Glacial Deposits.indd - Department of Geography - Geology - Illinois ...

of neighborhoods on adverse birth outcomes (in collaboration with Dr. Liz Legerski at the
University of Kansas); assessing the utility of satellite imagery to monitor the phenology
or seasonal timing of corn emergence in central Illinois; and an attempt to map
archaeological sites in Beni, Bolivia, by detecting informal cocoa (chocolate) orchards
that are frequently located near habitation sites. Apparently, the prehistoric inhabitants
used the cocoa bean to brew chocolate beer. If you drive along the rural roads of
McLean County this summer, you are likely to see Dr. Thayn flying a kite carrying a
remotely controlled camera as he collects images for his corn phenology research
project. In addition to research and class preparation, Dr. Thayn plans on spending this
summer exploring central Illinois with this wife, Debbi, and their four children and doing
some repairs on their Le Roy, Illinois, home. Email: jthayn@ilstu.edu
Jill Freund Thomas, Geography Education Specialist and Lecturer in Geography. B.S., 1982,
Anthropology-Archaeology/Geography, Illinois State University; M.S., 1986, Geography/-
Cartography, University of Idaho. Jill has finally made it through her twenty-fifth year
here at Illinois State. It is funny how she thought she would only be here for two years.
Time goes by pretty fast when having fun. The programs that she advises still see the
number of majors increasing steadily, which now requires Jill to meet with students
every half-hour during registration periods each semester. Jill taught her Geography 307
teaching methods course in the fall and incorporated a visit to the Chicago Public
Schools in learning about cultural diversity. Students really enjoyed it and even attended
a pep rally and had a free school lunch courtesy of the school principal. Jill is still
collecting data for the department’s NCATE review for our certification of the Earth and
Space Science Education and the Geography Education programs. She had eight
student teachers this past year spread all over the state. Several already found jobs and
are either teaching or will be teaching this coming fall. Jill coordinated a one-week Tri-
State Institute for teachers through the Illinois Geographic Alliance. The topic was finding
Lincoln throughout his life. Jill also coordinated the fall workshop for the Alliance in
Galena this past fall. And in the summer she coordinated a two-week teacher institute
called EarthScope here at Illinois State. Jill presented a paper at the NCGE meeting in
Puerto Rico this past fall and hopes to present in Savannah, Georgia, this coming fall.
She was busy as usual outside the office, included co-hosting the big twenty-first annual
Geography Career Fair, held at the Bone Student Center. Jill also judged at the state of
Illinois Geography Bee, held at the Chicago Field Museum, and attended several other
small workshops and conferences around the state. So traveling was popular this year
for her. She stepped down as President of the Illinois Geographical Society, but is
working with a new group called IGO, which promotes geography around the state. Jill
sent her oldest son to Eastern Illinois University this fall, where he has a soccer
scholarship and is majoring in special education. The house is still loud and crazy, but at
least there are fewer shoes to trip over at the door. Email: jfthoma@ilstu.edu
Stephen J. Van der Hoven, Associate Professor of Geology. B.S., 1985, Southampton
College; M.S., 1994, University of Arizona; Ph.D., 2000, University of Utah. During 2009-
2010, Steve taught his usual complement of five classes and focused on research
collaborations with colleagues at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). With respect to teaching, Steve served as the
director and instructor for the Environmental Geology Field Camp. The summer field
camp is a joint effort with Northern Illinois University, and is a required part of the Illinois
State Hydrogeology graduate curriculum and the NIU undergraduate Environmental
Geology major. In the fall, Steve taught Aqueous Geochemistry as well as teaching the
Research Methods seminar class for new graduate students. In the spring, Steve taught
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