Unit: Alumni Engagement

State editor Susan Blystone ready to write next chapter

Susan Marquardt Blystone ’84, M.S. ’03, in her office in the Alumni Center

Susan Marquardt Blystone ’84, M.S. ’03, could not have predicted that her decision in middle school to be a journalist would result in a 27-year editorial career at Illinois State University. For the past quarter century, she served as editor of State, ISU’s alumni magazine.

Class notes: Summer 2022

dozens of red tulips in front of a large bell

Keep up with what fellow alumni are doing by reading our class notes for the summer 2022 alumni magazine issue.

Then and now: Welcome Week

The Index yearbook documents that freshmen in 1955 had a convocation and box lunch, campus tours, a watermelon picnic, and church receptions. The highlight was an all-school mixer where new students mingled with upperclassmen.

Efforts to welcome incoming students has been an ISU tradition for decades. What’s changed is the type of activities that get students connected before classes begin in the fall.