2005-2006 Inductees

Biological Sciences, BS 1972; MS 1974; Ph.D. 1980

David DeMarini is a research genetic toxicologist in the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He also is an adjunct full professor in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. DeMarini has done basic and applied research on the types of mutations induced in DNA by various environmental pollutants and how those mutations might result in cancer.

He has published more than 130 scientific articles, is an editor of Mutation Research, the main journal in his field, serves on editorial boards of three other journals, and is president of the International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies, which provides the primary scientific means whereby those engaged in environmental mutagenesis research and related fields in all countries may communicate more readily with each other, and through this process, advance both basic and applied research in this area.

DeMarini has traveled extensively throughout the world, lecturing and teaching training course in genetic toxicology, especially in developing countries. In 1998, he organized an alumni symposium on campus honoring Herman Brockman, a distinguished professor of biological sciences at Illinois State and DeMarini’s mentor. DeMarini received the Illinois State University Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1990 and the Alumni Achievement Award in 2000.

 

Charles Dunn

Social Sciences Education, B.S. '62

Charles Dunn is Dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia. A Bloomington, Illinois, native and University High School graduate, Dunn served as president of the student body at Illinois State, and after graduation he attended Florida State University, earning a Ph.D. in political science at the age of 24.

He served on the faculties at Florida State University, the University of Illinois, and Clemson University, where he also served as department chair. He has also served as an administrative and legislative assistant to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as deputy director of the Republican Conference in the House, and as chief of staff to a U.S. Senator from New York. President Reagan appointed Dunn to the United States J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board—the world’s largest and most prestigious international exchange program—and he served an unprecedented four terms as the board’s chair.

Dunn has authored numerous books on American politics including The Conservative Tradition in America—which was on Choice magazine’s priority purchase list—and The Scarlet Thread of Scandal: Morality and the American Presidency—which traces presidential morality issues, both personal and political, from Presidents George Washington through Bill Clinton. Prentice-Hall will release his next book, Seven Laws of Presidential Leadership, in April.

He has been invited to present lectures and speeches in 13 countries, and he has appeared as a political analyst on The Today Show, World News Tonight, and The O’Reilly Factor, as well as in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, and The Washington Post. A former member of the Illinois State Alumni Association Board of Directors, Dunn received the Alumni Achievement Award in 1982 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995.

 

Joseph French

Social Sciences Education; Guidance and Personnel, S.E. '49, M.S.E. '50

Joseph French is a professor emeritus of education at Pennsylvania State University. He was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska and the University of Missouri before joining the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University in 1964. As professor of special education and education psychology, he directed programs in school psychology (1965-1977), special education (1969-1976), and educational psychology (1977-1990). He has contributed significantly to the field of school psychology. The tests he authored have advanced psychological assessment and influenced education for the gifted, special education, and early intervention.

He is also well known for his contributions to national policy for education and training in school psychology and his work on the history of school psychology. He holds a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology in School Psychology and has received multiple honors for his contributions to school psychology. In 1996 he received the Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Science and Profession of Psychology from the Pennsylvania Psychology Association.

He has served on the editorial boards of many journals and is the author or editor of 20 books, nine tests including the Pictorial Test of Intelligence, and numerous articles in refereed journals. French has also made significant contributions through his work on professional boards and associations including the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, the American Psychological Association, the APA Division of School Psychology, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology. French received the Illinois State University Alumni Achievement Award in 1987 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998.

 

Carl Kasten

Economics and Political Science,  BS '66

Carl Kasten is a senior partner in the law firm of Phelps, Kasten, Ruyle, Burns, Sims, & Meyer, P.C. in Carlinville, Illinois. While a student at Illinois State, Kasten served as Student Senate President as well as President of the Young Democrats chapter. He was awarded the Outstanding Senior Award in 1966.

Kasten then earned his law degree cum laude in 1969 from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was a recipient of the Wigmore Key for service and scholarship. He then returned to his hometown of Carlinville to practice law. He has been president of the Macoupin County Bar Association and has served statewide on the Board of Managers for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and as Trustee of the State Universities Retirement Systems.

He has also served as President of the 4-H Foundation of Macoupin County and president of his church board. Kasten served on the Illinois State Alumni Board before being appointed to the Illinois Board of Regents by Governor James Thompson in 1990 and then to the first Illinois State University Board of Trustees in 1996. In 2003, Kasten was elected Chair of the Board.

He also serves as the Board liaison to the Illinois State University Alumni Board. Kasten is a founding member and former chair of Illinois State University’s Attorneys Advisory Council, and in 2004 that group honored him with its Distinguished Service Award. The Council’s pre-law leadership award now bears Kasten’s name.

 

Michael McCuskey

Political Science, B.S.E '70, LLD '03

Michael McCuskey is chief judge in the U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois. He was a member of the 1969 National Collegiate Athletic Association baseball championship team while a student at Illinois State. Following graduation he taught history and coached baseball at Ottawa Township High School before completing a law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1975.

In 1991, he received the Illinois Public Defender Association’s Award of Excellence and Meritorious Service. He began serving as a judge in 1988, at which time he was elected to the 10 th Judicial Circuit, and then to the Third District Appellate Court in 1990. In 1998, he was appointed by President Clinton to the federal bench as a United States District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, and he became a chief judge in 2004.

McCuskey is very active in the Illinois State Bar Association. He is currently vice chair of the ISBA Civil Practice Section Council and past chair of the ISBA Federal Civil Practice Section Council. He previously served as a member of the Bench & Bar, Criminal Justice, and General Practice Section Councils. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Bar Association of the Central and Southern Federal District of Illinois.

His service to Illinois State University includes service on the board of the ISU Alumni Association and the Attorneys Advisory Council. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Illinois State, and in October 2005, Governor Blagojevich appointed McCuskey to the ISU Board of Trustees.

 

Martin Rademacher

Mathematics, B.S.E '59

Martin Rademacher is a senior engineer with the Technology Service Corporation performing classified work in support of the United States Government as he did for Geodynamics Corporation, later named Logicon Space and Technology Operations, from 1977-2001. As a student at Illinois State Normal University, Rademacher won letters in football, swimming, and track and was awarded the Redbird Award for athletics and academics his senior year. He was inducted into the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989.

He served a three-year stint with the U.S. Marine Corps after graduation, where he was assigned to a unit testing and characterizing the flight properties of the defensive HAWK surface-to-air missile system. Rademacher then went to work for Aerospace Corporation, where he modeled the properties of weapons systems developed by other countries. In 1977, he established a new area of business for the eleven-person Geodynamics Corporation, which under his technical expertise and leadership grew to include 600 employees and went public in 1985.

Rademacher is also a former member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the author of numerous U.S. Government technical reports. His work has revolved around space launches and missile work, and he was involved with the Gemini and Titan III launchings. He is co-creator of the Modularized Vehicle Simulation (MVS), which is used throughout the U.S. intelligence community for analysis and reconstruction of high interest U.S. and foreign launch trajectories.

 

Barbara Scholley

Biological Sciences, BS '80, SCD '99

Bobbie Scholley retired as a captain in the United States Navy on June 29, 2005 after 24 years of service. She was commissioned in 1981 through Officer Candidate School as an ensign and became a diving and salvage officer in 1983. She was one of a few women serving abroad U.S. Navy ships in the 1980s, first as the Electrical Officer, Diving Officer, and Navigator aboard USS CANOPUS, after that as Operations Officer and Navigator aboard USS VULCAN and then as the Executive Officer aboard USS HOIST.

In 1992, she was given command of the USS BOLSTER, becoming only the fourth woman in history to command a U.S. Navy vessel. While in command, she conducted tows of two decommissioned nuclear submarines and several decommissioned surface combatants. She faced one of her greatest challenges in her next assignment as diving and salvage officer for the Commander, Combat Logistics Group TWO when she became integrally involved in the recovery of TWA Flight 800. Scholley oversaw salvage ships and amphibious support ships, handled the daily coordination of all Navy assets, supervised and coordinated 200 divers, and also dove herself.

During her command of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit TWO, she lead a detachment of divers to Adan, Yemen for the salvage and recovery operations on USS COLE during Operation Determined Response, and she also lead the USS MONITOR Expeditions, recovering the historic civil war ironclad’s unique steam engine and famous revolving turret. She was promoted to captain in October 2002, and became the first woman to take command of Naval Weapons Station Earle, NJ. Under her leadership, the station provided over 80 percent of all Navy and Marine Corps ordnance for the initial phase of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

Her last assignment was as the Chief Staff Officer for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group TWO. In addition to numerous personal and unit awards, Scholley’s honors include the Legion of Merit Medal, six Meritorious Service Medals, an honorary doctor of science degree from Illinois State University, and the Outstanding Young Alumni Award (1994) and Alumni Achievement Award (2003) from the Illinois State University Alumni Association. She also has a master of science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

 

Sol Shulman

Chemistry

Sol Shulman is a professor emeritus of chemistry at Illinois State University and has served the university for over 30 years. Shulman was raised in Bielarus (Whiterussia) and fled with his family when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. He was wounded while in combat as a Russian Partisan fighting the Nazi’s when the invaded the Soviet Union. He was subsequently awarded the Partisan Warfare Medal for his heroism.

After the war, he left the Soviet Union and moved to Berlin, Germany, where he worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in a Transition Camp for Displaced persons. At age 19, he immigrated to the U.S. with his family and no knowledge of English and no high school education. He applied himself in school, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, and a doctorate in 1963 from North Dakota State University. While earning his doctorate degree, he also worked as a research chemist with Archer Daniels Midland Company.

After teaching at North Dakota State University and Moorhead State University, Shulman took a position as department chair at Illinois State in 1969, where he continued to serve on the faculty until 1992. He had a distinguished career at Illinois State and was elected Fellow by the American Institute of Chemists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1990, the Illinois Association of Chemistry Teachers named him Distinguished Teacher of Chemistry. Since retiring from Illinois State in 1992, Shulman has served on the university’s Foundation Board of Directors and on the Family Campaign Steering Committee

One of his greatest contributions was his role as consultant in the design and construction of ISU’s award-winning Science Laboratory Building, which opened in 1997. He donated his entire consulting fee—which despite his refusal the university had to pay because he was signing off on work orders—to the chemistry department and often worked on the project more than 60 hours per week. In 1999, he was honored by the National Society of Fundraising Executives (NSFRE) with the Exemplary Philanthropic Spirit Award for outstanding philanthropy.

 

Vincent J. Trosino

Psychology, M.S. '73

Vincent Trosino is president, vice chair of the board, and chief operating officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in Bloomington, Illinois. After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Villanova University in 1962, he began his career with State Farm as a management development trainee at the company’s Pennsylvania office. A series of promotions brought him to corporate headquarters in Bloomington, where he worked and earned his master’s degree from Illinois State in psychology.

In 1981, he was elected regional vice president for the northeastern region, headquartered in Wayne, N.J. In 1986, he returned to Bloomington to serve as vice president in the president’s office. He was elected executive vice president in 1987, chief operating officer in 1991, vice chair of the board in 1994, and president in 1998. In 1998, Trosino was elected chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for CPCU, the Insurance Institute of America, and the Insurance Institute for Applied Ethics. He is also a member of the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees, Vulcan Materials Company Board of Directors, and past chair of the advisory board of the Children’s Foundation of McLean County.

In 1992, he was appointed by Governor Jim Edgar to serve on the State Judicial Inquiry Board. He served on the Illinois State University Foundation Board from 1989-1997 and was chair of the board from 1993-1997. In 1992, he received an Achievement award from the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation of America, and in 1994 he received the Illinois State University Alumni Achievement Award. In 2000, he was awarded the distinguished alumni medallion from the College of Liberal Arts at Villanova University, and in 2001 he received the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Humanitarian Award in Chicago.

 

Chris J. Wiant

Chemistry, BS '72

Chris Wiant is president and chief executive officer of Caring for Colorado Foundation, a $150 million health conversion foundation that funds health care projects throughout the state of Colorado. He earned his Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Colorado, and prior to joining the Foundation in 2000 he had twenty-eight years experience in public health working for state and local government agencies designing and implementing new programs.

He began his career with the Illinois Department of Public Health and moved to Colorado to become director of environmental health for the Tri-County Health Department that serves the area surrounding Denver. He was named executive director at Tri-County in 1997. He serves on a wide variety of local, state, and national advisory boards for health and environmental issues. In 1998, the National Environmental Health Association and National Sanitation Foundation International presented him with the Walter F. Snyder Award for Achievement in Attaining Environmental Quality.

Among his most significant accomplishments was his role in negotiating the remedy to clean-up the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Established by the Department of Defense during World War II as a chemical weapons manufacturing facility, the arsenal was used by private industry as a chemical production facility until 1982 and left behind extensive soil contamination that threatened private drinking water supplies. Wiant was awarded the Commander’s Medal for Public Service from the assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for leading this two-year effort. In 1999, Wiant received Illinois State University’s Alumni Achievement Award.

 

W. Charles Witte

Business Administration and Economics, BS '71

Chuck Witte is a retired circuit court judge for the State of Illinois. He has pursued his interest in law and the University throughout his career. In 1978, he was appointed Associate Circuit Judge for McLean County. He was then elected and retained as McLean County Resident Circuit Judge.

He graduated from the National Judicial College in 1980 and the National College of Juvenile and Family Court Judges in 1982. In 1980 he developed a criminal education program for all sixth grade students in McLean County, which he taught for 22 years. This program was recognized by Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justices Robert Underwood and Howard Ryan as an “outstanding law-related education program,” and it has been used as a model by other judicial districts.

He served on the faculty for several judicial seminars and for two years as Chairman of the state-wide Associate Judge Education Committee. He began his leadership and service to Illinois State University as a student. He was elected Student Body President, president of the University Union Board, was appointed one of the first Preview Guides, and was elected to the first Academic Senate. He also initiated the student legal services program, which has assisted students for more than 26 years.

Witte began serving on the Alumni Association Board of Directors immediately after graduation and continued for 18 years, including two years as President. He also served 19 years as a member of the Illinois State University Foundation Board of Directors. He also was an instructor in business law for two years Witte has served on the Illinois State University Attorneys Advisory Council and is currently chairing the College of Arts and Sciences Community Advisory Board. He served nine years on the BroMenn Healthcare Board of Directors, including three years as chair. In 1998, he was awarded the E. Burton Mercier Alumni Service Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the University and to humanity. Witte and his wife Donna (Skrinskus) Witte (BS ‘68; MS ‘71) have two daughters, Alison and Elizabeth.