The Department of Health Sciences is pleased to present Justin Artman as our latest featured student!

Justin was born in Fairbury and grew up in Bloomington. He served in the Marines as an environmental compliance officer and ground safety manager before coming to Illinois State to pursue a degree in both Safety and Environmental Health. He chose Illinois State because of the Safety program and his family’s Redbird history. Justin’s family even has a 43-year tradition of attending the Homecoming Parade and football game!

On top of being a father and husband, Justin is involved with several veteran organizations off campus as well as the American Society for Safety Engineers Student Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association Student Section, and Veterans in Service RSO. After he graduates, Justin says he can see himself reentering the workforce for the Department of Defense.

“Most of my adult life has been spent in and around the military, so I believe that I would most like to return and help the services in EHS,” he said.

Justin says his father is his role model. Justin is dedicated to his family and loves spending his free time with his children. They are avid hockey fans and attend most of the Bloomington Thunder home games. If he could do one thing, it would be to take his wife on a honeymoon. When Justin and his wife got married he was still active duty so their plans for a honeymoon were lost in the shuffle of life. He says that her dedication to their family deserves a honeymoon.

If Justin could give one piece of advice to students that are just starting their college career it would be to work hard and set achievable goals. Small successes add up and make achievements easier to attain.

Justin was nominated by the Safety faculty because of his involvement in the Safety program.

“Justin is a student who engages himself,” said Safety faculty member Paul Ronczkowski. “He’s had some experience. He gets ‘it’ — the ‘it’ being what it takes to apply yourself in the classroom to enable learning which prepares you for a future career as a safety professional.”

Thank you Justin for being a part of the Safety and Environmental Health family at Illinois State!