Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award

Dan Frakes ’89
Lillian Kao, M.D. ’89
Travis Schedler, Ph.D. ’98

Alumni Titan Award

Mike McCool ’91
Ray Stadt ’93
The honorees will be recognized at the Alumni Awards Ceremony and Alumni Volunteer Recognition Dinner on Friday, July 23, 2010. In addition to recognizing these outstanding award recipients, this event will also be our first year honoring alumni volunteers for their service and support. The event will commence the activities of Alumni Weekend (July 23-25, 2010). Event details will be posted at www.imsa.edu/alumni by May 15.

The Academy and the Board of Trustees wishes to thank everyone who nominated an alumnus for the awards program. To nominate an alumnus for the 2011 Alumni Awards Program or for more information, please visit www.imsa.edu/alumni/awards.
—
Carolyn Johnson
Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA)
1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506

phone (630) 907-5041
fax (630) 907-5940

• All new alumni donations will be matched one-to-one by the Malott Family. That doubles the amount of your contribution! Matches are available up to $20,000 or June 30, whichever comes first – we hope it’s the $20,000!
• All classes are participating in the Alumni Class Challenge. Donors who are members of the highest participating class will each receive an exclusive IMSA Alumni Sweatshirt! (Check out the web site for class participation results to see how close you are to receiving IMSA swag!)

Your gift – regardless of the amount – shows your support and helps IMSA demonstrate to the State Legislators the importance of IMSA to you and future generations of IMSA students. These are just two of the many great reasons to make your gift before June 30!

We are currently at 7% and still need 543 more alumni donors to make their contribution to achieve 20% participation. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest news and activity.

To simplify your giving, visit one of these web pages:
IMSA Page: https://www.imsa.edu/giving
Givezooks: http://imsa.givezooks.com/

If you have trouble with any of the links above, you can also give us a call and pay with your credit card over the phone at (630) 907-5040 or send your check, payable to the IMSA Fund, in the mail (look for our May appeal soon!) to the address: IMSA Fund, 1500 W. Sullivan, Aurora, IL 60506.

Thank you for your support, and thanks to all the alumni who have already participated in the 20% Alumni Giving campaign!

Jennifer Spuehler
Director of Development, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
–

Jennifer Spuehler
Director of Development
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
IMSA Fund for Advancement of Education
1500 W. Sullivan Rd.
Aurora, IL 60506
Ph. 630-907-5989
www.imsa.edu

You are invited to join IMSA staff for a Community Learning Day on Thursday, April 29 with our special guest, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President, University of Maryland at Baltimore County. The topic of the day is: “Increasing the Number of STEM Leaders through the Retention of Gifted and Talented Students Who May Be At-Risk: What Are We Doing and Why It’s Everyone’s Job.”

IMSA Community Day
Thursday, April 29
8:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. CDT (for those attending in person)
8:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. CDT (for those participating remotely)

The focus of this Community Day is student retention. The day will provide us with the opportunity to consider questions directly relevant to sustaining a diverse environment and insuring the academic achievement and emotional well-being of our students. We are moving the conversation in the direction of creating conditions that maximize student success for all of our students, but particularly the success of our “at-risk” students.

In 2008, Dr. Hrabowski was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report, which in 2009 ranked UMBC the #1 “Up and Coming” university in the nation and fourth among all colleges and universities in the nation for commitment to undergraduate teaching. In 2009, Time magazine named him one of America’s 10 Best College Presidents.

All interested alumni are welcome to attend in person or to participate remotely. The program will be broadcast via uStream.tv. The program will also be videotaped. Listed below is the link to the “show” that has been created on uStream.tv for the live streaming of the April 29 Community Day segment: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/imsa-community-learning-day. Alumni wishing to participate via uStream are strongly encouraged to log onto the above link on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, between the hours of 9 am – 2 pm CDT. At which time, individuals can set up their own access account and work out any possible kinks before the actual event on Thursday, April 29, 2010.

For those participating, we have attached three (3) brief articles to review in preparation for the day’s events.

Barb Miller
Mary Myers
Roger Spayer
–
Carolyn Johnson
Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA)
1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506

phone (630) 907-5041
fax (630) 907-5940

Alumni are needed to assist with this year’s IMSAloquium (formerly known as Presentation Day) on Wednesday, April 28, 2010. A tradition near and dear to many alumni, IMSAloquium gives student researchers the chance to let their talents shine and to present their findings to distinguished IMSA guests, research advisors and the IMSA community. IMSA needs your help in assessing more than 200 student research presentations and posters on this day. If you are interested in volunteering for IMSAloquium, please contact Dr. Judy Scheppler, Coordinator of Student Inquiry and Research by Tuesday, April 6 at quella@imsa.edu or (630) 907-5899.

Click here to view some past abstracts of student investigations.

Carolyn Johnson
Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA)
1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506

phone (630) 907-5041
fax (630) 907-5940

Quick reunion update….. We have secured a venue for our 20 Year Reunion!!

Hyatt Lisle
1400 Corporetum Dr
Lisle IL 60532

http://lisle.hyatt.com/

Saturday, July 24th 2010
7:30pm – 12:30pm (tentative time)
(after 12:30, we can still stay in the atrium, but it opens to the public)

The hotel is located off I-88/rt53 (just over 15 miles from aurora). So it is a good
distance to the events at my house on Friday night and IMSA on the weekend (while still
off the highway for those who want to venture into the city or elsewhere to visit with
other friends and family). Rooms have been set aside for us for a special rate. They
will block the rooms for us until 7/6/2010 (after which they will be open for anyone to
reserve). There are other events going on that weekend, so I would suggest you book
asap. Room rates (for both friday and saturday night) are:
$89/night – standard room
$129/night – panaromic suite
To reserve your room, you can call 800.233.1234 and mention you are reserving for the
“IMSA 20 year High School Reunion”.

The reunion will be held at the hotel’s atrium. The evening will be a reception type
event for a casual feel. We will have passed hors d’oeuvres, light dinner, desserts,
and an open bar for most of the night. I will be DJ’ing for part of the night, and we
will have some other surprises for entertainment. Ticket prices are $85pp. I will be
posting some information soon where you can purchase your tickets.

I will also be sending out an evite soon so that we can track who is RSVP’ing along with
the site to purchase tickets shortly… Please contact me if you have any questions.

(for most up to date information, please check the facebook group discussion at:

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/topic.php?uid=35150153431&topic=45657)

Thanks!

melvin

*** for those not following along in facebook, here is the other information posted a
few months ago ***

Lots of questions have been coming up about our reunion, so I thought I?d send out a
little email to update everyone on some of the plans that are in place or in the works?
Our reunion will be held in conjunction with IMSA?s Alumni Weekend. Here is a rough
schedule of the weekend?s events:

Friday, July 23rd

Night – I will have an informal gathering at my place. I will be opening this up to the
surrounding classes (89,90,91,92). More information to come soon?.

Saturday, July 24th

Day ? IMSA will have an open house during the day. This event is open to all classes (in
particular, the classes of 1990/1995/2000/2005 will be attending since it is their
respective reunions). This is a family event and there will be some children?s
activities hosted by the AAI.

Night ? Our Reunion!!! Amy Gurbacki Berry and I are working out the final details and
will be emailing the official plans soon! We are close to finalizing the location and
details? (hang tight!)

Sunday, July 25th

I figure most people will be up late this day, so we are not going to plan anything
official. There will be a few suggested plans (ie: brunch, family outing, etc) for those
who aren?t travelling right away and just don?t want their weekend to end!

Some other things in the works that we need your help on:

Finding Alumni ? We have quite a few class members in our facebook group. Please help
get some of the others missing to join! I will be sending out an email to everyone based
on their registered email address with myIMSA. I will also be compiling a list of alumni
who are on facebook, available via email, or lost. Everyone?s help would be greatly
appreciated in trying to hunt down those who aren?t facebook/email connected.

Photo/Videos ? Aimee Wonderlick Walter has offered to help compile photo/videos into a
slide show for the reunion. Please contact her with anything you would like to share
with for the reunion night.

Class Gift ? I have had a few conversations with the IMSA Fund to see if we can combine
IMSA Fund giving with a ?class of 1990 reunion gift? to IMSA. We are looking into
something that will benefit the students directly. With Scott?s recent passing, it would
be great to have a gift that can be given in his memory. If you have any ideas, please
let me know.

I will be posting this information on the facebook group page
(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35150153431#/group.php?gid=35150153431). Please
look there for future information or if you wish to help work out some details. I will
follow-up with emails to the class as any of the above plans become finalized. Also,
please feel free to email me directly if you wish to help with any of the planning!

Thanks, and see you soon in July!

——————————————————–
imsa class of 1990 ‘announcements’ mailing list –
visit the web site @ http://www.imsalum1990.com/ –
——————————————————–

It requires you to ask permission to join which may take a day or two, but once you’re in there — that’s probably the best source of information regarding the upcoming reunion in July. I’ll put a prominent link on the sidebar shortly as well as copy details regarding the reunion on this site.

IMSA and the IMSA Alumni Association invite you to connect with fellow alumni and celebrate IMSA as the 2009 Intel Schools of Distinction “Star Innovator” at the following regional events! Alumni gatherings provide an opportunity for alumni to catch up with fellow IMSAns, meet people from other class years, and learn about developments at the Academy.
All events are free, but RSVP is requested. Families are welcome!

March 27 – Austin Alumni Gathering
Join Suzyn Price, VP for Advancement and fellow alumni for a casual gathering in North Austin!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Threadgill’s – North Austin, 6416 N. Lamar, Austin, TX
Complimentary appetizers and soft drinks will be served.
Please RSVP by Wed, March 24 on Facebook or email cjohnson@imsa.edu.

Durham, NC Area Alumni Gathering
Join Cathy Veal, VP for Strategy and Innovation, Jennifer Spuehler, Director of Development and fellow alumni for dinner in Durham!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Tyler’s Taproom, 342 Blackwell St, Durham, NC
Complimentary dinner and soft drinks will be served.
Please RSVP by Wed, March 24 on Facebook or email cjohnson@imsa.edu.

San Francisco / Bay Area Alumni Gathering
Join IMSA President Dr. Max McGee, VP for Advancement Suzyn Price, and fellow alumni in the Bay Area!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
12:00 – 6:00 pm
Hosted by Jennifer Girotti Karp ‘90 and family
1039 Annapolis Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403
Complimentary appetizers and soft drinks will be served.
Please RSVP by Tues, April 6 on Facebook or email cjohnson@imsa.edu.

Save the Date for IMSA Alumni Weekend!
July 23-25, 2010

I would like to invite you to participate in an effort to assess our relationship with IMSA. On a pragmatic and delicious level, you will get a free meal in addition to spirited conversation!

As alums, the state legislature expects us to provide a return on their investment in our education. I believe this can take many forms, from intangible to more concrete acts, but legislators are often focused on only one aspect: money. Given the relatively low financial burden for us to attend IMSA, this makes sense. If alums do not show an interest in donating to the Academy after they graduate, should Illinois continue to fund the institution, and should IMSA provide significant financial backing for programs to support the alumni community (such as regional events)?

I am arranging two focus groups to discuss why alums do or do not make financial contributions to IMSA. As part of these conversations, we will discuss the relationship between alums and IMSA through time, as well as past communications from IMSA to alums. Don’t worry if you’ve never donated. In fact, I think that can make the conversation richer. These focus groups are sponsored by the IMSA Alumni Association (IAA) and only IMSA alumni are invited to participate. Feedback from the meetings will be shared with the IAA cabinet and select IMSA staff. No names or identities will be shared with anyone beyond the focus group participants.

The groups will meet at 6 p.m. on March 9 and March 10 at Silver Spoon Thai Restaurant (710 North Rush). If you are interested in participating, please RSVP to mcknisley@gmail.com by Monday, March 8, at 5 p.m. Indicate your preferred date in the email. If we have more than approximately six participants for each group, we will discuss adding another date.

Feel free to contact me with questions.

Best,
Matthew Knisley
IAA President

“The Ecology in Early Human Evolution: The Role of the Tropical Forests”

Widely accepted theories of early human evolution hold that human
ancestors developed when Ice-Age climate change created huge savannas
in the tropical forest belt of Africa. The idea is that a rainforest
ape species ventured out in the savanna, developing stone tools and
big-game hunting to survive there. In fact, all Paleolithic humans
are assumed to have been big-game hunters adapted to the savannas,
steppes, and tundras throughout the world.

However, careful paleoecological and bioarchaeological research now
show that early human ancestors mainly lived in tropical forests.
Tropical savannas are rare until later, after humans had developed
fire and began to deforest in some areas. Furthermore, most
Paleolithic humans lived by broad-spectrum foraging, not by big game
hunting, which is dangerous, costly in effort, and of low and
unreliable returns.

Since a lot of assumptions about human nature derive from the old
evolutionary consensus, we can now significantly revise our ideas
about ancient and modern human behavior.

Thursday, February 18, 2010
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
IMSA Pearson Lecture Hall