The Prairie Landscape

The Illinois Humanities Council Welcomes New Board Members

10/16/2001

The Illinois Humanities Council has announced the election of seven new members to its Board of Directors: The Honorable Joan Gottschall (Chicago), Alton B. Harris (Chicago), Gayl S. Pyatt (Pinckneyville), Arthur Sussman (Chicago), Rolf A. Thienemann (Rockford), Jan Wright Vergon (Peoria), and Willard White (Chicago).

“The Illinois Humanities Council will benefit greatly from the infusion of talents our new Board members bring us. We are thrilled that our board of Directors reflects the diversity of Illinois and welcome our new friends to the IHC,” said Kristina Valaitis, Executive Director of the Illinois Humanities Council.

  • Joan Gottschall is a United States District Judge who has previously served as a United States Magistrate Judge. She has been an attorney, Office of Legal Counsel, the University of Chicago; a partner at Jenner & Block, and a Staff Attorney, Federal Defender Program. She is a member of the Visiting Committee to the University of Chicago Divinity School, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the Martin Marty Center of that same institution. She is also Member, Board of Directors, Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago; as well as the American Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. She has a B.A., cum laude, from Smith College and a J.D. from Stanford.
  • Alton B. Harris is a founding partner of Ungaretti & Harris in Chicago. He focuses his practice on the federal regulation of financial institutions and financial products and services. The National Law Journal named him one of the 50 outstanding securities lawyers in the United States. He is an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University Law School, where he teaches courses on the regulation of derivative products and the financial markets. He served as a consultant to the Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Federal Securities Code, and was a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the National Association of Securities Dealers. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Committee on Securities Regulation of the American Bar Association and is a Life Trustee of the American Bar Foundation. He served for 14 years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College Chicago, where he remains a Life Trustee. He is a past chairman and a current board member of the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Foods.
  • Gayl S. Pyatt is an attorney in private practice in Pinckneyville, IL. She served on the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Gaming Board and is an officer of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. She was the first woman elected president of the University of Illinois Foundation and is a life member of the U of I Alumni Association. She received the Distinguished Service Award from that Association and the President’s Award for Service from the UIF. At SIU, she served on the Board of Directors, the Morris Library Board of Visitors, the Founding chancellor’s Council and the Daniel B. Parkinson Society [for generosity to the institution]. She was the Illinois representative on the National Republic platform Committee in 1996. She has an A.B. in the teaching of English from UIUC, an M.S. in family studies from Michigan State and a J.D. from SIU.
  • Arthur Sussman is V.P. and Secretary of the MacArthur Foundation. He served the University of Chicago for 21 years as chief legal officer, developing and administering university policies regarding labor, personnel and benefits, and oversaw all operations of Argonne National Laboratory. He managed the University of Chicago’s government relations program and advised presidents on numerous issues involving university governance, organization, and research and technology transfer. He has overseen the operations of the Laboratory Schools, the University Dean of Students Office, and guided initiatives to improve the quality of student life. He was a lecturer in the Law School and the GSB, and he and his wife, Rita, served for five years as Resident Masters in Woodward Court. Sussman also serves on boards for the Chapin Hall Center for Children. Mr. Sussman joined the U of C in 1979 after 2 years as university legal counsel at SIU, Carbondale. From 1970-77, he practiced law at Jenner & Block in Chicago. He received his B.S. from Cornell in 1963 and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard in 1966.
  • Rolf A. Thienemann is V.P. of Furst Transitions, an outplacement counseling service in Rockford, IL. Before joining Furst, he was President and GM of Muller-Pinehurst Dairy. He was Rockford Park District Commissioner for 19 years and president of that organization for 8 years. He was also community director of National City Bank-Rockford. He serves on the governance committee of Rockford Health Systems, and as a trustee of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. He chairs the board of Burpee Natural History Museum and is a director of the Rockford Park District Foundation. He is a past president of the Rockford Rotary Club and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra; a founding board member of Rockford’s New American Theatre and the Rockford Dance Company. He graduated from Beloit College.
  • Jan Wright Vergon is President of Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. She co-founded Inter-Business Issues, The Peoria Woman, and Arts Alive and is now sole owner. She is a member of the board of directors of the Peoria Area Community Foundation, the Arts Partners of Central Illinois, the Forest Park Foundation, the Illinois Central College Education Foundation, and the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross. She is a member of the advisory boards of the Children’s Hospital of Illinois, and the Junior League of Peoria. She also serves as secretary on the board of directors for the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and on the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois. She has received the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce Athena Award, the Peoria Jaycee’s Outstanding Young Business Professional Award, the Peoria YWCA Lydia Moss Bradley Communications Award, the Women in Management Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur Award and the Peoria Area Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Media Friend of Tourism Award, among others.
  • Willard White is Executive Vice President of Ter Molen Brandt & Associates, a consulting firm serving not-for-profit organizations across the United States. The firm’s specialty includes all aspects of fund raising, program development, strategic planning and management. Before joining Ter Molen Brandt & Associates, White had a thirty-year career in fundraising and nonprofit management, most recently as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at The Field Museum in Chicago. His professional experience also includes positions at the Newberry Library as Vice President, and as Executive Director of Development at Illinois Institute of Technology. White is active in many local, national and international causes, including the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, the Japan-America Foundation, the Clarence Darrow Foundation, and the National Council on US-Arab Relations. White was named a Joseph J. Malone Fellow in 1993 by the National Council on US-Arab Relations and participated in a study tour to the United Arab Emirates and Oman in 1994, followed by study in Yemen in 1995, Kuwait and Oman in 1996, and Tunisia in 1999. He is an experienced traveler in the Middle East and North Africa, a tour leader for The Field Museum, and a travel lecturer. He received his B.A. degree from Denison University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.

For further information about the IHC, please contact the IHC at 312.422.5580 or visit our website at http://www.prairie.org.

The Illinois Humanities Council is an educational organization dedicated to fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities. Through its programs and services, the IHC promotes greater understanding of, appreciation for, and involvement in the humanities by the citizens of Illinois, regardless of their economic resources, cultural background, or geographic location. Organized as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1974, the IHC is now a private nonprofit (501 [c] 3) organization that is funded by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations; by the Illinois General Assembly; and by the NEH.

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