Scholarship memorializes anthropologist and ISU Faculty Emeritus Edward B. Jelks

Illinois State anthropology students Brian Keeling and Molly McManus dig through the thick soil at the Noble-Wieting site.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology lost one of its most talented and influential members in 2021 with Professor Edward B. Jelks’ passing on the evening of December 22. In his fifteen years as a Professor of Anthropology at Illinois State University, Jelks made enormous contributions to the University and to many of the graduates of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, which Jelks started in 1968.

Birds Give Back 2022 results

Fell Hall

Birds Give Back is the annual day of giving for at Illinois State University. The School of Communication received the most gifts and raised more than twice the amount it did in 2021.

Redbirds complete the mission of this year’s Birds Give Back

Reggie Redbird talking on the phone

For the fourth straight year, Illinois State completed the mission of Birds Give Back, a day where Redbirds come together to celebrate the University. Thanks to our donors, $958,944 was raised from 2,919 gifts, making this year’s edition the University’s second-best giving day ever following last year’s record-setting show of support.

Naming opportunities available for new gaming complex

A rendering of the inside of the new esports gaming complex

In fall 2021, Illinois State University’s Board of Trustees approved the development of a larger, enhanced gaming complex in the Bowling and Billiards Center to become the future home of Redbird Esports. Renderings of the gaming complex are now available, as well as naming opportunities throughout the space.