Three to Receive Alumni Awardsa

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: So welcome, everybody. It is just delightful to do this in person.

[APPLAUSE]

We had to skip last year because we weren't able to do it in person. So that makes this year doubly important for us. And it's also one of the most enjoyable things that we do every year. We get to talk about people who have been through our programs, who have demonstrated outstanding achievements, and to celebrate their moment in the sun.

I'm Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell. I'm the Dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences. And on behalf of the faculty, students, and staff in the college, I'm pleased to welcome you to the 2021 celebration of our Distinguished Alumni Award, our Harold Scharper Award, and for the first time, our Young Alumni Award recipient.

I want to extend a special welcome to our emeritus faculty, who are here today with us. I have seen a number of you. And I'm really glad to see you again.

This is a very special part of homecoming weekend. We celebrate the exceptional achievements of our alumni. Some of their achievements are outlined in your booklets for the program that you received at the door. If you didn't receive one, I'm sure we can get one to you.

Before I turn it over to them, I'd like to tell you a little bit about each person behind the accomplishments. The College of Applied Health Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award honors graduates of our instructional programs who have made a significant impact in their fields of service, scholarship, and education.

This year's honoree has touched the lives of countless people who are accomplished in all three areas. And I might add, he's an accomplished singer. Come on up, Bob.

[APPLAUSE]

All right. If you stand over a little bit, let me-- then I can take my mask off. And then when you come back, you can take your mask off. And now I'm stuck. There are certain things that masks were never meant to be part of.

Dr. J. Robert Rossman, who goes by Bob-- I'm sorry. There we go-- is a graduate of what is now our Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism. When he was pursuing his master's and his PhD, it was the Department of Leisure Studies. How we got there was one of those twists of fate that turns out really well.

Bob grew up in Tell City, Indiana. It's a small town on the Ohio River in Southern Indiana and was the hub of the furniture-making business for nearly 150 years. He enjoyed growing up in a small town in the 1950s and '60s. And he says, we didn't have to worry about anything.

We could ride our bikes around town. We didn't have many parks, but we didn't need them. Right next to us was a vast, outdoor recreation area.

When it came time for college, Bob's high school advisor recommended that he choose a career in recreation as his major, an interesting choice for a kid from a small town that didn't have year-round recreation programs. But he'd worked summers as an arts and crafts instructor, camp counselor, lifeguard, and pool manager.

So he declared his major at Indiana University, just two hours from home, and found that it was a perfect fit for his skills and his personality. Encouraged by the faculty to get some experience after graduating, Bob entered a two-year internship program sponsored by the National Recreation and Parks Association, working as a recreation center director in Oak Park, Illinois under the guidance of Robert Toalson, who would later become the director of the Champaign Park District.

When the internship ended, Bob was hired as the assistant director of the Oak Park Recreation Department and held the position for five years. During that time, he was a smart man. He pursued his master's degree through an extension program that brought faculty from the Department of Leisure Studies to the Chicago area one night a week.

As part of the degree requirements, he and his fellow students had to take classes on campus during their final semester. Bob said, the program nudged me to envision a career as a scholar. Joe Bannon and Allen Sapora encouraged him to stay on for his PhD. Joe helped him secure an appointment as a lecturer so he could support his wife and two children.

Bob describes the faculty during his doctoral study as an all-star lineup, and they truly were. His major professor was John R. Kelly, author of Recreation Business, the first textbook in the field. He took classes from Carol Peterson, Scout Lee Gunn-- who I totally forgot she was on faculty here until I read this and I went, oh, yes, Scout was here-- two of the leading scholars in therapeutic recreation, and from Lynn Barnett Morris, who continues to wow our students with her internationally-known research in play and children's development.

His favorite memory of Illinois is the collegiality between the faculty and the students. The faculty were really welcoming and supportive in and out of the classroom, he said. I think I attended some type of event at almost every faculty members' home.

His experiences at Illinois inspired him throughout his more than 20-year career as a professor at the University of North Texas, where he was also the chair of the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he served as the chair of the Department of Leisure Studies, and the founding dean of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, and at Illinois State, where he was dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology.

His own work focused on programming and designing and staging recreation experiences. He wrote one that's certainly one of the most important texts in the field called Recreation Programming, Designing, Staging, and Managing the Delivery of Leisure Experiences, now in its eighth edition. It's been a critical part of RST curriculums at more than 100 colleges and universities worldwide for more than 30 years. That's staying power, Bob.

And though he officially retired in 2006, he didn't stop contributing. He had a three-year visiting professorship at Texas A&M. For the first time in 23 years, he said that he was responsible only for teaching. He taught classes in China and Thailand. Three of his eight editions of his textbook came out after he retired.

He also co-authored Designing Experiences with Brigham Young University scholar Mathew Duerden, published in 2019 by Columbia Business School Publishing. The book recently received a silver medal in the Business Intelligence Innovation category of the 2021 Axiom Business Book Awards. And in 2020, he helped found the World Experience Organization.

His professional contributions have earned him a variety of accolades, including Legend in the Fields of Parks and Recreation Award from the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, the Academy of Leisure Sciences' Distinguished Colleague Award for lifetime achievement, and induction as a Fellow into the Academy of Leisure Studies and Science-- of Leisure Sciences, sorry.

When asked what he likes to do for fun, Bob said he and his wife just renovated their house. He swims every day, likes to play golf. He sings in the church choir, gardens, travels, and spends time with his grandchildren.

He said, "Life has been good to me. I remain as active as I can be. People still ask me questions as though I'm the authority on some of these things. So I guess I'll keep giving them answers. And I always tell people with pride that I graduated from the University of Illinois."

Well, Bob, pride goes both ways. And we are certainly honored to call you an alum. Please join me in congratulating Bob on receiving the AHS Distinguished Alumni Award.

[APPLAUSE]

You're up, Bob. Bob, go ahead and make comments for us, please.

J. ROBERT ROSSMAN: All right. Thank you, Dean Hanley-Maxwell. I appreciate that. And thank you to the people who served on the selection committee. I'm indeed honored to come back to your alma mater as a distinguished alum. I looked over the list of some of the other people who have won this, and I was impressed.

Dr. Al Bowman was the first recipient of this award. And he was the president of Illinois State University when I was there. So I had an opportunity to work with him-- Joe Bannon, a long time mentor, colleague, and friend of mine-- Hitoshi Nishino, who is from Japan. And he was a student here while I was a student. So we were students together-- and Frank Lupton, a long-time professional colleague from Western Illinois University. So it's certainly an honor to join them and others as a recipient of this award.

Most of the faculty who were my mentors here have retired. But they deserve mention and thanks. Joe Bannon, as you indicated, was instrumental in me coming. And offering me a lectureship really helped change my career course, for sure, and my life as well. Having completed both my master's and doctorate here, I think I've taken at least one course from every faculty member, and that includes Joe Bannon, Al Sapora, Jerry Burnam, Doug Kleber, Lynn Barnett, Bob Espeseth-- who's here today-- all contributed to my education. And each course I took really verified my selection of Illinois.

Dr. Jack Kelly was my advisor. Actually, I was his first doctoral student. And Jack was a sociologist. I came to this job from a position as an administrator in public recreation. Frankly, I'm not sure Jack understood what I was about or why he was my doctoral advisor, but we eventually worked things out. And Jack was most helpful in launching me toward a career in academe.

I've spent 23 years of my career in the State of Illinois, first in Oak Park and then here at the University. I grew up in Indiana. And I soon learned when I came to Illinois why Illinois had such better park and recreation facilities in their communities.

There are really two assets. One was the Illinois Park District Code. The other was the University of Illinois and its Office of Recreation and Park Resources. These two assets make community parks and recreation services in the state of Illinois different than any state we've lived in.

They're much better. They're better managed. The people are better trained. And I attribute a lot of that to the University of Illinois.

The University of Illinois reached out to me when I needed a master's program. They came to the Chicago area and offered a master's degree. Joe Bannon spearheaded this. But eventually, through, I think, arm twisting from Joe, each faculty member came and offered a course and a semester.

As the dean indicated, several of us signed up for this, but only seven finished it. We were known on campus as the Chicago Seven. And to finish, we had to come and take courses on campus. So we came on Friday. We took a course Friday morning and took a course Friday afternoon.

Then we had to stay over Friday night and take a graduate seminar Saturday morning. So that was quite an adventure. But we did end up and get degrees.

Another thing I'm thankful for is that Joe Bannon and Doc Sapora always tutored me a bit in how to be an administrator. And I never had a class in administration. But I think the old YMCA adage that more is caught than taught helped out here, because they really helped tutor me and get me ready for future success as an administrator.

A lifetime requires a lot of choices. And there are two that I think are most important and influenced my life most. One was marrying my wife Linda, who's here with me today. We celebrated our 52 second wedding anniversary and--

[APPLAUSE]

Joe always told me that. He said, when your wife's in the room, she's number one. Be sure to introduce her and--

[LAUGHTER]

--give her accolades. So I got you number one, here. But also, the second was choosing Illinois. At Illinois, I became and remained a student of programming, of leisure experience, and now experiences in general. While you're here, you learn the latest information in your field. But you also learn how to learn, how to discover, how to effectively apply new knowledge to issues in your field, and the joy of the whole enterprise.

Illinois degrees run deep. And since retiring, I've also done a lot, as the dean indicated, including three editions of my programming book and teaching at Texas A&M. Indeed, Illinois degrees run deep. They last a lifetime. And I thank Illinois for this opportunity and for this honor. Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Thank you, Bob, and congratulations. And Bob, if I had known you were part of the Chicago Seven, I would have had to have stood further away. Our next award winner is the Harold Scharper Award. And I believe Anjali will be joining us. OK.

Given annually since 1950 by our Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services, or DRES, and Delta Sigma Omicron. The award is named in honor of Harold Scharper, the first paraplegic to attend the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The award recognizes an alumna who has received services from DRES and who has obtained outstanding success and national or international distinction for the chosen business profession or life work.

Our honoree this year, Dr. Anjali Farber-Pratt could not be with us in person, but she is joining us virtually. In a second, she'll be joining us virtually.

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: I'm here.

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Ah, here? Oh, good. Well, first of all, let me say, Dr. Farber-Pratt really embodies the Harold Scharper Award. I'd like to tell you more about this remarkable woman.

Born in Kolkata, India, Anjali lived in an orphanage for more than two months before being adopted and moving to Massachusetts. She was diagnosed with transverse myelitis shortly after arriving there and was expected not to live. But Anjali is a fighter. She survived the illness that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

At just five years old, she was thrilled to see wheelchair racers in the Boston Marathon and soon took up the sport, winning many medals as a junior competitor. When she broke both wrists in an accident and couldn't race, she focused instead on downhill skiing.

[LAUGHTER]

And there's something about that makes me laugh, just like you guys did-- and again, won many medals. Are you seeing a pattern here? Anjali follows her passions and achieves great success. Unfortunately, one of the things she had to pursue passionately as a high school student was the right to be there.

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act was nearly 10 years old, Anjali's high school was largely inaccessible and insensitivity to her situation was rampant among school staff and district administrators. She sued the district in a precedent-setting case that resulted in the first punitive and compensatory damages awarded under the ADA in a public education domain.

And in hopes of making the situation better for future students with disabilities, Anjali's suit included a mandate for disability awareness training for everyone, from the maintenance staff to the superintendent. "Taking on a battle like that at such a young age is not for the faint of heart," Anjali said. "High school is weird, and it's an awkward time in general. But it's exponentially weirder and more awkward when you're involved in a federal lawsuit against the whole district."

About the same time she started high school, Anjali attended a wheelchair track camp here at Illinois. She was amazed by how accessible the campus was. So when it came time to choose a college, she couldn't help but compare every institution she looked at to Illinois.

She said, "Part of me was asking, did I want to go somewhere where I had to be a pioneer again? Or did I want to go somewhere where many of the accessibility battles had already been fought and won? I just wanted to have an opportunity to be a college kid."

And she did just that. She even put aside her athletic career-- well, competitive downhill skiing, because in Central Illinois, you really can't do that here. She decided to pursue her longstanding interest in communication and disability as a Speech and Hearing Science major and set her sights on a master's degree and a career in speech language pathology.

But while working with the top scholars and some of the department's labs, she fell in love with research. With a new plan to pursue an academic career, she completed her PhD in human resource development. This was a good career choice, make no mistake. But Anjali freely admits that she was also motivated to remain on campus as a student to get back into wheelchair racing. Hmm. How often have I heard that one?

She joined the wheelchair track team soon after beginning her master's degree and competed until 2012, including as a Paralympian in 2018 and the 2012 games. One of her favorite U of I memories is taking the Ilini team photos with the alma mater statue, which was wearing the medals of the team that they had just won at the 2011 world championships in New Zealand, including one gold and three silver medals that Anjali brought home.

In 2013, Anjali joined the University of Kansas as an assistant research professor. Two years later, she accepted an assistant professor position at Vanderbilt University. She quickly emerged as a rising star in the area of disability identity development and was well on her way to becoming an outstanding scholarly academic. But when the president of the United States asks you to service the director of a national institute, you don't say no.

Of her appointment to the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Anjali said, "This role represents a unique opportunity to leave a mark in a different way, to think more broadly about who isn't included in research but should be, and to lead by example. She hasn't met the big guy yet. Have you? OK. But she did help--

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: [INAUDIBLE] second gentleman.

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: But she but she did help prepare the second gentleman of the United States, Douglas Emhoff, for his trip to the Tokyo Olympics to cheer on Team USA, many of whom were Ilini, by the way. In your program book, you can see that Anjali has received many honors and awards, including the American Psychological Association Citizen Psychologist Award for advancing disability and human rights and social justice, and the Guiding Woman in Sport Award from Shape America.

But she says getting the Scharper Award is special. As a pioneer for students with disabilities in Illinois, Harold Scharper's story resonates with my own, trying to make the world a better place in my hometown and now trying to have a positive impact on the broader disability research community. Anjali, you said that Harold Scharper left big shoes to fill. But I have absolutely no doubt that you're well up to fulfilling that task.

We are so proud of you and so happy to present you with this year's Harold Scharper Award. Please join me in congratulating Anjali.

[APPLAUSE]

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: Thank you so much. As cliche as it sounds, this is such a tremendous honor. And I'm just so very humbled.

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Now, Anjali?

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: Yes?

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: I think you have the award there with you, don't you?

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: It is not within my reach.

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Oh.

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: But I can show you my water bottle.

[LAUGHTER]

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Well, we're still going to let you make comments.

ANJALI FORBER-PRATT: Oh, good. Oh, thank you. As a quick access note, I'm wearing my Ilini blue top and a black suit over it. Thank you, Dean Henley-Maxwell and to the award committee. Throughout my time at U of I, I had a lot of jobs in assistantships, maybe because I was there for so long. But one of my jobs was working with the College of AHS in the dean's office. And I used to help her prepare the blurbs for the annual awards program about the incredible awardees.

The thing I immediately remembered when I was phoned about the news of being selected to receive the Harold Scharper award was that he was a pioneer, a trailblazer, and as you heard, the first student with paraplegia to be a full-time student at Illinois. While I never knew him, I see a lot of myself within him.

Harold Scharper was just really tenacious and something that is truly embodied in a lot of what I do. His work on campus-- he was studying psychology, which I identify as my professional home. I remember an old issue of Sigma Signs, where he was writing back and forth with the research parapsychologists, which would now be considered rehabilitation psychology, which is much of the body of work where my research career on disability identity development has landed.

And in that issue of Sigma Signs, he was writing back and forth to this therapist. And he was not asking to be cured or fixed. He was asking for support, to be able to use his intellect, and to become a leader. And he did exactly that at Illinois, becoming a leader of DSO, a leader among the GIS kids. And I cannot believe that my life's work has risen to the level of this prestigious recognition. It also just means so much to me as a former and forever DRES student.

I also have always had a keen eye towards the U of I, before ever being on campus, because of the disabled leaders like Jean Driscoll, Scott Hollenbeck, and many others who were engaged with junior athletes like myself. My time at Illinois certainly had, as you heard, moments of athletic success. But it also taught me how to be a leader and how to be a researcher. And it was reinforced, the importance of giving back to others, especially to the disability community.

This was something that Harold Scharper emulated, based on Dr. Nugent's vision and tenacity. And it was passed on to Marty Morse and then to Adam Bleakney and also to Maureen Gilbert, who instilled these values in us as athletes. We were always encouraged to be more than just our athletic identity and to be involved in our local community, the campus community, and beyond.

Yes, some of these leadership qualities existed in me prior to coming to Illinois, as you've heard, in terms of my battle against my school district. But they were refined during my time at Illinois. When I arrived on campus, I was like a kid in a candy store.

There were so many opportunities. I personally had a hard time saying no. And at some point in time, ended up being president of multiple organizations at once, while juggling student life and mentorship from world-class professors.

But it was through these experiences and rigorous academics and student research experiences within Speech and Hearing Science that I learned so many of the skills that I use today. Since leaving, I've continued to blaze trails as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University, writing and bringing in grants and publishing, as well as filling a national mentorship void for students with disabilities who are interested in research. I've worked hard to put disability identity on the map, both in scholarly spaces and with professionals working with people with disabilities.

And at the original time of being notified of this award, I was just plugging away on the tenure track, with no intention of leaving academia. I had found my rhythm of research, teaching, and service. And then my world got turned upside down when I got a call from the Biden-Harris transition team, informing me that I'd been nominated to serve as a director of the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.

Now, I'm committed to improve the representation of people with disabilities, particularly of women of color with disabilities and leadership within the federal government, and in research in different ways than doing studies and writing the publications myself, but now truly helping to shape the federal research agenda on disability and rehabilitation and what knowledge we need for the disability research community. I'm honored to be working on this now with my team. I'm so humbled that my Illinois family has been such a strong support for me through my professional journey. And I think there's only one more thing left to say, which is I-L-L.

AUDIENCE: I-N-I.

[APPLAUSE]

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Thank you, Anjali, and congratulations again. So we have a new award this year, the Young Alumni Award, which recognizes graduates who have achieved early success in their professions. Though she completed her PhD just five short years ago, our inaugural recipient, Dr. Jennifer Jacobs, has compiled a truly remarkable list of accomplishments. Jennifer, can you please come up here?

[APPLAUSE]

Jen's research examines how sport can be used as a tool for developing positive outcomes for marginalized youth. She traces her interest in issues related to equity, inclusion, and social justice, growing up in the Rogers Park area of Chicago, the city's most ethnically diverse neighborhood. She said, "On my block, there were rich and poor people, people who spoke different languages, families who had two moms or no dads, or someone in a gang, or someone with a master's degree. My exposure to people from such different backgrounds early on was absolutely a privilege."

Throughout her life, she has enjoyed playing, watching, and coaching sports. But she was always more interested in the relationship and the psychological skills one could develop through play, rather than physical performance. Once she'd been able to label her area of interest as sports psychology, she decided to major in Kinesiology as an undergraduate.

Jen said she wanted to learn from one of the leading scholars in the area, Dr. Eddie McAuley, and one of the most reputable programs in the country. As a member of Dr. McAuley's exercise physiology lab, Jen learned more about how physical activity could help everyone, from top-level athletes to older adults, grow and reach their full potential.

You know, I've talked a lot these last couple of days, and it's starting to show. She says some of her best experiences were in Dr. McAuley's sports psychology class. "His classes were like performances," she said. "His lectures were so dynamic. In many ways, I started to see him as more as a coach than a college professor."

She said today, that Eddie learned-- studied people's pictures, so when he went into class the first day, he'd call people by name. That's pretty amazing. Jen began to think about how she could apply what she was learning in the classroom to issues that were important to her. She was passionate about working with youth who had suffered injustices because of systemic inequities.

After graduating from Illinois, she went on for a master's degree in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her master's study, she founded an educational, diverse, and fun summer camp, Camp Play A Lot, for youth in the Rogers Park area and ran it for 10 years.

Jen completed her PhD in educational psychology in 2016 at Northern Illinois University, where she focused her studies on sport-based youth development. She joined the faculty at NIU as a visiting assistant professor and was recently promoted to associate professor. And that alone deserves a round of applause.

[APPLAUSE]

The common theme through all of Jen's work is using sport and physical activity to help youth in underserved populations develop skills so that they can apply to life outside of sport. She is the associate director of the College of Education's Physical Activity and Life Skills Group, which promotes youth development and positive social change, in part by training teachers to use social and emotional learning in physical education.

In addition to her mini journal publications, book chapters, and conference presentations, Jen has participated in an international exchange program focused on racial and gender equity in both Sri Lanka and Belize. She started the Girls Boxing Club at a middle school in DeKalb to promote gender equity and physical activity. She founded Project Fitness Leadership Experience, or Project FLEX, which engages incarcerated youth in positive sport program that teaches leadership, life skills, and healthy fitness behaviors for life after prison.

Jen is most proud of Project FLEX. Since its founding, she has worked with hundreds of incarcerated youth, trained 10 graduate students to lead programming and collect data, expanded the program to a second site, and brought seven incarcerated youth to NIU to experience a day in the life of a college student. Many of the program's participants have stayed in touch after their release. And some have gone on to do similar work, using sport to foster change in their communities.

Jen, you've truly lived your values. It is little wonder that NIU's College of Education honored Jen with its 2020 Exceptional Contributions to Diversity and Social Justice Award. That same year, she received the Outstanding Honors Capstone Mentor Award from NIU's Honors Program. Again, considering that she regularly supervises the independent studies of more than 15 students a year, this is a well-deserved recognition.

Earlier, I mentioned that Jen considered her experiences in Eddie McAuley's sport psychology class as some of her best. But what she calls her most golden memories of her time at U of I is meeting the man who had become her husband, while playing pickup basketball, something she did every day after class.

One day, she got up the courage to ask him to join her on her coed intramural team, sponsored by Campus Recreation. And a month later, they had their first date at Brothers Bar. I totally forgot about Brothers Bar.

JENNIFER JACOBS: It's a classy place.

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Yeah. It was. It was a classy place on campus. So getting started on an outstanding career and meeting the love of your life? I'd say you accomplished a lot while you were here. And you've amassed an impressive list of accomplishments since, with undoubtedly so much more to come in your career as it unfolds in the world.

We're proud you got your start with us, Jen, and we're looking forward to following your successes. Please join me in congratulating Jen on receiving the AHS Young Alumni Award.

[APPLAUSE]

All right. Jen, would you please say a few words to us? All yours.

JENNIFER JACOBS: Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for being here. And thank you to my peer awardees for joining us. I'm so honored to be mentioned in the same space as you. And although I'm so honored to receive this award, a fantastic campus tour from Don today made me feel like having the word "Young" in the title feels a bit out of date, because a lot has changed in the decade it's been since I've been a student here. So I'm wondering if maybe the award should be named the "Young-ish" Alumni Award.

But nonetheless, it doesn't actually seem like too long ago that I was just an overeager sophomore arriving 15 minutes early to the first day of Dr. McAuley's intro to sports psychology class right here in Huff Hall. It was one of those oversized classroom spaces. And I take a seat in the second row, like always. I don't want to look too eager.

But I want to show my interest in the subject. That was always my go-to strategy. I was a nerd at heart. I loved learning, but I wasn't exactly confident enough yet at that time to broadcast that I wanted to do it for my entire life.

So I quietly reveled in the moment of opening a fresh notebook. Because back then, laptops were not the thing yet. Those cleanly lined notebook pages stared back at me, begging to be filled with esoteric terminology that can unlock the roadmaps to my bright-eyed, idealistic future me. I remember students filtering in and out of the classroom, scattering throughout the seats.

And then Dr. McAuley enters the room, and the magic happens. And that magic is learning. Dr. McAuley teaches about motivation and goal setting and communication, and how teams can prosper, and why sometimes individuals can falter. He walks up and down the aisles and perches on row ends, and elicits laughs and sometimes distress.

And I went back and forth deciding if I wanted to tell you about a certain distress I had in his class. And I will tell you. On my first exam, I earned a 67%. That was very stressful. In his class, I would furiously scribble notes that are just legible enough for me to happen to refer back to, even today in my own teaching.

And sitting in that classroom, something happens, something like what Sydney Harris describes as "education turning mirrors into windows." A student in the University of Illinois College of Applied Health Science is given a transformative gift, the opportunity to see a future that makes an impact. Maybe it's the state-of-the-art laboratories, or the cutting-edge research happening here, or the highly-devoted faculty, the committed administration. Maybe it's the school spirit, the unwavering commitment to orange. But attending school here does nothing short of give a student an encouraging glimpse into their impact.

In the early days, this impact for me looked like transferring my classroom knowledge to local spaces. I had an internship with the coaching staff at Danville High School girl's basketball team. I was a research assistant in the exercise psychology lab.

I would even go on to pilot mental skills techniques on the CRCE basketball courts, which was the brand new, shiny gym here. It started with the informal, pickup game play. I would bug players on the sidelines about how they could maximize their skills through the power of the mind. Super annoying, but that was my thing.

I would ultimately go on to organize an intramural team, which really is-- organized is a bit of a stretch of a word. But we held practices, and I had plays drawn up. And I also was a player.

And then somewhere in between all that, I snagged the interest of one of my teammates, who I would eventually start dating and inevitably marry. So talk about a big win there. But the impact of my education here superseded sports. And these days, I harness that knowledge to fulfill AHS' mission of building healthier communities and making life more inclusive.

Today, the work I do is in a lot of different settings, some pretty, some not-- Illinois juvenile prisons, on the streets of Belize, in the youth centers of Sri Lanka, and sometimes the schoolyards in Chicago Public Schools. I study how youth from vulnerable backgrounds develop their character through sport and play. I'm fortunate to work with a wonderful team of colleagues and outstanding students, where we have the opportunity to publish our findings, which, as Bob pointed out early, sometimes are only read by 10 people. But that's OK.

We've had the opportunity to receive funding from grant agencies, small, local, but all the way up to the federal level. We've had the chance to speak at national conferences and see first-generation students talk about their experience in research in front of audiences larger than this. And hopefully, I've had the opportunity to create some magic for students, just like it was created for me, in overcrowded lecture halls at my university.

And I have no doubt I would not be here without the transformative education that the University of Illinois afforded me. I'm gratified to be recognized for this award. I'd like to thank the College of Applied Health Sciences faculty and staff, the Alumni Association, Dean Hanley-Maxwell, and my professors during my time here at U of I, and most especially, my husband Andrew, for being the best keepsake I got to take home with me from my college days. Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

CHERYL HANLEY-MAXWELL: Thank you, Jen, and congratulations. I'd like to take one more opportunity to give a round of applause for all of our award winners.

[APPLAUSE]

I don't see them here. But before we conclude our program, I want to say thank you to our AHS Student Council members, the Mannie L. Jackson Illinois Academic Enrichment and Leadership Program, and Advancement Ambassadors for their assistance today. These student leaders hosted a wonderful lunch for our honored guests this afternoon. And while they're not here, they might see this video. So let's give them around of applause.

[APPLAUSE]

Thank you for coming and participating in the tribute to our outstanding honorees. I'll ask Bob and Jen to join me for some more photographs, I think. Are we doing more? OK-- for a few minutes. Please join us in our reception at the back of the room.

Now, before you get up and go-- I'm making sure you know-- we have a tailgate tomorrow at noon. I want you to be there. It's in lot 31, across from the stadium. So when you see-- on Kirby, you see the tents. You'll see the big [INAUDIBLE] We're right behind it.

So come join us and enjoy being outside, because you won't have to have your mask on there. Thank you, everybody.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]