Event Calendar
All events listed below are free for alumni and their guests unless otherwise noted. For info, directions or to RSVP, call the alumni office toll free at 1-877-JMU-ALUM (locally, dial 217-424-6383).

Friday, July 28
Campus - Join the Millikin CIA (Central Illinois Alumni) for bridge at the alumni and development center beginning at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $1; bring a snack to share.

Sunday, July 30
Chicago - Join Millikin alumni, friends and incoming students for the annual Chicago-area Summer Send-Off Picnic at North Shelter of Wood Dale Grove Forest Preserve from 1-3 p.m. Bring a dish to pass for this potluck picnic lunch; tableware, meat and drinks will be provided.

Sunday, July 30
St. Louis - Millikin Club of St. Louis Summer Send-Off Picnic for alumni, friends and new students, 1-3 p.m, Forest Park, meet at picnic area east of the World's Fair Pavilion (look for the Millikin banner). Bring a dish to pass for this potluck picnic lunch; tableware, meat and drinks will be provided.

Friday, Aug. 11
Chicago - Young alums: This event is for you! Come join your fellow young alums at Mad River Bar & Grille, 2909 N. Sheffield in Chicago, from 5-8 p.m. for fun, food and fellowship. Complimentary appetizers and drink specials provided. For more info, call Mandi Landacre Podeschi ‘02 toll free at 1-877-JMU-ALUM (568-3586) or send her an e-mail.

Saturday, Aug. 12
Chicago - Join our alumni and friends’ pre-race gathering before Sunday’s Chicago Distance Classic at Buca di Beppo restaurant at 6:30 p.m.. We’ll meet at 6 p.m. in the Hilton Chicago hotel lobby — or you can meet us at the restaurant — to go to dinner, dutch treat. RSVP to Mandi Landacre Podeschi ’02 at apodeschi@millikin.edu or call her toll free at 1-877-JMU-ALUM (568-2586). Locally, dial 217-424-3506.

Sunday, Aug. 13
Chicago - Millikin will hold an alumni and friends event in a tent at the Chicago Distance Classic, a half-marathon and 5K race organized by running expert John "The Penguin" Bingham '70.

Aug. 4-30 in Decatur at the Decatur Area Arts Council; closing reception Aug. 29
The art exhibit "Painter As Mentor: Lyle Salmi" will highlight the art and teachings of art professor Lyle Salmi and several alumni who are his former students. Alumni and friends are invited to a closing reception for the Decatur exhibit on Tuesday, Aug. 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. MORE

Sunday, Sept. 10
Decatur - The Millikin CIA group (Central Illinois Alumni) present the 2006 Pig Roast! Your hosts are Kathy Farleigh Gresham '70 and her husband, Jim. $10 per person minimum donation for food and soft drinks; beer available. All proceeds go to establish a Millikin scholarship for a deserving student form Central Illinois.

Friday, Sept. 29
On campus - Alumni swimmers are invited to an alumni swim meet in Griswold. The meet will start at 7:15 p.m., with warm ups beginning 30 minutes prior. Amy Nelson Snow '02 is helping organize the meet.

Friday-Sunday,
Oct. 13-15
On campus - Homecoming! Join us for some special surprises this year, including group reunions for engineering alumni, members of the undefeated '61 football team, mid-century musicians (1945-55), SAEs of the '50s and '60s, plus the annual performance of the alumni choir, and reunions of all classes ending in 1 and 6. You won't want to miss it! Click here for hotel info!

Sunday, Oct. 22
St. Louis - Millikin Club of St. Louis Trivia Contest Fundraiser, 1 p.m., Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Boulevard. Six-person teams. Cost is $25 per person and includes entry fee and hors d’oeuvres. All proceeds support the Gateway Scholarship for a deserving Millikin student from St. Louis or the Metro-east area.

May 22-30, 2007
Beijing, China - Millikin does China! Join alumni and friends for a nine-day trip to the Far East. To view a pdf with details, click here.

Nov. 1-11 , 2007
Tuscany, Italy - Join alumni and friends for a trip to this golden land. To view a pdf with more details, click here.


Hot links
Milli-Link XP is your connection to your fellow alumni. Check out our new online directory today!

FREE MU desktop wallpaper
for your computer.

Big Blue wedding album.
Were you a June bride? Tell us about it. Submit wedding photos and info for our online album by e-mail, or call toll-free to 1-877-JMU-ALUM for details. Be sure to include the date of your wedding! 

Business owners: Add your company's information to Big Blue Biz, our online directory of  alumni-owned businesses. Click here to add your info.

Shop online: 
Blue Connection art gallery.
New! Purchase art from the gallery online. Also, the gallery is currently accepting submissions.

First Step Records
Millikin bookstore 
First Step Publishing

Athletics website

Learn about Millikin history through Staley Library's archives website. The archivists have thousands of unmarked photos in their files needing to be identified. Click here to view the latest photos and see if you can help.
Identified photos will be replaced with others that need identiifed, so be sure to check back often.

All alumni actors, artists, writers, singers, dancers and musicians: Send us details of upcoming engagements or releases for the Millikin website. Drop us an e-mail, or fax your performance schedule to 217-424-3755. Click here to see where your fellow alums are appearing. (Be sure to keep us updated!)

THE SENATOR TOOK CHARGE IN THE CLASSROOM.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) paid a visit to the campus in early July, wanting to share a few facts and gather some information about the national nursing shortage. During his visit to Leighty-Tabor Science Center, the senator moderated a panel of nursing professionals and students as they discussed tangible ways to relieve the crisis. (Above from left at the event are Megan Durbin, a Millikin nursing senior from Cerro Gordo, Ill.; Sen. Durbin; Kathy Booker, Dean of the Center for Professional Studies which includes the School of Nursing; and May 2006 nursing graduate Amanda Jordan. Not pictured are panel members and nurse administrators Linda Fahey, Decatur Memorial Hospital, and Theresa Rutherford, St. Mary's Hospital.)

THEY'LL LEARN THE BUSINESS
OF TEACHING BUSINESS.
In August, area high school teachers will come to the Millikin campus to learn how to teach entrepreneurship skills to their students. MORE

KIRKLAND THROWS A PARTY.
Kirkland Fine Arts Center will host a kick-off party from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, July 28, to open ticket sales for the facility's 2006-2007 performing arts season. The party, which is free and open to public, will be held on the front patio at Kirkland. MORE

BIG BLUE ADDS SOME COACHING STAFF.
The Big Blue announced several changes to the coaching staff last week, as a long-time coach stepped down from coaching to lead a growing academic department. MORE

DENALI WAS DELIGHTFUL,
AND SEWARD WAS SENSATIONAL.
A group of nine Millikin University students got a chance to experience ecology first hand with a travel course to Alaska led by Dr. Judy Parrish, associate profesor of biology. MORE

IT'S LIKE A LITTLE
CELEBRATION IN YOUR MAILBOX.
Watch your mailboxes for the summer issue of the award-winning Millikin Quarterly magazine, currently being mailed to alumni and friends. Note the emphasis? Earlier this month, the magazine received a national Apex award of excellence in the four-color magazine category.


FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
Did you have a favorite hangout where you chowed down as a student? Or a favorite food memory? For an upcoming feature on student dining habits, the editors of Millikin Quarterly magazine are asking alumni to share their experiences with eating establishments both on and off campus. Maybe you stood in line for the caf's chicken strips on Wednesdays or maybe your mouth still starts watering whenever you think about LSB's nacho platter. Let us know. Send an e-mail, or call toll free to 1-877-JMU-ALUM.

I LOVE THE '80S -- A TRIVIA FLASHBACK.
Life is measured in small moments, memories that you carry with you and flip through every once in a while. Flip through your Millikin memory book and see if you can remember the answer to this month's '80s trivia quiz (For those of you too young to remember this Millikin memory, we'll take your best guess!)

When Shilling Hall (then known as Liberal Arts Hall) was remodeled beginning in summer 1986, what major structural change was made to the building?
A. The three sections of the building, formerly divided, were connected on the second and third floors
B. An elevator was added
C. A new central air-conditioning unit; first one ever for the building, was added
D. All of the above

Send your guess to alumnews@millikin.edu, and be sure to include your name and address. Five winners will be selected from a random drawing of all who respond correctly, and each will receive a prize! 

Last month's winners --

Mark Massey '05
Lisa Vost Bosworth '01
Emilie VanHook Beagle '05
Stephen Bryson '89
Jeanette Skewes '05

Each won an MU cling to proudly display in their homes and/or on their vehicles for correctly guessing that school dances were held on the rooftop of Shilling Hall in years past.