Alumni Blog

Wilbur & Ardelia Williams Share Graduation Spotlight

By Alan Miller

The 1,700 students who received Indiana Wesleyan University diplomas April 28 had to share the spotlight with two long-time IWU professors, Dr. Wilbur Glenn Williams and Professor Ardelia Williams.

Wilbur Williams marked his 40th year as an IWU professor by speaking at three graduation ceremonies. It was the first time in at least 50 years that IWU has asked one of its own professors to speak at graduation.

During the morning graduation, Ardelia Williams received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. She retired in 2002 after 35 years as the coordinator of the IWU Art Department and now is an emeritus professor.

The 77-year-old Wilbur Williams, an Associate Professor of Biblical Literature and Archaeology, still teaches full-time at IWU. He has been named IWU’s Professor of the Year or Professor of Excellence a record 10 times

When Ardelia Williams began teaching at IWU, she was the only art teacher and there was one art student. When she retired, there were six full-time faculty members and more than 100 art majors.

Wilbur and Ardelia Williams both received their undergraduate degrees from IWU in 1951 and both returned to join the faculty in 1967.

The couple taught for many years for $1 a year, so that their regular salaries could be used to pay for Williams Prayer Chapel. The small Gothic-style chapel in the center of campus opened in August 2001.

Of the 1,700 students who received diplomas Saturday, 440 of them earned degrees through traditional programs on IWU’s main campus in Marion. The remaining graduates earned degrees through adult education programs.

IWU also has multiple graduations in August and December.

Dr. Earle Wilson, General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church, spoke at a baccalaureate service April 27. Dr. Wilson had a daughter and a granddaughter who received degrees the following day.

Alan Miller is the University Relations Director at Indiana Wesleyan University.

‘Blood Diamonds’ Raging at the Center of Cosmic Conflict

In a society obsessed with bling-bling, humans are greatest treasure

LONGWOOD, FL (PRWEB) April 26, 2007 — Embark on a mystical journey through dreams and visions in Linda Cruz’s All His Jewels: From Glory to Glory (paperback, 978-1-60266-244-5; hardcover, 978-1-60266-245-2). In a bling-bling society, this book reminds us that human beings are the greatest treasures on earth and are the true "blood diamonds" that have been purchased by Christ. As the book traces jewels from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, readers will learn the secret of the jewels, their eternal destiny, and how to prepare for the apocalypse and the greatest explosion of glory ever.

Says Cruz, "The mission of the book is to awaken humanity to a spiritual awareness of God’s loving view of us as His precious jewels created to manifest His glory. My hope is that readers will understand that God has a beautiful purpose and destiny for every person because each is created in the image of God with the capacity to reflect great wisdom and beauty."

Cruz takes a fresh perspective on the church and views it as being adorned with the jewels originally worn by the devil. She outlines from Scripture what she sees as the evidence for this view. She concludes that this is why the church has to war with him. The revelation of this knowledge, received by Cruz after many hours of praying, researching, and studying this topic, will bring clarity and understanding of God’s love extended to humanity throughout the ages.

Ordained by Vineyard Christian Fellowship and Foursquare Gospel Church, Linda Cruz has more than 25 years’ experience as a pastor and church planter. She has organized and spoken at various retreats and conferences. Her degrees include a BA in English from Indiana Wesleyan University and an M.Div. from Regent University.

Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world’s largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,200 titles published to date. Retailers may order All His Jewels through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors.

IWU breaks with tradition to feature prof at graduation

Marion Chronicle Tribune – Marion,IN,USA

Wilbur Glenn Williams has taught about 14500 students during his 40 years as a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. Saturday, he’ll have the chance to …

SOURCE: http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/NEWS01/704250338/1002

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2618924n

Contact information:

David McDivitt

Oak Hill High School

Social Studies Department

Oak Hill Football Defensive Coordinator

Contact Sharon Smith, for Susan Foellinger, Real Estate Links,
Maverick Public Relations, 317-506-7982 or ssmith@maverickpublicrelations.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Foellinger is a Broker Associate and REALTOR® with Real Estate Links in Carmel, Indiana. She is a member of the Metro Indianapolis Board of Realtors (MIBOR), Indiana Association of Realtors (IAR), National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Real Estate Buyer’s Agency Council (REBAC), Council of Residential Specialists (CRS). A resident of Fishers, Foellinger is also an active member in the Fishers Chamber of Commerce, Noblesville Chamber of Commerce and Carmel Chamber of Commerce and serves on Hamilton County’s Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity, Youth as Resources, Special Olympics and Meals on Wheels. Foellinger can be reached at Real Estate Links at 317-805-HOME (7360).

Shipman-Reed

Marion Chronicle-Tribune

http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/LIFESTYLE10/703110328/1002/NEWS01

Press Releases

Mary Schoeler named Assistant vice chancellor for instruction and information technology and chief information officer

SUPERIOR – Mary Schoeler, a veteran of providing information technology for higher education, has been named Assistant Vice Chancellor for Instruction and Information Technology and Chief Information Officer by the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Schoeler begins her new job April 1. She will be responsible for leadership and development of campus information technology.

Schoeler comes to UW-Superior from her position of Chief Technology Officer at the State University of New York-Oswego. Before that she served as Manager of User Support for Indiana University-Purdue in Fort Wayne

Schoeler has a master’s degree in Professional Communication Studies from Purdue University in Fort Wayne and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

UW-Superior is Wisconsin‘s Leading Public Liberal Arts College, preparing students for lifelong learning and offering solid career preparation. A member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, UW-Superior offers more than 30 undergraduate academic programs as well as graduate, continuing education and distance learning programs.

SOURCE: http://www.businessnorth.com/pr.asp?RID=2203

From the Sioux City Journal – http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/03/13/sports/naia/6250e3634bfb86758625729d001113e7.txt

Red-hot Wildcats dominate Cedarville, 93-56
By Barry Poe Journal sports writer

Considering the circumstances, top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan had the most dominating performance of the 2007 NAIA Division II women’s basketball tournament Monday night, rolling to a 93-56 victory over Cedarville in the first of two semifinals at the Tyson Events Center.

Seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were playing the fifth-ranked team in the country, a team that was playing in its third final four in four seasons, the unbeaten Wildcats came out smoking.

Indiana Wesleyan, running its record to 37-0, shot a mind-boggling 75 percent from the field in the first half. By the time six minutes had elapsed, the Wildcats had an 18-4 lead and, for all intents and purposes, the game in hand.

Sarah McGill, one of four senior starters, fired in 31 points to complement All-American Liz Howerth, who had 15 points. Lisa Thompson, a 6-1 junior, nearly doubled her season average with 12 points.

Indiana Wesleyan, which plays second-ranked College of the Ozarks (Mo.) in tonight’s 6:30 championship game, tied Claflin for the most consecutive victories in a season by an NAIA Division II school.

“They’ve been shooting for this for a long time and we felt the first five minutes of the game were going to be real important,” said Indiana Wesleyan Coach Steve Brooks. “We needed to come out and compete, first and foremost on the defensive end, and try to limit them.

“Tonight, our shots were falling and I have no answer for that. I thought this would go down to the wire like our other games with them have.”

Cedarville’s Brittany Smart, arguably the best player ever in this tournament, finished with 30 points in the final game of a decorated collegiate career. However, the tournament’s all-time leading scorer and the top scorer in NAIA Division II history was all the offense the Yellow Jackets had to offer.

“It was a clinic on offense and a clinic on defense,” said Cedarville Coach Kirk Martin. “They came out and shot the ball so well, we had trouble getting comfortable and we didn’t get comfortable the entire first half.

“You can think of all kinds of reasons, but the actual reason is because of what they did to us. They just put it on us and it had nothing to do with we couldn’t do this and we couldn’t do that.

“It was Indiana Wesleyan just playing really good basketball.”

McGill, a 6-foot senior who played on a pair of state volleyball championship teams at Muncie (Ind.) Delta High School, must have thought the basket looked as big as the ocean. She finished 13 of 17 from the field, nailing five of 7 three-pointers. McGill, who averaged 10.7 points per game this season, had 21 points in the first half, staking the Wildcats to an insurmountable 49-31 lead.

“Everybody was clicking, we were just hitting all of our shots,” said McGill, whose high game this season was 34 points. “We didn’t want this to be our last game because we all have so much fun together, so we just came out and did what we could do to win.”

Indiana Wesleyan, like Cedarville a No. 1 seed in its respective bracket, finished the game 38 of 61 for 62.3 percent. Nothing, however, could compare to its remarkable 21 of 28 in the first half.

“We shot the ball extremely well, but I hope we didn’t shoot our wad tonight because we have another game tomorrow,” said Brooks. “But, at least we get a chance to play again.”

So, how much pressure will Wesleyan feel tonight when it tries to complete an unbeaten season?

“There’s a lot of pressure, everybody’s talking about it, everybody’s gunning for you and nobody’s on your side,” said McGill. “But we stick together as a team and that’s what gets us through.”

Monday’s loss signalled the end of an era at Cedarville, with seniors Smart, Karah Walton, Kristi Beougher and Stacie Travis playing their final games. Smart finished her career with 3,234 points and in 17 national tournament games, she poured in 405 points.

Walton, a senior point guard, played only 14 minutes because of a foot injury she’s been battling the entire season.

“They’ve created a wonderful legacy of Cedarville basketball, ” said Martin. “And the most important thing is they’re girls who love the lord and represent their school really well.”

Cedarville, located in suburban Dayton, was runner-up to Morningside in both 2004 and ’05.

Indiana Wesleyan, representing the powerful Mid-Central College Conference proudly, hit its first five shots from the field and 10 of its first 13, racing to a 23-6 lead. There was nothing Cedarville could do to stop the runaway freight train.

Wesleyan fans, though, saved their biggest cheer of the night for the final minute, when BreAnne Miller scored a bucket.

Miller, a freshman from Huntington, Ind., has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for leukemia. She nailed her team’s final basket of the contest with 48 seconds left.

CEDARVILLE (56)

Kristi Beougher 3-4 2-2 8, Mary Stockdale 2-5 3-4 7, Karah Walton 0-2 0-0 0, Brittany Smart 10-21 7-8 30, Stacie Travis 0-3 0-0 0, Julie Utz 0-1 0-0 0, Bayley Nosal 0-3 0-0 0, Alison Lemon 3-7 0-2 8, Lacie Condon 0-1 0-0 0, Kristine Rucker 1-1 0-1 2, Stephanie Latham 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Noble 0-2 1-2 1, Lauren Gentene 0-0 0-0 0, Alisha Lee 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-51 13-19 56.

INDIANA WESLEYAN (93)

Sarah McGill 13-17 0-0 31, Liz Howerth 7-12 1-2 15, Lisa Thompson 5-5 2-2 12, Katrina Spitler 1-2 0-0 3, Stephanie Culp 3-7 0-0 9, Whitney Dubbs 1-2 0-0 3, Katy Hinkle 4-4 0-0 8, BreAnne Miller 1-3 0-0 2, Andrea Fichter 0-2 2-2 2, Brooke Amstutz 3-3 1-2 8, Sarah Branham 0-1 0-0 0, Heather Zimmerman 0-0 0-0 0, Kyra Pappas 0-1 0-0 0, Lindsey Waggoner 0-1 0-0 0, Jena Schafer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 38-61 6-8 93.

Halftime — Indiana Wesleyan 49, Cedarville 31. Three-point shots — Cedarville 5-14 (Smart 3-6, Lemon 2-3, Walton 0-1, Travis 0-1, Condon 0-1), Indiana Wesleyan 11-18 (McGill 5-7, Culp 3-6, Spitler 1-2, Dubbs 1-1, Amstutz 1-1, Miller 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Cedarville 26 (Beougher 7), Indiana Wesleyan 33 (Howerth 8). Assists — Cedarville 9 (Smart 3), Indiana Wesleyan 22 (Spitler 7). Turnovers — Cedarville 17, Indiana Wesleyan 9. Total fouls — Cedarville 11, Indiana Wesleyan 17. Officials — Bart Baldwin, Butch Patterson, Ann Schroeder.

SOURCE: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/03/13/sports/naia/6250e3634bfb86758625729d001113e7.txt