The original farmhouse that is Cedar Knoll Inn today was constructed in the late 1800's as a tenant farm house for the 115 acre plantation named "Marshland on the Potomac".   Today, the dining experience at Cedar Knoll Inn is a perfect mix of history, romace and peacefulness.   We also enjoyed the tranquil view of the Potomac River during the social hour.   You can see some of the original log construction in some of the pictures.

The theme for this year's award ceremony turned out to be "Spirit."   One of the scholarship awardees said "the clinching factor for him in deciding to attend the U of I was all of the orange and the school spirit he saw displayed at a basketball game he attended."   I wonder if he was impressed when the alums attending this reception suddenly stood up and sang "Hail to the Orange?"   The certificates provided by Sue Pruitt (Alumni Association) were in a very bright and eye catching orange and blue.   The room in the historic building which houses the Cedar Knoll Inn Restaurant had U of I banners hung from the rafters with care, the tables were decorated in orange and blue, and student packages included a couple of U of I decals.

The value of each scholarship this year was worth $1350 which is up from $1200.   Special thanks go to every club member for contributing through their membership fees and other donations.

Tom Burket presents scholarship to
Paul Camann.   He plans to major
in Engineering-Materials Science and
Engineering and is from
Maurice J. McDonough High School
in Waldorf, MD

Basil Tripsas presents scholarship to
Emily "Chuckie" Darchuk.   She
plans to major in ACES-Dietetics
and is from Urbana High School in
Monrovia, MD

Susan Miller a 2000 scholarship winner who
just graduated from U of I in History presents
scholarship to Yuechuan Ding.   She plans
to major in LAS-Chemistry/Pre-pharmacy and
is from Richard Montgomery High School in
Germantown, MD

David Schmitz a 2002 scholarship winner presents
scholarship to Jeffrey Fu.   He plans to major
in Business-Accountancy and is from Winston Churchill
High School in Potomac, MD

Jan Mulvaney presents scholarship to
Nathan Glenn.   He plans to major in
Engineering-Computer Engineering
and is from Broad Run High School
in Ashburn, VA

Danielle Buente presents scholarship to
Christopher Leon.   He plans to major in
LAS - undecided and is from
Walt Whitman High School
in Bethesda, MD

James Lien a 2003 scholarship winner presents scholarship
to Joung Park who plans to major in FAA-Architecture.
She is from River Hill High School in Woodstock, MD

Phyllis Gron presents scholarship to
Chen Xu.   He plans to major in
Engineering-Computer Engineering
and is from Thomas S. Wootton
High School in Rockville, MD

The University of Illinois Alumni Club of Greater Washington DC area held its annual meeting and awards luncheon at Mount Vernon Inn on the estate of George Washington.

Jan Mulvaney, who recently completed seven years on the Board of Directors of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras, arranged for a five-piece string ensemble to accompany the social hour playing classical music.   The ensemble ended with a lively rendition of "We're Loyal to You, Illinois" and "Hail to the Orange."   The audience joined in by singing along.

Owen Lee, the club president, started the meeting by introducing all 49 special guests.   Three distinguished guests from Champaign, Tony Tangora, assistant director for club program from the Alumni Association, Dean Robert Easter from the college of ACES, and David Bruns, assistant director for development from the college of LAS were introduced.   Three of the past "Alumni of Year" awardees, Robert Doubek, Ambassador John McDonald, and Joe Urschel were in attendance.   Then the waiters dressed in their colonial garb served our filet mingon, chicken, or salmon lunches.

The award ceremony began with Owen announcing that every member of our club were award winners.   The Alumni Association honored our club with an "Outstanding Club Award" at the Leadership Conference last fall.   We won because of everyones outstanding support of club activities.   In the last two years, total attendance at the over 150 events was over 2500 alums with families and friends.   Generous donations have allowed the club to award 18 scholarships in the 2 years.   Appreciation awards were presented to the following board members:

Phyllis Gron, Director of the Scholarship Program, sent applications to over 200 (179 UIUC and 28 UIC) students.   Phyllis Bruns, Newsletter Editor, was recognized for her new ideas for newsletter articles.   Danielle Buente, Coordinator for Sport Viewings, was recognized for hosting 20 viewing parties most notable was the Duke game that was nationally televised and started at 10 PM while she was on spring break in St. Louis - 31 attended.   Ed Kim was recognized for leading a financial audit.   Jennifer Gore, Director for Recruiting, assisted Tammie Bouseman from the office of admissions with numerous college fairs, a prospective student reception, and an admitted student reception.   Merle Mulvaney (not pictured because he was the photographer) was recognized for constantly helping the president with all phases of club activities.

Owen introduced Robert Easter, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, who talked about the College of ACES and introduced our "Alumni of Year" honoree, Dr. John Dobrinsky.   Dean Easter was one of John's first professors and advisors when John was at Illinois earning his Masters Degree.   Dobrinsky’s breakthrough research investigating embryonic development and germplasm conservation in livestock led to his developing the technology for the indefinite preservation of gametes and embryos that can be used to preserve valuable genetics of animals.   This technology enables the regeneration and subsequent re-population of valuable genetics while ensuring against devastating loss or possible extinction.   The payoff comes in situations like the recent Hoof and Mouth Disease outbreak in Europe and the BSE (Mad cow) outbreaks in North America, where entire herds and breeds of cattle and swine were or could be exterminated.

A short business meeting followed these ceremonies.   Last years minutes were presented for review, after a short time, a motion was made by Merle Mulvaney to approve them.   It was seconded by Basil Tripsas, and passed unanamously by voice vote.   A copy of the club's by-laws were presented with a proposed new section which would require a financial audit every two years.   After a short review period, a motion was made by John Dobrinsky and seconded by Paul Sisco to accept the change.   It passed by unanamous voice vote.   A slate of officers proposed by the board were presented - Mary Ellen Elliott for president, Tony Wang for vice-president, Lynda McCann-Gillman for secretary, and Ed Kim for treasurer.   Owen asked for nominations from the floor, and hearing none, asked for a motion to accept the slate.   Basil Tripsas made the motion and it was seconded by Pete Sheridan.   It passed by unanimous voice vote.   The new president took over, presented Owen with a watch, a pen, and a license plate holder.   She adjourned the meeting at about 3:30 PM.   We proceeded on to the mansion grounds for several photo ops!

Many Washington DC Alumni have assisted the Office of Admissions by volunteering to represent Illinois in several local spring college fairs. Ben Wang, Mary Schackelford, Gracelia Mata, and Jeff Flank attended the Catholic College Fair on March 29th; Jennifer Gore, along with Tammie Bouseman from the Office of Admissions, attended the Montgomery County College Fair on April 20th and 21st; and Danielle Buente and Jennifer Gore attended the Independent Schools College Fair on April 28th. We hope that the volunteers from our Alumni Club have helped U of I by recruiting more outstanding students from the Washington DC area.

On November 23rd, Jennifer Gore (left), our Club's Director of Recruiting, and Phyllis Bruns, Newsletter Editor, greet and register prospective students.

Tammie Bouseman (standing at extreme left) from the U of I Office of Admissions in Champaign and 7 current students (standing in front) answer questions about life on campus from many prospective students and their parents.   Three of the current students were club scholarship recipients.

Eleven clubs were presented 110% awards for specific aspects of their programs.   These winners are pictured below.
In the afternoon, the Campus Alumni Advisory Board presented the results of a recent survey.   Then four round table sessions were held.   I chose to attend the one on "Electronic Communications".   Susan and Wendy did a great job of leading the discussion.   The discussion on how to handle email addesses was very helpful.

When the "work" ended we relaxed at Legends, watched the Homecoming Parade, cheered at the Pep Rally, and saw the soccer team win a game over Northwestern to clinch second place in the Big Ten Conference.

On Saturday morning, we congregated at Denis and Denruth's motor home to tailgate before watching our football team play Minnesota.   After the game, we met at Temple Boyne Buell Hall to congratulate the students that received club scholarships.   Saturday evening, the nationally ranked volleyball team challenged Indiana at Huff Gym.   We won the match by winning 3 of the four games.

On Sunday afternoon, the soccer team won a game from Wis-Green Bay, which ended homecoming weekend for me.
GREAT CONFERENCE!!

The Illini won their opening game 33-26 over Boston College before losing their next two games.   It was a GREAT year with lots of fun and socializing.

When we attended Crossfire in January, we could not get a ticket for everyone that signed up.   Therefore, we attended a second Crossfire show LIVE from the Campus of George Washington University.   Each show was unique and exciting!   January's show was on the night of the State of the Union message, and we had the pleasure of watching all four hosts perform.   This show had a delayed start because Tony Blair was finishing a televised speech on Capitol Hill.   The picture below shows Abbi, the shows director, preparing the audience to vote on their keypads, to avoid the overhead camera during commercials, etc.   And on this evening, she had to really work some magic to fit a 30 minute show into about 20 minutes.   Our hosts were Robert Novak, U of I alum and 1985 club "Alumni of Year" award winner, and Paul Begala.   Crossfire's guest was Lawrence Eagleburger, Former Secretary of State.

The show was centered around the following topics:
July 17th NEWS HEADLINES:
* Another purported Saddam Hussein tape aired
* Yard dug up for Hoffa evidence produces nothing
* 'Six Feet', 'West Wing' dominate Emmy nominations

July 17th POLITICAL HEADLINES:
* Blair to discuss intelligence claims with Bush
* Gephardt, Kucinich apologize to NAACP
* Senator introduces Food Responsibility Act

In the Crossfire… British Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses a joint session of Congress today, while controversy continues to swirl around the intelligence used by the Bush administration to build the case against Saddam Hussein. Could Blair's political future be on the line? Will he continue to stand behind the claim that Iraq was trying to gain uranium from Africa? Will Bush and Blair pay a price if weapons of mass destruction are not discovered in Iraq? Are the continuing casualties in Iraq turning public opinion against the peacekeeping effort? We ask a former secretary of state for his assessment of the situation.

Eight Washington, D.C., area high school seniors were honored May 21st at a reception at the Fort Myers Officer's Club which was hosted by Basil Tripsas and Phyllis Gron.   Basil makes all of the arrangements for the reception, and Phyllis sends applications to all accepted students, coordinates the reading of applications, and leads the selection committee.   The winning students are recipients of a $1,200 scholarship awarded by the D.C. Alumni Club to be used for their first year of study at the University of Illinois.

Four of the eight recipients are pictured here.
The scholarship winners in alphabetical order are:
  1)   Janis Dingels, Sherood High School, Olney, MD, LAS-Chemistry;
  2)   Abhay Jain, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax. VA, Engineering;
  3)   John Kim, James W. Robinson High School, Burke, VA, LAS-Political Science/ Pre-Law;
  4)   Jeanette Lee, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, MD, LAS-Pre-Journalism;
  5)   James Lien, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, MD, Commerce and Business Administration-Accountancy;
  6)   Megan Maguire, Academy of the Holy Cross, Bethesda, MD, LAS-General Curriculum;
  7)   Christopher Nithianandam, Wilde Lake High School, Ellicott City, MD, LAS- Psychology; and
  8)   Jiang Yu, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, MD, Engineering.

The University of Illinois Alumni Club of Greater Washington DC area held its annual meeting and awards luncheon at Tragara Ristorante.   Owen Lee, the club president, chaired the meeting.   After all 42 special guests were introduced, we enjoyed a delicious lunch.   The award ceremony began with Owen extending his appreciation for everyones outstanding support of the club's scholarship program.   This support allowed us to win the "Best Club Scholarship Program" award that the Alumni Association gave our club at last fall's leadership conference.

Phyllis Bruns, newsletter editor, was recognized for all the work she does in "getting the news" and reporting it VERY accurately in our semi-annual newsletter.   Danielle Buente, coordinator for sport viewing parties, was recognized for selecting good games, advertising, and hosting 21 football and basketball parties.

Last fall the club had a picnic at past president TJ Atkinson's lovely country estate.   The picnic was attended by Joel Weisman, Loren Taylor, Loren's wife Susan, Loren's son, 5 of our club's past presidents, and about 50 club members.   A framed picture of this historic event was presented to past presidents Aran Hegarty and John Ellison.

Joe Urschel was presented with the "Illini of the Year" award.   Seven past recipients of the award helped us welcome Mr. Urschel into this elite group of Illinois alumni.   Pictured in the front row (left to right) Ambassador John McDonald (2001), Robert Doubek (1996), Fran Redmon (1997), and Godfrey Sperling (1986).   Standing in the back (left to right) Hal Bruno (1989), Bobby Mitchell (1987), Gant Redmon (1997), and Joe Urschel (2002).

Joe Urschel is senior vice president and executive director of the Newseum, the world’s first interactive museum of news, which is in the process of relocating to a larger facility at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, NW, in Washington DC.   In its nearly five years of operation, the Newseum in Arlington, VA, welcomed more than 2.25 million visitors.   Currently, Mr. Urschel is directing the Newseum staff in the development of content for the new Newseum, which is scheduled to open, in 2006.

Urschel joined the Newseum from USA TODAY, where he held several key roles during his 14-year career at the nation’s largest circulation newspaper.   Those included managing editor/Life section, managing editor/special projects and senior writer.   He was a member of the team that developed “USA TODAY on TV,” a nationally syndicated daily news program, and worked as its supervising producer during its year-and-a-half-long run.   In addition, he wrote a twice-weekly column for the editorial pages.   He began his journalism career at Star-Tribune publications, a group of newspapers in suburban Chicago where he worked as a reporter and editor.   He later worked for the Detroit Free Press as a reporter, critic, associate magazine editor and assistant Sunday editor.

His journalism honors include awards from the National Association of Newspaper Columnists and the National Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.   He won an Emmy Award for a news documentary on campus crime that he wrote and co-produced.   He was graduated from the University of Illinois in 1974.   His wife, Donna, is a 1973 University of Illinois graduate and former reporter for the Detroit Free Press.

Karen Glick, Senior Regional Director of Development for the U of I Foundation, gave us a status on Foundation activities and some of the latest on campus developments.   As usual there were questions on how our sports teams were fairing, and she reminded us that the men's tennis team was number 1.

A short business meeting followed these ceremonies.   A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve last years minutes.   A motion was made to extend the current officers and board members for a second term.   The motion was seconded and passed by unanimous voice vote.   Upcoming events were reviewed.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:10pm.

Rain, rain, rain!   This spring has been the rainiest in years - not flood type rains - just showers almost every day.   Several people cancelled at the last minute, but 4 people had a very enjoyable walk with a lot of wonderful scenery.   See the photo gallery for pictures.

* The Northern Virginia College Fair was on April 9th.   Ed Kim and Jennifer Gore attended.   It was held at George Mason University in Fairfax.

* The Montgomery County College Fair had three sessions from April 22nd-23rd.   Tammie Bouseman came in from Champaign for this one.   Jennifer assisted with one of the sessions and Ben Wang with another.   It was held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.

* The DC Independt Schools College Fair was on April 30th.   Danielle and Jennifer attended.   It was at the Stone Ridge School of Sacred Heart in Bethesda.

The restaurant is on the Washingtonian's 100 Best list, in the moderate range.   The food was great and everyone had a good time.

The evening was filled with laughter and clean humor that was enjoyed by all.   David Werner, a lawyer and former member of the Capitol Steps, entertained the group with political satire, including familiar melodies with new words.   In addition to performing at corporate and government agency functions, David Werner has appeared on the CBS Evening New with Dan Rather and NBC’s Today.   Jeff Caldwell kept us laughing with his quick wit, good taste and clever material that enabled him to turn an undistinguished engineering job into a successful career as a comedian. Jeff has appeared on A&E’s Evening at the Improv and ESPN’s The Lighter Side of Sports. Jeff is currently working on a sitcom that will probably air during the fall of 2003. Brett Leake found the humor in everyday difficulties using a style that is both clean and funny. Brett performs nationally and has opened for Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. In addition to five performances on the Tonight Show, Brett has appeared on Entertainment Tonight, The American Comedy Awards, An Evening at the Improv, and the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

During Michael Jordan's final year of playing pro-basketball, the Washington Wizards offered our club half-priced seats to see the Wizards play the Bulls on March 1st.   In just a few days club members sent in orders for 65 tickets.   Even in this sold out environment almost all of our members were seated in the same section.   Following the game, one of our members said "The game was great -- and the process for getting the tickets was great -- we had 6 people go -- and Mike, the contact at MCI Center was wonderful --would do it again in a minute!"

On the same night as the State of the Union Address, 65 members of the DC Alumni Club attended the live TV show "Crossfire".   All four of the hosts, James Carville, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, and Robert Novak participated in the show.   Robert Novak is a U of I Alum and our club's 1986 "Illini of the Year" award winner.   Bob made our group feel welcome, and his performance during the evening made Illini proud.   After the hosts debated topics such as potential war with Iraq, the economy, and budget deficits, they took questions from the audience.   Cathy Bischoff, a DC Alumni Club member, asked James Carville "How do you define 'sufficient means' when it concerns us going to war with Iraq?   Do we wait for Iraq to bomb Israel?   What should the body count stand at before we get involved?"   Their answers varied depending on their point of view.

In 1752, a young George Washington joined the already old Freemason organization.   In the Enlightenment period in the 17th century, gentlemen interested in Greek and Roman architecture sought membership in the fraternity for a deeper understanding of architecture and its proportions.

A ground-breaking ceremony for this memorial to George Washington was held Nov. 1, 1923 with President Coolidge and former President and fellow mason William Howard Taft in attendance.   During the bicentennial year of Washington's birth, President Herbert Hoover helped dedicate the memorial on May 12, 1932.

We stopped on each level to look at the exhibits and listen to a short recorded message.   When we got to the top, there was an awesome view of the area.   Most of us did not spend too much time looking north though, because the wind at that elevation made it a bit brisk!   We could see Theismann's restaurant just across the street, which made giving driving directions to lunch very easy.

On November 24th, Tammie Bouseman (on left) from the U of I Office of Admissions and records in Champaign and Jennifer Gore (on right), the U of I's DC Alumni Club's recruiting specialist, hosted the reception.   At least, nineteen students and their parents attended.   Tammie made some general comments about the University.   Owen Lee, the DC Alumni Club President, explained the activities of the alumni club, emphasizing the availability of several scholarships to accepted students.   Then, a panel of 4 current students answered questions from the prospective students.   Tony Wang, Dave Glogowski, and Ben Wang also from the alumni club attended to answer questions during the social hour.

Ninety-five alumni/family/friends attended the football game between the Fighting Illini and the Penn State Nitany Lions at Penn State University in State College, PA on November 2nd.   Seventy-seven chose two luxury buses laden with refreshments for the 4 1/2 hour trip; Eighteen provided their own transportation.   All the bus-riders started arriving in the parking lot of the Mid-Pike Plaza Shopping Center, near Rockville, MD at 9AM, loaded the buses at 9:45, and pulled out at 10 AM.

We stopped at the Gatehouse, in Breezewood, PA for a 30 minute "stretch break" and were parked at the stadium by 2:20 PM.   As we arrived, we watched the Illini Marching Band parade down the street and into the stadium.   We were seated just behind them during the game, which was an added treat.   Although the Illini lost the game, they showed some spark in the last nine minutes of the game that made the score respectable.   The buses departed Beaver Stadium at 7:20 PM, one-hour following the end of the game, stopped for dinner in Breezewood, PA and arrived back at Mid-Pike Plaza at approximately 12:30 AM, Sunday morning.   The weather was clear, breezy, and cold - (especially after sunset) - but it was bearable.   The fall foliage was beautiful, the refreshments plentiful, and the trip relaxing and uneventful.   Attendees spanned classes from 1953 to 2002, all from the UIUC campus.   One was a member from Charlottsville, VA, two from Dixon, IL, nine from the Baltimore area, and the remainder from the immediate DC area (DC, MD & VA).   Several members brought their children.   Everyone appeared to have a good time.   Coincidentally, neither of the bus drivers were from Illinois, but one of them, Mac MaCalister has both a son and daughter who are UIUC graduates.   The son is an architecht near Chicago, and the daughter a civil engineer living in Ashburn, VA.

The first speakers, Kathy and Teri, talked about how to use a diverse (mainly younger and older) set of volunteers to work together for a successful organization.   Then Susan explained what's new with the AA web site including putting the "Speakers Guide" and the "Leadership Guide" on the web.   Having these guides on the web will give us quicker access to updates and save printing costs.
We also found out that we could use an "Online Directory" to find out where fellow alums are living and even how to send them an Epostcard.

After a very nice lunch and entertainment by the "Other Guys" (a part of the Glee Club), awards were presented.   The best two small clubs were LaSalle County Illini Club, IL and Illinois Alumni Club of Greater Naples, FL.   The best large clubs were Champaign County Illini Club, IL and the Rockford Illini Club, IL.   The Rockford club can be seen here receiving their award with Loren Taylor, President and CEO of the Alumni Association, holding the left end of the banner and with Barbara Hundley, the Associate Chancellor and Vice President of the University for Alumni Relations, holding the right end of the banner.   Kelly Belford, head of the awards committee, from the New York Club is presenting the award.

Twelve clubs were also given awards for specific aspects of their programs.   These clubs are pictured below.   Our club won an award for "Best Club Scholarship Program".   With the assistance of the AA, we awarded eight $1,200 scholarships.

We toured the new Spurlock Museum, Relaxed at Legends, watched the Homecoming Parade, cheered at the Pep Rally, and on Saturday had a tailgate party before watching the football team play well and win over Indiana 45-14.

The Sunday evening Dinner Group met Sept 8th at Formosa Cafe in Crystal City.   Formosa Cafe serves Szechuan Chinese cuisine and is on the Washingtonian's cheap eats List.   Mary Ellen, our dinner group leader, met Richard, Cindy, Valerie, Kathleen, and Owen for a very enjoyable dinner.

On July 25th, the University of Illinois had a presence at the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference college fair.   The students at the conference were chosen by their respective high schools to be the "outstanding leaders" at the schools.   The eye catching Illinois booth had many visitors.   Students from IL, TN, KY, AR, WA, HI, Taiwan, .... stopped by to pick up brochures, and ask questions.   Questions were like "Does U of I have a good international business curriculum?", "Does U of I have an Airforce ROTC?", and "Can I study Drama at the U of I?"   It was quite rewarding visiting with these students because many of the students were very familiar with the
U of I.   Some approached trying to do Illini cheers, and went away correctly doing
I-L-L   I-N-I.   The picture below shows some of these students in the orange shirts
- THEY LOOK LIKE ILLINI ALREADY!!

The Sunday evening Dinner Group met June 9th at Old Europe in Georgetown.   Old Europe serves German cuisine and is on the Washingtonian's 100 Best List (moderate category).   This is the second time we ate at this restaurant, and everyone seemed to enjoy his or her dish.

On June 1, 2002, Five DC Club members walked/ran for the cure of breast cancer.   Vice-president Mary Ellen Elliott has been the leader of this group for several years.

Every club member should feel proud because the number of scholarships awarded this year was eight.   Never before have we awarded more than five.   Special thanks go to every club member for contributing through their membership fees and other donations.

Three outstanding high school students from Maryland and five from Virginia schools received these scholarships during a reception at the Fort Myers Officer's Club on May 22nd.   Two of the awardees were not able to attend.   Pictured on the left is David Schmitz from James Madison High School, Vienna, VA and will be in Engineering, majoring in Computer Science.   Next to David is Vinayak Sathyamoorthy from Thomas S. Wootton High School, Rockville, MD and will be in Engineering, studying Electrical Engineering.   Just to the left of the "Block I" is Allan Rudwick from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Falls Church, VA and will be in Engineering, majoring in Electrical Engineering.   Seated in the center is Joshua George from Herndon High School, Herndon, VA and will be in LAS majoring in Prejournalism.   Paula Faherty is from Lake Braddock High School, Springfield, VA and will be in Applied Life Sciences, studying Kinesiology.   On the far right is Jonathan Yeo from Thomas S. Wooten High School, Rockville, MD and will be in Engineering, studying Civil Engineering.

One of the scholarships was awarded in memory of Dr. Paul Q. Peterson who was the founding Dean of the college of Public Health and a great supporter of the club's scholarship program.   The recipient of that scholarship was Joshua George who is seated in the center.   Seated on the left is Mrs. Mildred Peterson (Paul's widow).   Seated on the right is Penny Peterson (Paul's neice).   Standing are the parents of Joshua.

Claire Gron (on the left in the picture to the right), a 1997 scholarship recipient and a 2001 University of Illinois graduate, presents a scholarship to Paula Faherty.

Phyllis Gron (on the right in the picture to the left) is the chairman of our scholarship committee who organizes all the applications, arranges for readers, and prepares the program for the reception.   Phyllis presents Jonathan Yeo with his scholarship.

The University of Illinois Alumni Club of greater Washington DC area held its annual meeting and awards luncheon at the Phillips Flagship Restaurant.   Aran Hegarty, the club president, chaired the meeting.  

The meetings highlight, was the presentation of the "Illini of the Year" award to Ambassador John W. McDonald.   Pictured is Aran (on the right) presenting the award to Ambassador McDonald (on the left).
During his acceptance speech, he explained how his letter in fencing from the U of I was invaluable in his diplomatic career!

Ambassador McDonald holds both a B.A. and a J.D. degree from the University of Illinois and graduated from the National War College in 1967.   He is Chairman and co-founder of the institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, an agency which focuses on national and inter-national conflicts.   He has built an outstanding record of achievement as a lawyer, diplomat, former international civil servant, development expert, and peacebuilder concerned about world social, economic, and ethnic problems.   He spent twenty years of his career in Western Europe and the Middle East and worked for sixteen years with the United Nations on economic and social affairs.   In 1992, he was named Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.
- In 1983 joined the State Department’s Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs as its Coordinator for Multilateral Affairs.
- 1978-1983 - Carried out a wide variety of assignments for the State Department in the area of multilateral diplomacy.
- 1974-1978 - Deputy Director General of the International Labor Organization.
- 1947-1974 - Held various State Department assignments in Berlin, Frankfort, Bonn, Paris, Washington, Ankara, Tehran, Karachi, and Cairo.   He was appointed Ambassador twice by President Carter and twice by President Reagan to represent the United States at various UN World Conferences.

Aran Hegerty presented other awards to:

1. Phyllis Gron (pictured to the left below) for all the work necessary to award eight (8) scholarships.
   
2. Mildred Peterson (pictured in the center below) for her long time support of the club.
   
3. John Ellison (pictured to the right below) for being treasurer plus general support to our club.
   
4. Geoff Manikin for coordinating sports viewing parties and assembling
   the football and softball teams.
   
5. Lynda McCann Gillman for putting together the award winning report.
   
6. Mary Ellen Lee-Elliott for work as vice-president.
   

Karen Glick talked about the latest happenings on campus.
  * The chief issue is still in committee!
  * A new alumni center has been approved, will open in 2005, and be located in the Hallene Gateway near Lincoln Avenue and Green Street.
  * The Spurlock World Fair Teaching Museum will open this fall.

These ceremonies were followed by a short business meeting.   We approved last years minutes, and elected officers for the upcoming year.   The meeting closed with the incoming president, Owen Lee, asking the current vice-president Mary Ellen Lee-Elliott to help him present a gift to the outgoing president, Aran Hegerty.