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        <title>Waubonsee Community College</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Waubonsee Community College News and Events]]></description>
        <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu</link>
        <lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:57:21 -0600</lastBuildDate>
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            <title>Waubonsee.edu logo</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Feed provided by Waubonsee.edu. Click to visit.]]></description>
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        <item>
            <title>Documentarian to Speak, Screen Film</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1989</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove - Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Larry Lansburgh will present "Dream People of the Amazon" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 28, in the Auditorium of Waubonsee Community College's Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive. Tickets are $9 and are available at www.waubonseetickets.com. All tickets are subject to a transaction fee. 

	Lansburgh's film, "Dream People of the Amazon," documents the lives of the Achuar people, who reside in a remote part of the Amazon rain forest in southeastern Ecuador. The film explores their strategies for defending the rain forest against the pressures and threats of the modern world, keeping the land as pristine as it was a thousand years ago. In his presentation, Lansburgh explains what audience members can learn from the Achuar and uses their struggle as an empowering example of the ability everyone has to make a difference. 

	Lansburgh's career as a producer, director and writer spans 33 years and includes more than 60 film and video projects. 

	For more information call Community Education at (630) 466-5755.]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 0:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1989</guid>
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            <title>Job Fair Scheduled for Sept. 17</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1988</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove -The 9th annual Working for the Fox Valley (WFFV) Job Fair will take place on Friday, Sept. 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Academic and Professional Center of Waubonsee Community College's Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive. 

The event is free and open to the public. Job seekers are encouraged to dress professionally and bring plenty of résumés.

For more information and to view a list of participating employers, visit www.waubonsee.edu/careerservices .

Given the current unemployment rate, this year's fair is taking on an increased importance. It is part of Waubonsee's larger "Brighter Futures" initiative, which seeks to provide resources and strategies to help district residents thrive in a challenging economy. Visit www.waubonsee.edu/brighterfutures  to view a list of other upcoming events and free services. 

The Working for the Fox Valley Job Fair is the result of a collaborative partnership between First Transitions of Oak Brook and Partners of the Illinois workNet Center: Illinois Department of Employment Security, Kane County Department of Employment and Education, and Waubonsee Community College, under the umbrella of the River Valley Workforce Investment Board.

Interpreters for the hearing impaired are provided by Department of Human Services Division of Rehabilitation Services. Veterans' assistance will be available.]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 0:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1988</guid>
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            <title>Parent's Night on Sept. 14</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1987</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove - The college process - deciding on a school, getting accepted, paying tuition, and taking care of other important details - can be complicated for both teenagers and their parents. To help give parents the information they need to navigate the process, Waubonsee Community College is hosting a Parent's Night on Tuesday, Sept. 14 from 6-8 p.m. It will take place in the Event Room of the Academic and Professional Center on the college's Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive.

Parents of current high school students are invited to attend this free event featuring speakers, campus tours and refreshments. 
For more information or to RSVP, please visit  www.waubonsee.edu/parents  or call the Admissions Department at (630) 466-7900, ext. 5756.]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 25 Aug 2010 0:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1987</guid>
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            <title>Aurora Campus Put Up For Sale</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1986</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Aurora - With the start of classes in Waubonsee Community College's new downtown Aurora Campus just a year away, the college has announced that its current campus, located at 5 E. Galena Blvd., is now for sale. 

Waubonsee has offered classes at a variety of locations in Aurora since 1967. In 1986, Waubonsee opened its current downtown Aurora Campus on Stolp Island. The 88,000-square-foot facility is a merger of two historic buildings - the Block & Kuhl Building and the Stanley Building. Waubonsee renovated the property for its academic use and retained the period detailing on the exterior of both buildings. The campus has been home to the college's Workforce Development and Adult Education departments, as well as a number of credit programs. 

Waubonsee's new 132,000-square-foot downtown Aurora Campus will open for classes in August 2011. Located just across the Fox River from the current campus, the new campus will be comprehensive, offering a wider variety of courses and services so that students can start and finish an associate degree entirely in downtown Aurora. Information about the new campus can be found at  waubonsee.edu/aurora .

All inquiries regarding the sale of the historic facility should be directed to U.S. Equities Realty Vice President Andy Norman at (312) 456-7065 or anorman@usequities.com. More information regarding the sale can also be found at  5EastGalena.com .]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 0:10:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1986</guid>
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            <title>Alumnus Exhibits Artwork on Campus</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1985</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove - Waubonsee Community College is hosting "His and Hers," an exhibit of mixed media ceramic sculptures and photography by alumnus Shane Harris through Sept. 25 in the Dickson Center's Arrowhead Room on the Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Harris will speak about his work at a lecture from 1 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 8, in the Arrowhead Room. The lecture is free and open to the public. 

	Harris focuses on small-scale ceramics/mixed media. He utilizes a combination of small found objects to create molds out of such materials as plastic, silicone and expandable foam. To complete his pieces, Harris then uses mixed media such as hair, liquid beads, Gellie paint, Floam and digital photography.

	After earning his associate degree from Waubonsee in 2000, Harris went on to earn bachelor's degrees in both sculpture and ceramics at the University of Illinois. Harris then attended The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art at Indiana University, earning his master's degree in 2007. He currently works as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Visual Art at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where he teaches ceramics, sculpture and 3-D design.]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 0:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1985</guid>
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            <title>Oswegoland Fund and Optimist Club Named Distinguished Contributor</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1974</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove -	During their lives Susan Kiley and her father Jerry Kiley impacted countless lives just by being themselves. Through his involvement with the Optimist Club of Oswegoland, Jerry helped thousands of children in the community. But perhaps the greatest contribution the Kileys and the Optimist Club have made comes in the form of the 51 young adults who have been able to attend college thanks to the Susan M. Kiley Memorial Scholarship Fund. In recognition of this great contribution to the college, the cause of education and the community, Waubonsee Community College has named the scholarship fund, the Optimist Club, the Kiley family and the Festival of Brass as its Distinguished Contributor for 2010.

	Sadly, the fund that has helped improve so many young lives started when one young life was tragically lost. Susan Kiley was killed in a traffic accident in 1989, on the very day she was to register for classes at Waubonsee. Her parents, Jerry and Margie Kiley, did not know where to have the memorials sent until a friend suggested the Optimist Club, of which Jerry was an active member and past president. Once several thousand dollars had been raised, the club suggested using the money to set up a memorial scholarship in Susan's name. 

"We wanted scholarships for the 'average' student who wants to go to college but perhaps otherwise wouldn't be able to go," said Bill Powell, Optimist member and the secretary/treasurer of the scholarship fund's board of trustees. "Perhaps it's a student with average grades but who has a really positive attitude or who has been holding down a part-time job while attending school." 

	When it was first awarded in 1991, the Susan M. Kiley Memorial Scholarship went to just one graduate of Oswego or Oswego East High School each year, but by 1999, the fund had grown enough for two annual scholarship winners. The next year, three awards were given out, and 2002 saw four scholarship winners, which remains the number today. Winners are awarded $600 per semester for four consecutive semesters, for a total gift of $2,400.

	But as with most scholarships, the meaning, for both the recipients and the donors, is larger than sheer numbers can communicate.

	"This is a big thing to help give young kids a start," said Margie Kiley, Susan's mother and Jerry's widow, who now serves as a scholarship fund trustee. "These kids can stay home and get their basic courses and go on. This scholarship has been so important to so many who maybe did not have the finances or didn't want to leave home to go to school. It's very rewarding to see how successful they are."

The success of these students and of the scholarship program is due in large part to the success of Oswego's Festival of Brass, which has been the project's main fundraiser for the past 20 years. Each year, nearly 1,000 young people from across the country perform at Oswego High School at this drum and bugle corps show, which draws a huge audience from Oswego and surrounding areas. 

	"The Optimists are for the youth, so this is a good project for them," said Margie Kiley. "And if it weren't for the Optimists, the scholarship fund and this event wouldn't fly. They are the working force behind the Festival of Brass." 

	The 2010 Festival of Brass honored the man who was the main working force behind the Susan M. Kiley Memorial Scholarship Fund since its inception, Susan's father and Margie's husband, Jerry Kiley, who passed away in February of this year. Jerry had been an active member of the Optimist Club of Oswegoland for 27 years and headed up the scholarship fund's board of trustees from the beginning. 

	Waubonsee President Dr. Christine Sobek was on hand at the festival to present a plaque to Margie and the rest of the Kiley family. Addressing Margie that night, Sobek said, "It is with sincere appreciation for Jerry's dedication to the Oswego community and its thousands of young people that I am very proud to present this recognition to you tonight, and to thank you and your family for sharing Jerry, and his many talents, with all of us during our lifetime."

	Of that honor and on being named Distinguished Contributor, Margie said, "My husband would be thrilled with this honor. He spent many hours at the computer, crunching numbers, working on the scholarship."

	Powell, who was also Jerry's best friend, echoed the sentiment. "This scholarship has meant an awful lot to the Kiley family," Powell said. "It was something that Jerry was really proud of and spent a lot of hours on. He was so dedicated to keeping it going."]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 1:30:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1974</guid>
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            <title>Aurora Police Chief Named Distinguished Alumnus</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1975</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove - The City of Aurora and its police department have grown and changed a lot since Greg Thomas was growing up on the city's east side, and even since he became a police cadet in 1978. Thomas has made a career of not only growing along with the city and its police force but of leading the change. For this reason and his many other accomplishments, Waubonsee Community College is proud to recognize Aurora Police Chief Greg Thomas as its 2010 Distinguished Alumnus.

All those years ago, Thomas could not have predicted that Aurora would now be the state's second-largest city with a police department of more than 400 employees; in fact, when he graduated from East Aurora High School in 1978, he couldn't, and wouldn't, have ever predicted that he'd one day be a police officer. 

"I wanted to be an attorney, but I had no money and my parents had no money, so I ended up starting in the Aurora Police Department's cadet program, and the college they used was Waubonsee," Thomas said. "I figured I'd make some money for college beyond, but I really enjoyed Waubonsee's program and the cadet program and so became an officer instead of an attorney, and I've appreciated it ever since."

Thomas also appreciates the impact the cadet program and Waubonsee's involvement with it continues to have on the force.

"We currently have 50 or 60 police cadets out of 300 sworn employees, and all of those cadets went to Waubonsee, so I think that's a great testament to the college's program and the APD's program," Thomas said. "These students go to Waubonsee to get that educational background and then come to the police department to get that training and experience, and it's a great combination." 

	Thomas recognizes what a great asset a college education is to officers who want to move up the ranks, and he thanks Waubonsee for that appreciation.

	"Personally, I think Waubonsee did a great job of preparing me but also serving as a wake-up call," Thomas said. "Schooling had always been easy for me, but Waubonsee was a little tougher, and I had to work to get the grades. So it not only prepared me but also put me in the right frame of mind to get the education I needed."

	His associate degree in criminal justice was all Thomas would need to become a sworn officer in 1982, but before being promoted to sergeant in 1993, he had earned his bachelor's degree, also in criminal justice, from Lewis University. Earning his Masters in Business Administration from Aurora University in 1996 allowed him to move up the ranks further, being promoted to lieutenant in 2003, commander in 2005 and deputy chief in 2007. He was appointed chief in April 2008.

City of Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner commented on Thomas' appointment, saying, "Greg is a results-oriented professional. He consistently strives to improve operations and encourages employees to develop innovative solutions to problems."

While working in upper administration at the department, Thomas has indeed helped improve operations, rewriting many police policies and expanding the use of technology throughout the force, helping bring laptops into the squad cars and upgrading records management systems. 

For these and many other career accomplishments, Thomas has received a variety of honors, including the Aurora Police Department Officer of the Year, Exchange Club of Aurora Police Officer of the Year and Kendall County Medal of Valor. Chief Thomas was honored with the Aurora Timely Talkers Toastmasters Club Communication and Leadership Award in 2008.

Another one of Thomas' great achievements is having overseen the move of the department to a new station on Indian Trail in Aurora. While planning for the complex began several years ago, the approximately 18 months of construction and January 2010 move-in have come during Thomas' tenure. The new facilities include the main 156,000-square-foot station, as well as a 42,000-square-foot Training and Support (TAS) building. The latter is roughly the size of the old station on River Street. 

Though the facilities have and may continue to change, what current and future officers need to succeed remains the same. "Education is important, but there are a number of other things that go along with that, including honesty, integrity, character and maintaining high values," Thomas said.]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 1:10:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1975</guid>
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            <title>Sobek to Speak at Green Jobs Summit</title>
            <link>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1977</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sugar Grove - Waubonsee Community College President Dr. Christine Sobek, of Geneva, has been invited to join a panel discussion at the U.S. Green Building Council's annual Greenbuild conference in Chicago this November. Sobek will participate in a session entitled "Preparing Skilled Workers: The Workforce Development System and Green Building," which is part of the conference's first-ever Green Jobs Summit.

	Sustainability has been a focus for Waubonsee lately, both in curricula and campus practices. The college currently offers two  sustainability courses  as part of its science curricula, while this spring will see the debut of a new  renewable energy technologies  discipline, complete with career certificates in the areas of photovoltaic, solar thermal, small wind and geothermal systems. The college's Workforce Development has also offered "green" job training, including  Building Operator Certification Training  and  Building Performance Institute (BPI) certifications  to help workers improve energy efficiencies in a variety of buildings.

	Waubonsee undertook several new environmentally focused projects after signing the Illinois Sustainable University Compact in 2008. The college is also a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and the Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN).]]></description>
            <author>jnoblitt@waubonsee.edu (Jeff Noblitt)</author>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 0:55:00 -0500</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.waubonsee.edu/news_topic_summary.php?NewsID=1977</guid>
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