This year promises to be full of inspiring moments, intellectual and personal growth, and shared joys. We are carefully  monitoring developments in the region, state, and nation, and Illinois College’s plans for reopening will reflect best practices for the safety of our community.

We have all experienced the pandemic in different ways, and developed strategies to overcome adversity. This issue of the Quarterly celebrates the work of some of IC’s entrepreneurial graduates, who fostered the creativity, mental agility, and business acumen that was nurtured at IC, identified a need in their community, and filled it. In some cases, their careers took them down roads they never envisioned. This is the power of an IC education, the power of the liberal arts, and the core of IC’s enduring mission.

A message I hope to convey to our students this year is about resilience. We are not promised a smooth path in life; and the last 18 months have been anything but. Some of our students and their families have experienced loss on many levels. Our first year students are returning to in-person learning for the first time, in some cases, in a year and a half. We learn who we are when we are challenged and the human spirit shines brightest in times of darkness. Illinois College has persevered with grace and grit, and a concern for our community’s welfare. We will continue to rise to new challenges with ingenuity and a commitment to the achievement of all students.

On campus last academic year, students continued to pursue academic excellence and sought experiences that will enable them to Graduate READY. We said farewell to the Class of 2021 in May with a joyful Senior Celebration, sent our Midwest Conference championship winning women’s softball and men’s baseball teams to the NCAA tournament for the first time in College history, and hosted many student-faculty research teams on campus all summer, showcasing experiential learning at its best.

This new year unfolds before us. 

I can’t wait to see what our students will achieve and I look forward to seeing many of you at Homecoming and other Illinois College events.

All the best,

Barbara A. Farley
President