Illinois

Get to know your CAST leadership team

Published

5 months ago

February 3, 2026

Press Room

Here are some fun facts about the College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) leadership team.

Chad McEvoy, dean

Favorite Illinois State or Bloomington-Normal annual event: Commencement

What’s your coffee order? Lots of coffee—hot coffee when it’s cold out and iced coffee in the summer

Best concert you have ever attended: Elton John and Billy Joel together

Cara Rabe-Hemp, executive associate dean

Number of years at Illinois State: I just started my 25th year.

Favorite part of your job: Working with the amazing CAST faculty, staff, students, and leadership team (and spreadsheets)

Favorite quote: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” —Maya Angelou

Kara Snyder, assistant dean of marketing, communications, and constituent relations

Favorite place on campus: The bridge between Milner Plaza and the Quad. I like being able to see it all.

Favorite way to unwind on the weekend: A hot yoga class

Favorite local restaurant: Fort Jesse Café

Tamekia Bailey, director of student success and CAST Connections

Number of years at Illinois State: 21. I came in 2004 as a transfer student and never left.

Something that is always on your desk: hand sanitizer

Leadership philosophy: Leadership is both a responsibility and a privilege, grounded in service, intentionality, accountability, and growth.

Cindy Greskiwcz, business administrative associate

Favorite place on campus: CEFCU Arena

Favorite fictional character from a book, show, or movie: Mickey Mouse

Something that is always on your desk: pen, paper to-do-list, and Breathe Deep lotion (something very needed)

Toni Burningham, director of development

Favorite local restaurant: Anju Above

Favorite fictional character from a book, show, or movie: Ellen Ripley in Alien movies (played by Sigourney Weaver)

Leadership philosophy: If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

Teresa Fowler, office manager

Favorite local restaurant: Tobin’s Pizza

Dream vacation destination: Alaskan cruise

Favorite Illinois State or Bloomington-Normal annual event: Sweet Corn Circus festival

Chandra Smith, director of CAST-IT

Something that is always on your desk: Two Minions from the Minions movie, my years of service coin, and a dumpster fire coin

Favorite quote: “Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses—unless the printer jammed again, then it’s totally the printer’s fault.” —Office wisdom

Favorite way to unwind on the weekend: Relaxing on the deck or patio with the people I love

Lucas Maxwell, chair of the Department of Agriculture

Something that is always on your desk: Sadly, a long to-do list

Favorite part of your job: Supporting students and faculty while building a strong, inclusive future for agriculture

Favorite place on campus: The University Farm, where education gets its boots muddy, and learning is hands-on

Donna Selman, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

Favorite part of your job: Finding ways to make people’s lives easier

Go-to coffee order: London Fog

Best concert you have ever attended: Monsters of Rock in Germany, 1989

Kelly Reddy-Best, chair of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Go-to snack: Greek yogurt

Dream vacation destination: Vietnam/Ho Chi Minh Trail

Leadership philosophy: Lead with clear and compassionate communication, a deep commitment to justice and equity, and a strong belief in work-life balance to foster inclusive, sustainable, and trust-centered environments.

Chris Grieshaber, chair of the Department of Health Sciences

Favorite part of your job: Working with my colleagues on new ideas

Favorite way to unwind on the weekend: Soccer is my therapy

Dream vacation destination: Lazy: Hawaii; Not lazy: London

Sherif Rashad, director of the School of Information Technology

Go-to coffee order: Americano, no sugar and no milk

Best concert you have ever attended: Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House, Egypt

Favorite quote: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” —Steve Jobs

Noelle Selkow, director of the School of Kinesiology and Recreation

Favorite place on campus: Redbird Plaza, on the swings

Go-to snack: Cashews and string cheese

Favorite Illinois State or Bloomington-Normal annual event: Sugar Creek Arts Festival

Lt. Col. Steve Krippel, chair of the Department of Military Science

Favorite place on campus: Horton Field House (Morning PT)

Favorite way to unwind on the weekend: Working on old Chevys

Favorite fictional character from a book, show, or movie: Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan)

Josh Brown, chair of the Department of Technology

Something that is always on your desk: Coffee

Favorite place on campus: Adjacent to campus … Uptown Normal

Best concert you have ever attended: It’s a tie: Rage Against the Machine (Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan, 1999) and Jack White (American Legion Hall, a small venue in Nashville, Tennessee, 2024)

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Illinois

Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash

Published

12 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Press Room

Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash

The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223K in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101K higher than it had reported the day before.

But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.

Republicans no longer have a pet billionaire. Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin have fled the state. The legions of wealthy business titans who once contributed and raised money have either retired to sunnier climes or passed away. Several prominent party members have publicly shunned labor unions and their hefty political war chests, although the state GOP legislative leaders have at least tried to rebuild ties to trade unions and even the Illinois Education Association. But the heavily gerrymandered legislative map combined with the current political climate means they’ll mostly receive scraps.

And, yes, the House Democrats are struggling this month with scandals, including a state representative who resigned under pressure and another who was indicted. I’m not trying to downplay that at all. But Democrats have the national political environment, the local infrastructure and tons of cash behind them. The Republicans have little to none of that.

The GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, Darren Bailey, raised $1.3 million in the second quarter, which ended June 30. That sounds like a lot, but he spent almost all of that on direct mail fundraising costs. The huge expenditures do give him a prospect list for future fundraising, but he ended the quarter with a mere $128K in the bank. That was still a whole lot more than the rest of the statewide ticket.

Attorney General nominee Bob Fioretti, a perennial candidate, raised $31K, spent $39K and had $28K on hand at the end of the quarter along with almost $15K in recent debt. Secretary of State candidate Diane Harris raised $6K, spent a bit over $4K and had a paltry $1,816.42 in the bank. Treasurer candidate Max Solomon, who ran as a write-in during the primary because the party failed to recruit anyone, raised less than $3K, reported no spending and ended the quarter with less than $8K. Comptroller candidate Bryan Drew raised $30K and received $47K in in-kind contributions from a company owned, ironically, by independent gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett, spent less than $3K, ended with $54K and had $25K in debt from earlier this year.

Man, that’s just downright pathetic.

But I suppose it doesn’t really matter anyway unless we see a massive sea-change in national opinion in the coming months or the federal government finds a way to not certify certain election results. Regardless of where individual candidates are at this moment, they’ll have the money to compete. Unlike the Republicans, the Dems do have a pet billionaire (JB Pritzker) and, I assume eventually for most of them, organized labor.

The Republican legislative leaders have tried to scrape and claw as much as they can, but they’re vastly outgunned. Senate Republican Leader John Curran raised just $75K in the second quarter. He spent $71K and reported having a bit more than $3 million in the bank. His caucus committee reported having $160K in the bank.

Leader Curran has three Republican-held districts to defend in the Chicago media market that have all trended Democratic in the last three cycles. Depending how bad things get, he could be defending a couple, two or three more.

The Senate Democrats have a ton of money to do whatever they want. Senate President Don Harmon has about $20 million in his personal campaign account and $1.7 million in his caucus account.

Over in the House, Republican Leader Tony McCombie has at least four Democratic-trending or swingy districts to defend and just $1.3 million in her personal campaign account and another $363K in her caucus account so far.

In contrast, House Speaker Chris Welch had $11.4 million in his personal account and $1.2 million in his caucus account. Like Senate President Harmon, he has more than enough money already, but more is never enough when there’s so much out there, so those numbers will likely rise by November.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Illinois

Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur

Published

24 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Press Room

Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur

BLOOMINGTON — Springfield’s Alex Eickhoff nearly had a magical Thursday as he tied for second place in the 95th annual Illinois State Amateur Championship at Crestwicke Country Club.

Eickhoff, a 2020 Hillsboro High School graduate and former standout on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s men’s golf team, shot a 4-under-par 68 in Thursday’s third round and followed that with an even-par 71 to finish the three-day, four-round event 1-over 285. He tied for second with Bloomington’s Logan Stauffer.

Eickhoff briefly took the lead through nine holes of his fourth round when he sat at 1-under par. Chicago’s Charlie Kulwin finished both of Thursday’s rounds under par and finished 2-under 282. He was the lone golfer to finish under par for the tournament.

Eickhoff was The State Journal-Register’s Small School Boys Golfer of the year twice in his high school career: once as a freshman in 2016-17 and again as a senior in 2019-20. After high school, he golfed for the University of Minnesota for two years before transferring to SIUE.

He began the tournament with a 3-over 74 on Tuesday and shaved off a stroke Wednesday with a 2-over 73. He closed out the event with an even-par 71 in Thursday’s final round.

Other area golfers who made the cut were Springfield’s Charles Hoogland (7-over 291, tied for 20th) and Jacksonville’s Brady Kaufmann (8-over 292, 25th).

The last golfer from The State Journal-Register’s coverage area to win the Illinois State Amateur was Jay Davis. Davis, a Jacksonville Routt graduate, won the 1991 and ‘92 tournaments.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

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Illinois

Illinois awards AD Josh Whitman a new contract worth more than $31 million over the next 10 years

Published

1 day ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

Illinois awards AD Josh Whitman a new contract worth more than million over the next 10 years

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois has extended athletic director Josh Whitman’s contract through 2036, committing more than $31 million over the next 10 years on the heels of a series of standout seasons for the department and its teams.

The university’s board of trustees approved the new deal for Whitman at its regular meeting on Thursday. The fifth-longest tenured AD among the four power conferences will make $2.15 million during the 2026-27 school year, a salary increase of more than 40%.

Whitman is scheduled to receive $100,000 raises annually before a $200,000 bump to $3.15 million in the final year of the agreement and a $500,000 retention bonus each June 30 that he remains on the job at Illinois.

The contract also includes additional incentives of up to $500,000 annually related to performance goals set by the university chancellor and three automatic one-year extensions through 2039 if certain Illini football and men’s basketball performance measures are met.

Whitman, a former Illinois football player, was hired in 2016. This was the fifth time his contract has been amended. The men’s basketball team reached the NCAA Final Four in April for the first time in 21 years. The football team won 19 games over the last two seasons, a program record for that span. Illini athletics also set a revenue record for a fourth consecutive year and topped $200 million for the first time in 2025-26, according to the board of trustees meeting memo.

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