Excellence Doesn't Stop in the Summer!
Excellence can always be found in the faculty members at McKendree – even in the summer!
Our knowledgeable professors are working diligently during these hot months to improve
themselves and the content they’ll be teaching in their upcoming classes by partaking
in institutions, research and more.
Dr. Darryn Diuguid, professor of education, was recently elected to the American Library
Association’s 2024 Caldecott Book Award Committee. During this period, he and fourteen
other committee members will be reading and reviewing more than 1,000 picture books
in order to nominate and vote on books for the Randolph Caldecott award. Additionally,
Darryn received a National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) fellowship and was selected
to attend the NEH Summer Institute for Higher Education faculty conference at Florida
Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., this June. During this time, Darryn and 24
other attendees learned about the history of books during the American Revolution
and enjoyed hands-on experiences in papermaking, typesetting and bookbinding.
In the realm of biology, Dr. Michael Louison, assistant professor of biology, was named a faculty research
fellow by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Alton, Ill. This
summer fellowship included collaborating with staff biologists and researchers to
conduct intriguing and important studies on local fish species, with a special focus
on the impacts of microplastic pollution on fish behavior and physiology.
As for our professors in the English department, Dr. Martha Patterson and Dr. Jenny Mueller have exciting news! Martha
was accepted into the NEH Summer Institute. The three-week, residential institute,
Making Modernism: Literature, Dance, and Visual Culture in Chicago, 1893-1955, ran
from July 18 to August 5 and explored Chicago’s vital contribution to the modernist
movement. Directed by Dr. Liesl Olson of Newberry Library and Dr. Susan Manning of
Northwestern University, the summer institute offered an expansive look at creative
expression in Chicago across the arts from the turn of the century through the aftermath
of the Second World War.
Jenny also received writing residency awards for this summer at three nationally-known
artist residency programs: Centrum in Port Townsend, Wash.; PLAYA in Summer Lake,
Ore.; and Wildacres Retreat Center in Little Switzerland, N.C. She traveled to pursue
writing projects in residence at each site during the summer, including her third
book of poetry and a researched essay regarding how our diminishing access to the
sight of stars affects the reading of poetry. We’re proud of you, faculty members!
