Latest news with #WheatonCollege
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Barrington native Scott Sloan wins javelin national title
GENEVA, OH (WPRI) — Barrington native Scott Sloan is a college national champion. This past Thursday, the Wheaton College freshman took first in the javelin in D-III with a throw of 67.97 meters. The throw not only helped him secure gold but it also broke his former program best by 1.44 meters. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wheaton College says layoffs, financial cuts coming amid ‘heightened uncertainty'
Wheaton College in Norton will make major cuts in the coming year in response to the lasting effects of the pandemic and the delay in the FAFSA, among other challenges, according to its president. By July 1, Wheaton will eliminate the college contribution component of retirement and there will not be a one-time cash stipend or an increase to base pay. There will also be staff reductions, Wheaton President Michaele Whelan said in an email Monday to college staff and faculty. While the number of positions is unclear, there will be some vacant roles, she said. The decision comes in what Whelan says is a challenging time for the liberal arts institution which faces a significant deficit and declining enrollment as well as 'a time of heightened uncertainty and financial pressure within the higher education landscape.' The most recent measures follow a May 16 board of trustees meeting 'in which a new stage of their financial bridge plan was approved that necessitates significantly reducing their deficit this coming year by $4.5 million and by $3 million the following year,' Whelan said in the email. Further affecting these decisions is the reality that families are grappling with financial insecurity and public universities and other institutions are expanding free or reduced tuition programs, she said. The ongoing uncertainty surrounding international regulations and federal financial aid has rippled throughout higher education and affected enrollment. Wheaton anticipates that its fall enrollment numbers will be lower than originally projected for the coming year, which will result in a significant increase to their deficit. They also expect the cost of health benefits to increase as of Jan. 1, 2026, which would have to be covered. Over the past three years, Wheaton has already taken steps to better align with their financial position with current and future challenges. They have reduced expenses by $4 million while still preserving jobs and increasing new programs and initiatives, Whelan said. Since fiscal 2022, they have added $3.9 million for increase in faculty and staff salaries and found operational efficiencies across all divisions as they seek new ways to manage resources responsibly, she said. But even with their recent fundraising campaign securing commitments totaling $62 million, Whelan said these upcoming actions are required. The Sun Chronicle is a news partner of To subscribe to The Sun Chronicle, click here. An 'above-normal' Atlantic hurricane season is coming. Here's what that means Map shows biggest population losers and winners in Mass. from new census data Ariana Chagnon records 100th hit as Chicopee Comp softball defeats Palmer Bruins rival part ways with team president after another playoff elimination Trump administration policies creating 'chilling effect' on smaller colleges Read the original article on MassLive.
Associated Press
29-03-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Wheaton Professor Discovers a New Class of Drug Leads Against Tuberculosis
'Since this bacterium can develop resistance even to new drugs, it highlights not only the precarious nature of the battle against multi-drug resistance but also the need to develop truly first-in-class TB drugs with new and unique mechanism of action that evades bacterial resistance. Therein lies the potential significance of the current study.' - Dr. Francis E. Umesiri, Lead Author and Principal Investigator. CHICAGO, Ill. - March 28, 2025 - A professor from the Chemistry department of Wheaton College, IL, along with his collaborators from the Institute for Tuberculosis Research, Chicago, have discovered a class of new compounds which have been shown to effectively kill the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB). The discovery is significant because the new compounds made were also effective at killing strains of the bacteria that are resistant to popular TB drugs such as Isoniazid and Rifampin. TB is in fact curable and there are good TB drugs in use, however, tuberculosis has remained a serious global health issue because of complications resulting from the emergence of multi-drug resistant or even extremely multi-drug-resistant strains of M ycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB. This means that if a person is infected with the kind of bacteria that is resistant to known drugs, that person will not respond to treatment with existing drugs, resulting in higher death rates. In such cases, doctors would often combine two or more different tuberculosis drugs to kill the bacteria. Results of the latest discovery was published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, titled, Discovery of ultra short β-peptoids with selective activity against drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to Dr. Francis E. Umesiri, the lead author and principal investigator of the study, 'The potential impact of this study is three-fold. First, the compounds designed and made in our lab are a new class of ultra short beta-peptoids. Second, these beta-petoids are relatively easy and cheaper to make and would pose no difficulty developing them into drugs should the need arise. Third, and most important, these new compounds showed potent activity against strains mono-resistant to isoniazid and rifampin, and against five of the global clades of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.' Continuing, Dr. Umesiri noted that 'Since this bacterium can develop resistance even to new drugs, it highlights not only the precarious nature of the battle against multi-drug resistance but also the need to develop truly first-in-class TB drugs with new and unique mechanism of action that evades bacterial resistance. Therein lies the potential significance of the current study.' The implications of studies like these are a matter of life and death for millions of people all over the world battling with TB. According to the latest World Health Organization TB Facts as at the time of publication: Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease worldwide. 10 million people worldwide were sick with TB in 2023. 1.25 million people died from tuberculosis in 2023 alone. Close to one-third (1/3) of the world's population is infected with the latent form of the bacteria. Most of the deaths resulting from TB are from developing countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. In fact, according to WHO global TB report, 56% of those who developed the disease in 2023 lived in just 5 countries: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%), and Pakistan (6.3%). Drug-resistance to current medications is a major complication in eradicating this disease once and for all. Therefore, considering such adverse and global impact of TB, any effort towards discovery of new drugs that are effective against drug-resistant strains of the bacteria is a big deal. Although the new class of compounds discovered by Dr. Umesiri and his collaborators are far from making their way into a final TB drug regimen, they provide scientists a set of lead compounds with which to keep tinkering until more effective drug compounds are developed. This is what scientists call lead optimization in the drug discovery process. Finally, the discovery of these new TB drug leads demonstrates the power of collaboration in science. In this case, the collaboration is between an organic synthetic lab, led by Dr. Umesiri, where the compounds were designed and made, and the microbiology lab at the Institute for Tuberculosis Research, led by Dr. Scott Franzblau, where extensive biological screenings were undertaken. Media Contact Contact Person: Rufus Philip City: Aurora, Chicago State: IL Country: United States
Chicago Tribune
28-02-2025
- Science
- Chicago Tribune
Freshwater jellyfish in Wolf Lake focus of March Calumet Revisited forum
When the community has information about local scientific studies, it is better for everyone, said one professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. Nadine Folino-Rorem, professor of biology, investigated a freshwater jellyfish — Craspedacusta — that lives in Wolf Lake, which is located in the Hammond and Hegewisch communities on the Indiana-Illinois border. She received an Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant that helped look at the invasive jellyfish that originated in China. The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Foundation helps fund programs that look at biology's response to climate change and is focused on the southern Lake Michigan region, according to its website. On March 4, Folino-Rorem is going to share her findings in a Zoom presentation with Calumet Revisited Forums, a program created by the Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative. 'The purpose is to make people aware of the fact that they have this invasive jellyfish,' Folino-Rorem said. 'When people hear the word 'invasive,' they get kind of nervous, but it's not always a harmful organism in the system.' The study's findings were published in 2024. Folino-Rorem's study looked at the biology of the freshwater jellyfish, allowing researchers to better predict its ecological impact in response to climate change. In Wolf Lake, Folino-Rorem found the freshwater jellyfish in the polyp stage, which is its primary stage and present throughout the year. The polyp stage is a precursor to the medusa stage, Folino-Rorem said, when jellyfish are more visible. Through the Indiana-Illinois Sea Grant, they had to determine where the jellyfish were found, which brought them to Wolf Lake. Folino-Rorem believes that speaking at Calumet Revisited Forums will encourage people to keep an eye out for the freshwater jellyfish when they're on Wolf Lake, she said. 'A lot of people don't realize there are freshwater jellyfish,' Folino-Rorem said. 'That makes it fun because there's a little bit of charisma about this little beast, and then it gets people interested.' If people find jellyfish at Wolf Lake, they could help aid Folino-Rorem in her study. 'If they're out on that body of water, they might (see) the jellyfish versus another stage of the invasive hydrozoan and help us understand some of the dynamics of the life cycle from that stage,' Folino-Rorem said. Emiliano Aguilar, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, was recently named head of an advisory committee to recruit future speakers for the forums. As head of the advisory committee, Aguilar will look to find others to join and speakers that can be spotlighted during a discussion. Since Aguilar is new to the role, he didn't help pick Folino-Rorem as the March speaker, but he's excited for her talk. 'I am very much looking forward to it,' he said. 'I'm a historian, so I don't think I've given a wealth of appreciation to the more STEM, scientific-focused material, so I'm excited to learn more.' Calumet Revisited helps connect people who might not have crossed paths in their work, such as those who work at universities or in nonprofits, Aguilar said. He believes it can start more collaborations and discussions that can help Northwest Indiana. Aguilar grew up in East Chicago and lived in the Whiting-Robertsdale community before moving to South Bend. He's attended the Calumet Revisited series and has been interested in studies about the region. Aguilar is working on a manuscript titled, 'Build a Latino Machine: Caught Between Good Government Reform and Corrupt Political Machines,' which looks into how machine politics impacted East Chicago in the 20th and 21st centuries. Calumet Revisited is an important program because it connects residents with stories that they otherwise might not have heard, such as Folino-Rorem's study, Aguilar said. 'It's all about reconnecting with the stories of so many things that have been done,' he said. 'While there might have been residents that recognized how important they were in the moment, that sort of recognition has dulled over time.' Those interested in tuning into the Zoom presentation should email booscommunications@ for a link.
Boston Globe
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
From Greenland to Nepal in pictures
For a quarter century, Advertisement The emphasis on people in that statement is crucial. On first inspection, what's most striking about Gorman's very striking black-and-white images is the landscape: stark and unforgiving, often overwhelming and barely comprehensible. It could be a different planet that's being seen here. Stephen Gorman, "Inughuit Dogsleds Traveling the Sea Ice, Inglefield Fjord, Greenland," 2017. © Stephen Gorman, courtesy Anderson Yezerski Gallery Look again, though, and there are children and a teacher outside their school; two girls sharing a bicycle ride, a pair of dogs frolicking along; a man strolling toward a village alongside a fjord. Dominating one of the most spectacular images are cliffs descending almost sheer down to another fjord. The fjord is iced over, and a closer look reveals the presence of a pair of dogsleds traveling across it. In Washington, or Copenhagen, Greenland might be thought of as some vast hunk of real estate chockablock with minerals just waiting to be mined once the ice has melted. Gorman reminds us that this forbidding, magnificent land includes people, too. Bruce McCoy Owens, "Women playing bhuysa." Bruce McCoy Owens Bruce McCoy Owens, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Wheaton College, has been photographing in Nepal even longer than Gorman has in the Arctic. Owens first visited Kathmandu in 1977. The sense of connection he feels to Nepalese culture is evident throughout 'The Art of the Festival: Celebrating the Rain God of the Kathmandu Valley.' It runs at the Somerville Museum through March 29. The festival, which honors a deity known by many names, including Bumgadyah and Rao Matsyendranath, has been held for almost 14 centuries. Owens has been photographing it for four decades. The festival's centerpiece is a chariot for transporting the rain god and its attendants. Weighing 35 tons, this vehicle has a height of 65 feet — on a 10-foot wheelbase. A very real danger of toppling is part of the tradition. Advertisement Owens curated 'The Art of the Festival.' It includes some 60 of his photographs, along with two videos, several statuettes, and other items. The effect is of a vibrant profusion. In a side gallery, there are photographs of Nepalese communities in Boston, Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, and Braintree, which adds to the show's (appropriately) festive feel. Bruce McCoy Owens, "Priests in chariot." Bruce McCoy Owens Owens's photographs are in color and thickly populated with festival-goers. The visual difference from Gorman's work could hardly be greater. It turns out, though, that Greenland and Nepal share a bond: Both face the prospect of running afoul of the current administration in Washington. In addition to that matter of acquiring Greenland, its suspension of foreign aid Owens will be at the museum on March 1 to discuss the exhibition. The event begins at 11 a.m. NOT FOR SALE. Photographs of Inuit life in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic by Stephen Gorman At Anderson Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. A16, through March 22. 617-262-0550, THE ART OF THE FESTIVAL: Celebrating the Rain God of the Kathmandu Valley Advertisement At Somerville Museum, 1 Westwood Rd., Somerville, through March 29. 617-666-9810, Mark Feeney can be reached at
