Contents:
Shimer
Selects Chicago-Area Administrator/Fundraiser as Interim President
Ron O. Champagne, a prominent Chicago leader in higher education, has
been named as Shimer’s Interim President. Ron is President Emeritus of
Saint Xavier University in Chicago where he served from 1982 to 1994,
leading a ten-year program of expansion that in 1992 culminated in the
institution’s transformation from a college to a university. Ron has
long been familiar with Shimer College and its distinctive educational
mission, having served as a key player in negotiations between Shimer
and Roosevelt University in the 1990s, when he was Vice President of
Development at Roosevelt. He also recently held a position as Senior
Vice President of Development at the Alzheimer’s Foundation in Chicago.
Shimer’s President Emeritus Don Moon tells us, “As President during the
Roosevelt negotiations, I met with Ron and got to know him. More
importantly, he got to know Shimer and its mission, which he and the
then president of Roosevelt held in high regard. I have confidence that
Ron Champagne will provide excellent leadership for the College during
the coming year.”
According to Chris Nelson, President of St. John’s College in Annapolis
and the newly elected Chair of Shimer’s Board, “Ron Champagne brings an
extraordinary wealth of experience to this position. He has known
Shimer and its leadership for nearly two decades. He has extensive
presidential and fundraising experience, and knows Chicago well, having
made it his home for years. We are incredibly fortunate to have a
person of this caliber for our president, while we undertake the
process of searching for a permanent president. This should be an
energizing year for the college.”
Shimer’s Academic Dean David Shiner agrees, adding “The transition is
being managed at the Board level by Chris Nelson, the President of
another Great Books college. Like Ron Champagne, he is a longtime
friend of Shimer. Both Ron and Chris should be stable, positive forces
at Shimer while we search for the next Shimer President during the
coming year.”
Ron earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Fordham University, New York, in
1973 after receiving his M.A. from Catholic University, Washington
D.C., and his B.A. from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He has
served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Salem College in
Salem, West Virginia; as Professor of Mathematics at Saint Xavier
University and Salem College; and as Professor of Philosophy of Science
at Roosevelt University. In a letter to alums to be published in the
next issue of Symposium, Ron writes, “From my new post as Interim
President of Shimer, I see that the College is well prepared to nurture
its students into educated adults. I am honored to support Shimer in
this rare and worthy aim."
Shimer’s
Fall Lecture Series Begins: Extreme Makeovers, Pollock vs. Warhol
Our Fall Lecture Series is now underway, and you’re invited! On Friday,
February 28th at 6:30 PM, we start off with an attention-grabbing
lecture title by Jeremy Biles, Technology and Transformation: The
Ritual Dimensions of Extreme Makeover Television. Biles holds a PhD in
religion from the University of Chicago, teaches philosophy at the
Illinois Institute of Art, and is author of the forthcoming book Ecce
Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form (Fordham
University Press).
On Friday October 15th at 6:30, we’ll be exploring a different
aesthetic, when John W. Snapper presents Either Warhol or Pollock.
Snapper is Professor of Philosophy at the Illinois Institute of
Technology, where he teaches courses on aesthetics and the history of
ideas. He holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. and a
Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. His recent
publications include the edited volumes Owning Information and Ethical
Issues in Computer Use.
Both lectures will be in the Cinderella Room on the second floor of
Shimer’s building at 3424 S. State St., in Chicago.
Have a suggestion for a speaker? Contact lecture series organizer
Stuart Patterson at s.patterson@shimer.edu.
Shimer’s
Own “Mini Cool Globe” Auctioned to Raise Global Warming Awareness: Get
a Free Auction Ticket!
Chicago-area Shimerians have probably already seen at least one of
the dozens of giant “Cool Globes” scattered along the lakefront and
throughout Chicago neighborhoods, each one representing an artist’s
vision of how to reduce global warning.
Shimer has been awarded one of 10-20 “Mini Cool Globes” in response to
our submission of the artistic vision “Read the Earth: Great Books and
Great Art Supporting Environmental Stewardship.” As you can at least
partially see in the photo to the left, Shimer students, faculty, and
staff have covered the oceans with quotes about the environment from
influential texts, including selections from Maria Montessori, Albert
Einstein, Pindar, Darwin, Heraclitus, Lao Tze, Aristotle, and Alice
Walker. The continents feature naturalistic images including those of
Leonardo DaVinci, Carl Linnaeus, Maria Sibylla Merian, and the Cave of
Lascaux.
Shimer’s mini-globe will be auctioned along with larger globes on
October 5th at the Auditorium Theatre, in an event hosted by
comedian/activist Al Franken. Tickets for the auction are $75.00 (you
can also bid online – for general information about the auction, please
click on this auction
link). We would like a Shimer alum to win the globe at auction, so
if you are interested in bidding, please contact either Stuart
Patterson (s.patterson@shimer.edu) or Julia Mossbridge
(j.mossbridge@shimer.edu) to receive a free ticket; first come, first
serve, but serious bidders only, please!
Marshall
Field V Donates Art Institute Memberships to Shimer Students
Marshall Field V, as part of his active involvement in arts and
arts education in Chicago, is planning to donate memberships at the Art
Institute of Chicago for students in the arts-intensive Humanities 1
course at Shimer.
The students enjoying the donated memberships will be the first
participants in the new curriculum developed through the “Great Books,
Great Art” project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
That project was moved forward by the endorsements of Carol Becker and
Margaret Olin, and it took shape in no small part due to the
enthusiastic involvement of James Elkins, all of the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago.
Stuart Patterson and Harold Stone were the two Shimer College
professors who designed the website for the
Great Books, Great Art site (link shows a
preview of the site). In an article about the donated memberships,
Stuart says, “We’re building on personal and institutional
relationships between Shimer and the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago, hoping to create curricular connections between our respective
programs. These links were forged partly by Marshall Field V as part of
the original Great Books, Great Art project, and are now being enhanced
by Field’s generous recent gift of memberships to the Museum of the Art
Institute for Shimer students directly involved in the arts intensive
courses that form the core development arena for our new site content.”
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help expand Shimer awareness by linking to our website, www.shimer.edu.
Please feel free to use the logo below, or contact our website
administrator, Zachary Hamm, at z.hamm@shimer.eduto receive the
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Your continued support and dedication to Shimer
College make a huge difference.