David and Ann Atkins attended the University of Illinois where both earned teaching degrees in the early 1990s. In this interview, they discuss why they chose the University of Illinois, campus life, notable professors, and meeting while living at Stratford and Koinonia houses.
Vanessa Faurie graduated from U of I in 1987 with a B.S. in Journalism/News and also completed her MBA in 2015. During her freshman year she was occasionally contributing writer for the Daily Illini and by her senior year, she served as editor in chief. She also interned with Teen Age (magazine) and National Geographic before graduating. Faurie stayed in the Champaign-Urbana after graduating and has worked at the university since 1988. She started at the Alumni Center as an editor and has worked her way to becoming the Director of Advancement for Research Initiatives.
Vern Fein graduated from the University of Illinois in the early 1970s. Since that time he has stayed in the community and taught. In this interview, he talks about his political activism as a student and how those experiences have shaped his life. Fein served as president of the Students for a Democratic Society and was involved in Students for Free Speech. Fein worked for the on-campus underground newspaper, Walrus, helped establish the Red Herring, and was pivotal in campus organizing.
Victor Fein came to the University of Illinois after serving in the US military. Eventually, Victor became a co-founder of a local co-op called Earthworks. The co-op started out as a small art studio selling handmade wood and leather good. It eventually grew to include a clothing shop, pet store, and grocery. Victor and his wife also opened a restaurant, Metamorphosis, out of the co-op.
Wendy Mathewson and Beth Watkins (both BA '96) met in an avant-garde honors seminar, "The History that Music Made." They became roommates and lifelong friends. Both graduates of the Department of History, both women are employed by the university today. Mathewson is the undergraduate advisor for the Department of History, and Watkins is the Education and Publications Coordinator at the Spurlock Museum. In this interview, they describe campus life in the 1990s and the gradual shifts in their political, religious, and worldview perspectives that they attribute to a liberal arts education. They reflect on enduring friendship across deep differences, the value of finding smaller communities within a large university, exposure to diversity, and the importance of resilience.
Winton Solberg, professor emeritus in the Department of History, wrote numerous articles and published multiple books on the University of Illinois's history. Born in 1922, Solberg grew up during the Great Depression and served in World War II, and after the war decided to pursue a PhD in history. He came to the University of Illinois in 1961, when university president David Dodds Henry approached Solberg to write a volume on the university's history. He taught American Intellectual and Cultural History as well as an occasional survey course until his retirement from teaching in 1992. In the spring of 2018, he had two manuscripts pending publication in addition to the recently released Creating the Big Ten: Courage, Corruption, and Commercialization.
