May 26, 2005

Four New Members Join the ShimerCollege Board of Trustees

ShimerCollege is delighted to announce that Young Kim (Class of 1973) was elected Chair of the Shimer College Board of Trustees at their March 2005 meeting. Mr. Kim is an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Williams, Bax & Ellis, P.C.  He has previously been a member of the Board of Trustees and served as Chair of the Board from 1994-1999. 

Mr. Kim is a graduate of ShimerCollege (A.B. 1973) and of Northwestern University School of Law (J.D. 1976).  His law practice specializes in the areas of corporate law, banking law and real estate matters. He has served as President of the Asian American Bar Association and on numerous other legal organizations in Illinois. He also lectures and writes frequently for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education in the areas of business law, financial institutions and real estate law.

Mr. Kim says, 'I look forward to resuming my duties as Chair of the Board of Trustees. I want to thank Roy Landstrom, who has served as Co-Chair and Chair of the Board for the past six years, for all his hard work and good efforts on behalf of the College, and especially for the leadership and stewardship that he provided during his term as Board Chair.  Roy has had an abiding interest in the College for the past thirty-five years since he was a student there, and the College has been the beneficiary of his belief in the institution and its mission.'  He continues, 'I am excited about the prospect of working with the Board, the College’s new president, and the Shimer community to fulfill the Board’s main responsibility, which is to make sure that the College is on track with regard to its educational mission.'

Christopher B. Nelson, President of St. John's College (Annapolis, Maryland) since June 1991 is beginning his first term as a Shimer College Board member at the May 2005 Board meetings. He is an alumnus of St. Johns (B.A. 1970) and a graduate of the University of Utah College of Law (J.D. 1973), where he founded and directed the University's student legal services program. Mr. Nelson practiced law in Chicago for 18 years and was chairman of his law firm when he left the practice to take his current position at St. John's Mr. Nelson is a long-time friend of the College, and was the guest speaker at October 1995 convocation.

While at St. John'sCollege, Mr. Nelson has been very active in state, regional and national programs concerning liberal education, Great Books, issues of institutional autonomy in the face government regulatory intrusion, and changes proposed in the accrediting system. He has lectured on Virgil, Plato, Homer and John Cardinal Newman.

Joni Garcia, 2000 graduate of ShimerCollege's Weekend Program (date, degree), joined the Board of Trustees in January, 2005. She is a Senior Account Executive at Sikich Communications, LLC, a marketing consulting firm in Aurora, Illinois.

Ms. Garcia brings extensive experience in strategic marketing consulting, advertising, and public relations to the Board of Trustees. She works with clients to align their corporate positioning, sales channel strategies, messaging, and targeting.  She has written several articles on the subject of website redesign, usability and accessibility.

Ms. Garcia will Chair the Marketing Committee and will work closely with the College’s Directors of Admissions and Development to coordinate and enhance the College's marketing activities and public relations efforts. She takes special interest in the College's website, in order to maximize its potential as a marketing tool.

Ms. Garcia is an active member of the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and plans to represent the College at the newly formed Waukegan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Edward J. Juracek (Class of 1970), has also joined the Shimer College Board of Trustees.  Mr. Juracek’s studies in the Natural Sciences and Chemistry at Shimer prepared him for a thirty-year career in environmentally related professions.  He most recently served as the Director of the Safety and Health Division of Safety Management Services, Inc., in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He has worked extensively in the Chicago area as an independent environmental consultant, addressing issues of hazardous and hospital waste treatment. 

Mr. Juracek founded and has served as president of several companies. These include Compliance Resources, Inc. of Chicago, an environmental and emergency evacuation planning consulting firm with clients in the oil, gas, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, and Precision Energy Systems, Inc., a firm that specialized in medical and hazardous waste disposal.

Mr. Juracek has given numerous presentations and conference courses for professional organizations on topics ranging from medical waste disposal and recycling to regulatory compliance and other safety matters.  He has served on the Illinois Governor’s Committee on Infection Waste Rules and Regulations as well as the Mayor’s Committee on Recycling for the City of Chicago.  Juracek is also a veteran who served with the US Army’s Counterintelligence Corps in Europe and Vietnam before attending ShimerCollege. Mr. Juracek has been a friend to Shimer for many years. Most recently, he organized and hosted the Mt.Carroll events of ShimerCollege’s 150th Anniversary Celebration in 2003.