Laker Nation News

Area archaeologist Dr. B. Jacob Skousen is set to present A Walk Through the Pre-Columbian History of Southeastern Illinois on Thursday, April 25 from 7-9 p.m. at the Lake Land College Theater.

“We know relatively little about the distant past in southeastern Illinois. The limited available archaeological evidence indicates that this region was inhabited for the last 10,000 years and has a dynamic and complex history,” Skousen said.

Skousen will discuss the results of his current research at the Otter Pond site, located along the Embarras River which dates to roughly 1100 to 1500 C.E. This site was the largest town in the region and may have been built to mimic the city of Cahokia, located nearly 150 miles away.

The public is welcome to attend the free event.

For more information contact Skousen at bskousen@illinois.edu.

Lake Land College is offering a Painting with Oils or Acrylics class at the Kluthe Center in Effingham. The six-session class will be on Wednesdays beginning April 24 through May and will meet from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The class will be taught by Vera Keplar who has a master’s degree in art from Eastern Illinois University and has taught art at K-12 and adult level for many years. In addition, Vera has been a judge for several art competitions.

Beginner and experienced artists are all welcome to attend. Students will paint on canvas using oil or acrylic paints and will be able to choose their own subject matter. Students will need to bring their own paint supplies. The supply list includes: basic colors of oil or acrylic tubes of paint, variety of sizes of oil or acrylic paint brushes and 16” x 20” minimum size canvas panels or stretch panels. The cost is $40 for the class.

To register, go to https://www.lakelandcollege.edu/learn. Drop date for a refund is five business days prior to the class. For more information, contact Jackie Wake, professional development support at 217-234-5087 or email jwake@lakelandcollege.edu.

The Lake Land College Medical Assistant Program is expanding to the Kluthe Center in Effingham where classes will be available in a hybrid format.

A hybrid format class is designed with the typical busy student in mind as classes are offered online with labs held only one night each week.

“We are excited to offer hybrid classes at the Kluthe Center because approximately half of our current students are from the Effingham area,” said Medical Assistant Instructor Molly Yeske.

Medical Assistant is a special admission program that trains students in both administrative and clinical duties in health care settings. Administrative duties of the medical assistant may include assistance with office procedures, scheduling and billing and clinical duties may include patient care, phlebotomy and injections. The Medical Assistant program is available as a two-year associate in applied science degree or one-year certificate program.

Lake Land College is preparing students well with a near perfect employment rate upon graduation. Yeske stated, “Nearly 100 percent of Medical Assistant students at Lake Land College were employed within one month of graduation.”

For more information about the Medical Assistant program and registration for classes visit lakelandcollege.edu/high-demand-programs/medical-assistant or contact Yeske at 217-234-5055 or myeske@lakelandcolleg.edu.

Lake Land College instructor Marcy Satterwhite, Urbana, recently received the 2019 Teacher of the Year Award from the Eastern Illinois Business Education Association (EIBEA) during the organization’s spring meeting held on campus.

EIBEA represents and promotes business education throughout the eastern Illinois area. The main objective of EIBEA is to plan, develop and sustain programs for business education professionals and students through meetings, discussions and conferences.

Cindy Phipps, business instructor/program coordinator accounting, said in her nomination, “Marcy is always striving to stay current in her area, graphic design, as well as business education in general. She is very supportive of high school business education, recognizing how important getting a head start in high school is to the future of business education.”

Satterwhite, business instructor/program coordinator/desktop publishing/graphic design instructor, has devoted more than 20 years to EIBEA and has held the position of EIBEA president since 2013. Her commitment to business education is clear as she continuously contributes to opportunities for meetings and meaningful professional development activities for business educators in the eastern Illinois area.

Prior to serving as EIBEA president, Satterwhite served as EIBEA vice president and as an EIBEA representative to the Illinois Business Education Association (IBEA) board for several years. She is also one of the biggest promotors of the IBEA fall conference.

For more information about the Lake Land College Business Division, visit lakelandcollege.edu/academic-divisions/business-division.

Lake Land College Center for Business & Industry is offering a 50-hour Pharmacy Technician course on Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning June 11, from 6-9:30 p.m. The course will prepare students to work as a pharmacy technician in a retail or other pharmacy setting and to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s PTCB exam.  

Through classroom lecture and hands-on labs, students will review dosage calculations, drug classifications, the “top 200 drugs”, I.V. flow rates, sterile compounding, dose conversions, aseptic technique, the handling of sterile products, total parenteral nutrition (TPN), dispensing of prescriptions, inventory control and billing and reimbursement.

Class will be held at Lake Land College, 5001 Lake Land Blvd. at the Northeast Building, room 113. The cost is $1,399. Textbooks are included.

Register at lakelandcollege.edu/learn.

For more information, contact Jackie Wake, professional development support, at 217-234-5087 or email jwake@lakelandcollege.edu.

Tom Caldwell, Effingham, Lake Land College Philosophy and English instructor, received the 2019 Faculty Association Outstanding Service Award at this year’s Employee and Retiree Recognition Banquet.

In Caldwell’s 22 years at Lake Land College, he successfully created and taught a variety of courses across English and Humanities, working with students whenever and wherever possible.

“Basically, wherever students have needed me and supervisors have deemed me qualified, I have gone to do my part,” Caldwell said.

In response to the evolving needs of students, Caldwell developed curriculum for a number of courses ranging from Introduction to Philosophy to Service Learning. Additionally, he assisted with the development of Lake Land College’s World Religions course following the 9/11 attacks.

Caldwell worked in furthering the college’s mission to make campus more eco-friendly by becoming a certified arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture. With his acquired knowledge, he developed a complete tree care plan for the college which brought national recognition to the college as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for two consecutive years.

Caldwell’s continued efforts toward minimizing Lake Land College’s carbon footprint led him to work with the Lake Land master gardener to design and establish the nature trails on campus, now open to the public and used as a primary cross county course for area high schools.

Caldwell was instrumental in the development of a campus wide recycling plan that allows students, staff and community members to bring recyclables to campus and have them distributed appropriately.

Caldwell volunteered and served as the education coordinator for the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary in Orr, Minnesota, where he worked to rehabilitate nuisance bears and to preserve the local flora and fauna. This commitment led to the development of Lake Land’s Nature in the Humanities course which demonstrates the importance of volunteerism and stewardship to students as they study local nature-based art, human expression and global human concerns.

His continued involvement in numerous student organizations and Lake Land College activities is evident as he served as a co-coordinator of a successful bid for 10 years of re-accreditation from the NCA/HLC and on the steering committee of a subsequent bid. Other committees he served on include: Curriculum, Diversity, General Education, Communication and Instructional Improvement.

However, Caldwell did not stop there. He also co-advised Phi Theta Kappa for several years and served as faculty sponsor of the student newspaper, The Navigator.

“What I look back on with the most pride was working on a special project coordinating efforts between Phi Theta Kappa, The Navigator and former Lake Land College President Dr. Luther in order to purchase and display a memorial to the Twin Towers that is still prominent in the Student Center,” Caldwell said.

He also contributed to numerous student and campus efforts including assisting with student veterans to create a sitting garden at the Kluthe Center, aiding with the vice president of academic services to establish the Humanities Studio and serving a two-year term as treasurer of the executive committee for the Lake Land College Faculty Association and two 10-year terms as member and chair of the faculty scholarship committee.

Caldwell went above and beyond by completing training and establishing his office as a “safe zone” for students in order to build a bridge of trust between himself and his students.

His contributions to aiding international students with a comfortable adjustment to the peculiarities of English and American culture has played a significant role in both his life and the lives of his students.

“I cherish the cultural insights I have gained from my students of varying countries. One Chinese student asked me for a reading list and then actually came back to discuss the books. I helped her with recommendations for various medical programs and eventually helped with her questions regarding the naturalization process. She is now gainfully employed at a local hospital and resides in Neoga with her family,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell was instrumental in the progression of Lake Land College as a leading community college and he expressed his thanks to his colleagues at the Employee Recognition Banquet for his time at Lake Land.

“Like my father used to say, ‘If you want good things in this life, you need to surround yourself with good people,’ and it appears that is what is happening here today.”

Caldwell earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in English from Eastern Illinois University with 30 additional graduate hours from Illinois State University, Norwich University in Vermont and Southeast Missouri State. He also holds degrees from Illinois Valley Community College and Lake Land College. He is a 1981 graduate of Princeton High School in Princeton, Illinois. He and his wife, fellow Lake Land College instructor Nancy Caldwell, have two daughters, Madeline and Felicia. Caldwell will retire in August and plans to supervise construction of a new home on their farm adjacent to Shawnee National Forest near Jonesboro. After his wife’s retirement in 2020, they will move to their new home where he will operate a pecan orchard and tree nursery.

Several Lake Land College broadcast sales students recently earned certification as broadcast sales professionals from the broadcast training company, P1 Learning, in recognition of outstanding achievement and contribution to the Illinois Broadcasters Associate’s Sales Training Program.

Over the course of four weeks, students completed a variety of online video courses, tests and assignments as part of the broadcast sales class in the Radio/TV program at Lake Land College.

P1 Learning is a nationally recognized training company that administers training for hundreds of broadcast stations, corporations and state broadcaster associations to provide content in the topics of sales, leadership, management, on-air, compliance and more.

Greg Powers, speech communication/broadcasting instructor and station manager of WLKL 89.9 FM, assisted students in preparing for the certification and explained the benefits of receiving the broadcast sales certification.

“This certification is a tremendous asset for students entering the broadcast workforce,” Powers said. “Broadcast employers are searching for employees who are multifaceted. The students who have completed this training are very marketable.”

Each of the professionals will be honored on a plaque displayed alongside those of previous year’s students.

The Illinois Broadcasters Association (IBA) funded the initiative.

“I am extremely grateful to Dennis Lyle, president and CEO of the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and the IBA board for their financial support,” Powers said.

For more information about Lake Land College’s radio and TV broadcasting programs, contact Powers at 217-234-5335 or visit lakelandcollege.edu or 899themax.com.