neuroscience all around them," said Roitman, associate professor and director of graduate studies in psychology.

Roitman keeps his students engaged by showing clips from his favorite comedies and using visual illustrations to make neuroscience come alive.

"I really don't want anyone's eyes

glazing over looking at text," he said. "I want their eye to visualize neurons, or to deconstruct and put back together neural pathways of the brain."

Roitman teaches behavioral neuroscience to undergraduates in two settings: a lecture class with as many as 150 students and a lab that's limited to 20 students. The lecture course is a gateway for declaring the neuroscience major, he said.

"One of the things I love so much about the lecture course is that I often get students very early on in their undergraduate career and I have a chance to turn them on to the biological basis of behavior," he said. "You see a lightbulb go on with some of the students who didn't know this field existed."

Roitman, who joined UIC in 2006, fo-

cuses his research on understanding the neural basis of motivated behavior and how particular circuits in the brain are involved in normal adaptive behavior and maladaptive behavior.

"We seek out and consume things that we need to stay alive, but we also pursue things that are not healthy for us and may be detrimental to us, like drugs or food that's not nutritious," said Roitman, associate chair of the Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience.

Roitman's advice for the graduating students who nominated him for the award?

"Find something you're passionate about," he said. "I know I found something that I'm passionate about and I think that success is fueled by passion."

-- By Christy Levy, christyb@uic.edu

Marla Weeg

Lecturer English College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Marla Weeg, a conservatory-trained actress, transitioned to studying literature and fiction writing in the late 1990s after nearly two decades of improv and drama in Chicago.

"Coming from the improv and acting world, it felt like I had a degree in welding," she said of the shift to academia.

Weeg earned a master's in education at DePaul and a master's and Ph.D. in English at UIC, where she's been a lecturer since 2006. She admits returning to school and learning a whole new skill set was intimidating at times, so she aims to remember how she first felt at UIC and be very approachable for her students.

"I want to be clear we're working on this together, but let's try to work at the

top of our intelligence," she said. "That's basically the method of Paul Sills, who started Second City."

The latter is an example of how Weeg, whose courses cover composition and American and English literature, has a classroom style that is heavily influenced by her theater background.

"When I get frightened of using improvisation, I lose and the student loses," she said. "Anytime I use some sort of theater game, even a warmup exercise like throwing an imaginary ball or who started the motion, in just two to three minutes it equalizes everybody and the students are more ready to learn."

Fiction, poetry and drama are primary elements in her introductory literature

courses. "I have them write their own fiction

and I pick the ones that I thought would work best in performance," she said. "Those students then direct the others in sketches in class and they all have to do an analysis of the characters."

Most importantly, the first-time Silver Circle award-winner appreciates learning from and about her students through their writing in her "Politics of Parenting" composition course.

"The student research papers on being an immigrant, being first generation, have opened a whole new world to me," she said. "That really puts me in awe."

-- By Brian Flood, bflood@uic.edu

Abel Galvan

Lecturer Accounting College of Business Administration

In 2003, Abel Galvan came to a conclusion. He was getting very little, if any, gratification from his current job.

After a more than 20-year career in telecommunications, he found himself thinking about what he really wanted to do with the rest of his working life.

"My thoughts kept bringing me to teaching," said Galvan, a lecturer in accounting. He then set his sights becoming a teacher.

He did some research and found out that he could teach at the university or junior college level with a master's degree.

Galvan enrolled in UIC's MBA program and finished in the fall of 1997. He taught for the first time in his life at UIC during the summer of 1998 and was an

adjunct until hired full-time beginning in fall 2003.

"In retrospect, I believe that this is one of the best decisions I have made -- doing what I like for the rest of my working life," Galvan said.

Today, he teaches "Financial Accounting for Accounting Majors" and two sections of "Auditing." In the past, he's taught "Accounting for Government and Non-Profit Entities," "Advanced Financial Accounting," "Income Tax for Individuals" and "Financial Accounting" at the graduate level.

Galvan said accountants today are highly responsible for complying with changing standards as the economies globalize. They're responsible for analyzing day-to-day transactions in regards to

both financial and managerial purposes. "Without their talent in recording, ana-

lyzing, reconciling and reviewing this information, our job as employees, business owners or decision makers would not be possible," he said.

Galvan comes from a large Mexican family and was the first to attend and finish college. He draws on his own experiences to pass along life lessons to students as that they decide the direction of their lives.

When someone says you can't or shouldn't do something, they're "challenging your motivation" and are actually "daring you to continue on," Galvan says.

His advice: "Always aim high and learn from your failures."

-- By Jeff Boyn?s, jboynes@uic.edu

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David Featherstone

Professor Biological Sciences College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

David Featherstone was an accomplished researcher "but that never deterred his dedication to the quality of education for students," said Hormoz BassiriRad, professor of biological sciences.

Featherstone, who died Jan. 28 at the age of 50, was professor and former director of undergraduate studies in biological sciences.

Realizing that lectures weren't always an effective way of teaching, Featherstone engaged students by letting them ask him questions instead. He was known on campus for his open-door policy, too, where students could, at any time, walk into his office and ask questions. He was applauded for his outstanding contributions to education and mentorship with a Silver Circle in 2008,

a Humboldt Research Award in 2009, and a Teaching Recognition Program Award, given by the Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, in 2011.

Featherstone, a leading educator and researcher, was a neurobiologist interested in gene function. He focused on brain genes, specifically synapses -- information-transferring and processing points that brain cells use to communicate with each other -- and glutamate receptors, which receive messages from other cells. Research has shown that glutamatergic synapse strength is determined by the number of postsynaptic glutamate receptors -- the more glutamate receptors, the stronger the synapse -- and Featherstone's labs studied genes and molecular mechanisms that control glutamate receptor abundance.

"He was a very creative fellow and very successful," said John Leonard, professor of biological sciences. "He was quite a guy."

Among his most notable discoveries was a gene mutation in fruit flies that allowed Featherstone and his team to learn how they could use genetic manipulation or drugs to turn homosexual behavior in flies on and off within hours. His labs also worked to confirm findings in mice.

He also spearheaded an effort to improve the biological sciences curriculum at UIC, changes that he hoped would better prepare students for life after graduation.

"He'll leave an enormous hole in the department," Leonard said. -- By Francisca Corona, fcoron3@uic.edu

Jamison Szwalek

Clinical Assistant Professor Mechanical & Industrial Engineering College of Engineering

Jamison Szwalek and her two children make a lot of pancakes. So many, in fact, that she was inspired to turn it into a meaningful learning experience -- for her students.

"We're finishing up making machines that flip pancakes," Szwalek, clinical assistant professor of mechanical engineering, said about her "Introduction to Engineering Design" classes.

In the class, freshmen practice working with teams to complete other projects and problems while learning how to put their engineering knowledge to use.

"Along the way, they figure out what works and doesn't work," Szwalek explained, adding that students sketch,

design, use tools, build machines and actively problem-solve.

"They're learning quite a bit," she said. Szwalek carries that teaching style, learning by doing, into other courses, too. This semester, she's also instructing "Theory of Computer-Aided Design," where students are redesigning wrenches. Her past classes cover dynamics, vibrations and machine design. "The problems we solve in class allow [students] to use the new material we learn. So I introduce new concepts and use lots of examples, solve a lot of problems, bring in the real-world application through projects and give them lots of opportunities to practice with homework," she said. "It's more exciting."

Undergrads couldn't agree more. They've selected Szwalek, who joined the university in 2014, to receive a Silver Circle Award this year, her first teaching recognition.

"Every semester, I do something different, challenge myself to come up with projects and problem ideas. I spend a lot of time making new things, trying to make things better, so I was really happy all of that effort paid off," she said.

She'll continue doing her best for students.

"I still want to do more, make it better," she said. "That's part of engineering. No matter what you have done, you always think it can be better." -- By Francisca Corona, fcoron3@uic.edu

Matt Motyl

Matt Motyl believes genuine enthusiasm for content is a remarkable pedagogical tool.

"Students, who may have had minimal interest in the course topic coming in, are befuddled when they see their instructor so engaged in something that they had thought incapable of capturing anyone's interest," the assistant professor of psychology wrote in a statement describing his teaching philosophy.

From courses involving cultural and social psychology to laboratory research, his overall goal is to help them understand complicated ideas and think in ways to advance scientific understanding.

Part of this process involves encouraging students to pursue interesting questions, critique what they have learned about and develop new ideas to poten-

Assistant Professor Psychology College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

tially move understanding forward. Motyl, a first-time Silver Circle winner,

noted in his statement that one-on-one debates or weekly blog entries help students "dig deeper" to engage the material directly, and to cultivate their ability to discuss or write about high-level concepts.

"This critical thinking and intellectual exploration will help them think outside of the box and be innovators and leaders in whatever field they choose to pursue," he wrote.

Motyl assigns students weekly essays to raise a critical question from their readings.

"These essays tend to point to theoretical gaps or contradictions in the past work," his statement explained. "As the semester progresses and the students'

skillsets grow, they start to propose testable hypotheses that could reconcile conflicting ideas."

Conflict is at the center of Motyl's often-published research that lately examines how people's moral, political and religious ideologies steer them into segregated ideological enclaves.

He is co-founder of , a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on evidence-based methods for improving intergroup civility.

He and other scholars help policymakers, community groups and individuals to develop methods and ideas to bridge moral divisions and cultivate a more respectful political environment while also creating measurement tools to assess the effectiveness of those interventions.

-- By Brian Flood, bflood@uic.edu

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