Jason Bertrand (’99) did many things with his time at EIU. He served as a Resident Assistant; was an active member of a fraternity; and took his first steps towards his career in country music.

Music has been an important part of Jason's life for quite some time. He sang in his grade school choir; worked as a DJ for hire; and played in a college cover band. According to his official website, it was the time in the cover band at EIU that truly solidified his musical aspirations. Chronic Itch, the band Jason and four other EIU students formed, dabbled in a number of different musical tastes including rock and country. They folded in 1998 and reformed once before eventualy splitting up for good. Jason is now traveling the country with his band Jason and the Haymakers in support of their debut album "Home".

Jason and the Haymakers, which also features EIU Alum David Caughran ('98, '08), have shared the stage with the likes of Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and Kid Rock.

University Housing & Dining Services was recently awarded the Outstanding Innovation Award at the 2011 Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers (GLACUHO) Conference for its Electronic Socio-gram Project.

As part of the project, staff members were required to track their interactions with students and report them on a secure, on-line, central database. By combining the shared data in this easily accessible centralized package, it has become easier to identify patterns as they begin to form on individual floors, in buildings, or across campus as a whole. This allows the department to better map out student needs, and identify trends - often while they are still in the process of forming.

The information gathered from the Electronic Socio-gram has thus far proven itself as invaluable as it has helped identify, amongst other things, small sets of communities dealing with on-line “bullying”, and individual pockets of students showing high levels of stress related to long-distance relationships. While this project is still in its infancy, and further testing is still needed to verify its long-term use, its future looks bright as long as it continues to provide results.

This past semester University Housing & Dining Services and the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) joined forces with the University Board and Greek Court Council to play host to a truly inspirational talk about hope, survival and the power of forgiveness. Eva Kor, Holocaust Survivor and human rights activist, recounted how she and her twin sister survived Auschwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele, and the years that followed their eventual rescue. Read more about her presentation here.

• This fall the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) successfully raised over $5,500 for the Mills Breast Cancer Institute in Champaign, IL. With this most recent donation, NRHH will have donated over $23,000 over the past five years in the name of this worthy cause.
• It was bound to happen eventually! Thomas Hall, a long-time all male residence hall, is about to go coed.
• Current Andrews Hall resident Anne Rozek recently appeared on Jeopardy’s College Championship Week. Rozek, a Presidential Scholar at EIU, was one of only 15 students from throughout the country chosen to participate.
• EIU is now accepting applications for the Associate Resident Director and Resident Director positions for the 2012-2013 Academic Year. Interested? Know someone who is? Send them our way.
• The University Food Court is celebrating its 10th year of operation. It seems like we were at the official ribbon cutting ceremony just yesterday.
• Are you ready for the next Housing Staff Alumni Reunion? We know we are. It’s been set for June 4-7, 2015. So, save the date and spread the word! 

Former EIU Resident Assistant and CSA Alum Jennifer Waller ('93, '95) recently began here new role as the Executive Director for the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA).

As Executive Director, Waller serves as a spokesperson for the organization, and will work closely with the ASCA leadership in a variety of areas including research, recruitment, peer networking, budgeting and member education. She will also serve as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors.

Waller holds a Bachelors of Arts in Speech Communications; a Master of Science in Education in the field of Guidance and Counseling; a Master of Education in the field of Higher Education Administration; and recently defended her dissertation in Higher Education Administration. She most recently served as the Coordinator of Residence Education for Conduct and Community Development at Texas A&M University.

She has worked at Eastern Illinois University, the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, Texas Tech University, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Texas A&M University. 

We hope you found the Alumnus Newsletter helpful and interesting and welcome your contributions, comments and suggestions concerning its contents. Plus, if you would like to let us know what you’re up to these days, or have an idea for an article, we would love to hear from you.

Please direct your comments to:
Jody Stone
Associate Director of Housing & Dining Services for Residential Life
University Housing & Dining Services
Charleston, IL 61920-3099
jestone@eiu.edu