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Spring 2022 issue cover showing part of Title IX with sports items in the backgroun

Celebrating the efforts of Redbirds who pushed for gender equity

Volume 22 • Number 3 • Spring 2022

Rewriting the narrative: Redbirds blazed trail for women before Title IX

Born nearly 30 years before Title IX—legislation passed in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities—Dr. Jill Hutchison is among a revolutionary cohort of trailblazing women from Illinois State who dedicated themselves to rewriting the national narrative of women’s athletics.

Learning and leading: Student Affairs prepared Dr. J. Michael Durnil to become a national advocate

Dr. J. Michael Durnil ’83, M.S. ’84, was surprised by the response to The E.W. Scripps Company announcing he would serve as the executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee last spring. He was soon interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio.

Elisabeth Good sitting at a table with photos and a studio light

Rewriting the script: Alumna Elisabeth Good puts people with disabilities in spotlight

William Shakespeare wrote that the world is a stage, and all humans are actors on it. Elisabeth Good ’15 became convinced at an early age that some have only been invited as spectators, specifically individuals with a disability.