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Postseason play for women’s basketball
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Summer 2010 • Volume 16, Issue 3
JEANNE CYRIAQUE ’72: Hunting for history in the South | Obama nominates JAMES SHADID ’79 for federal bench | DAVID BETEBENNER ’81: LAS Distinguished Alum | LISA FIELDING ’89: Chicago anchor | JONATHON ROMAIN ’90: Painting with a purpose | Bradley buddies BOB KNOTT ’91, JEFF HOFFMANN ’91, ELLIOT BARETZ ’91 run top Chicago company | TED BERGER ’03: Passion for public service | CARRIE SEBREE ’99: You’re invited | JACQUELYN KIMMEL ’09: New honors for grad
Historic African American schoolhouse. Photo courtesy Jeanne Cyriaque
Many of those clues come in the form of buildings. “When African-Americans were freed from slavery, one of the first things they wanted to do was build schools and churches,” Cyriaque said. In 1912, Booker T. Washington partnered with Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Co., to build more than 5,000 rural schools for African-Americans in the South. Between 1915 and 1937, 279 schools were built in Georgia. Some were made of wood and had only one or two classrooms, such as the school shown at right. Others had as many as eight classrooms and an auditorium and were constructed from brick. “I have been on an extraordinary journey and have found 49 of them that still stand so far,” Cyriaque said. She does the same kind of work with segregation-era schools that were abandoned in the 1970s, as well as churches. In Georgia, there are more than 175 historic African-American churches listed in the National Register of Historic Places, such as the church shown at right. “We work to get the buildings we find listed on the National Register, which means the nation recognizes them as important,” Cyriaque said. “If that happens, the nonprofits supporting them are more likely to receive grants to preserve them.” Educating the public about the buildings’ roles in history is just as important as finding and protecting them. Cyriaque is editor of Reflections, a quarterly publication that features historic resources and preservation initiatives. “This has been the biggest tool to get people involved in African-American preservation,” she said. In 2006, Cyriaque received the Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History for her work on Reflections. Recently, Cyriaque was elected to represent Georgia on the National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Advisors. She just completed a two-year term as a commissioner for the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. The national heritage area, officially designated by Congress in 2006, stretches along the barrier islands and coastal region from North Carolina to Florida. “Africans were originally brought here because of their skills in rice production. It was such a labor-intensive form of slavery that many planters left the Africans in fields alone to produce the crops, and they created their own language and culture,” Cyriaque explained. “Places like St. Simons Island in Georgia had a huge Gullah/Geechee population, but they have been forced out because of development. We are trying to protect places and the living culture in the corridor.” While at Bradley, Cyriaque was president of Alpha Kappa Alpha and was active in the Black Students Association. Her greatest influence was Dr. Romeo B. Garrett, Bradley’s first African-American professor. “He was one of my best professors and helped me focus on getting into graduate school at the University of Illinois.” Cyriaque holds a master’s degree in sociology from the U of I. A native of Chicago, she moved to Texas in the early 1980s. While researching her own family’s roots, Cyriaque met people from the Georgia African-American Historic Preservation Network. She has been working in Atlanta for the past 10 years and lives in East Point, Georgia.
Obama nominates former baseball MVP for federal bench
A former Bradley baseball player, Jim was the team’s MVP in 1977 and 1978, and he was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. Jim and his wife Jane live in Peoria. They have three children, including their son JAMES SHADID JR. ’08.
LAS Distinguished Alum
Chicago anchor
Painting with a purpose
The behaviors Romain had picked up during his youth followed him to Peoria, however. After being arrested and convicted for selling drugs, he spent seven years in prison, where Romain — a psychology major — said he began to discover a sense of direction. “My years at Bradley started to manifest in prison and made my time there more productive,” he said. “I fed off those years in college and started to do things to ultimately improve my situation when I got out.” Romain started drawing. His artistic skills grew, and when he was released from prison, Romain focused on his growing talent, opening an art gallery in Chicago. He was commissioned to paint a portrait of Bill Clinton, shown below. He has been featured on Black Entertainment Television and worked with renowned chef Emeril Lagasse on a kitchen renovation in an underserved neighborhood in Harlem. His work has appeared in the Museum of Science and Industry, the Studio Museum of Harlem, and the National Black Fine Arts Show in New York. Romain recently moved back to Peoria to be closer to his two sons and opened an 8,000-square-foot art gallery not far from Bradley. His other calling, Romain said, is helping steer youth away from the self-destructive habits he once possessed. He speaks everywhere from schools to juvenile facilities and said he hopes his art gallery will soon host classes and visits for schoolchildren. “The most rewarding aspect of what I do right now is that I have an opportunity to talk to kids in the inner cities who are going through very similar situations that I went through and knowing I have an impact on their lives,” he said.
They met in 1987 as Sigma Nu pledges, but three ambitious Bradley alumni have done more than stay in touch. BOB KNOTT ’91, JEFF HOFFMANN ’91, and ELLIOTT BARETZ ’91 are key players in SWC Technology Partners, named one of “Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” last summer. SWC specializes in providing information technology (IT) solutions to small and medium-sized organizations. From a field of almost 6,000 partner firms in 18 states, SWC also was selected as the winner of a top Microsoft award for fiscal year 2009. The marketing excellence award for a partner in the central region was awarded to SWC Technology Partners last July. The three partners are quick to credit their Bradley experiences with helping them learn how to be successful. “We built lifelong relationships at Bradley,” says Baretz, the company’s vice president of business development. “We learned how to be leaders, how to deal with other people, and how to work hard to succeed.” During their four years on campus, Baretz and Knott served as president of Sigma Nu, and Hoffmann was vice president of the fraternity. Hoffmann is also vice president of SWC Partners. “People may be very different, but if you come together in the right way, it becomes a very powerful combination of skills,” says Knott, president of SWC. “That was going on in the fraternity, and we didn’t realize it, but then we got into the professional world and the three of us really learned how to play off each other’s strengths and also compensate for weaknesses.” The trio’s degrees are all in different areas: Knott’s is in engineering; Hoffmann’s is in finance; and Baretz majored in communications and political science. Knott believes that extracurricular activities augmented the “great education” the three friends received at Bradley. “The other factor is we go back 23 years, and we have tremendous trust,” Knott says. Knott and his wife Cathy reside in Hinsdale with their three children. Hoffmann is married to SARA CUMMINGS-HOFFMANN ’92, and they live in Elmhurst with their two children. Baretz and his wife Laura are the parents of four children. They live in Long Grove.
TED BERGER ’03 was recently promoted to chief of staff at the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal, where he helps manage its 10 divisions. The agency’s mission is to reduce death, injury, and property loss from fires, explosions, and other hazards. Previously, Ted directed legislative affairs for the fire marshal’s office and managed the agency’s lobbying efforts. Ted also has spent the past seven years as a volunteer and part-time firefighter/EMT and currently is a lieutenant for the North Park Fire Protection District in Machesney Park. In the fall of 2008, Ted worked on the national advance staff with the Obama for America campaign and helped coordinate logistics for events across the country. Since February 2009, as a volunteer White House associate advance staff member, Ted has assisted with logistics for official visits by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and other White House officials. Ted helped with Biden’s recent visit to Peoria and Obama’s recent visit to Quincy. A political science major and Sigma Nu at Bradley, Ted’s passion for politics and the fire service grew while he was on campus. Ted served as student body president and also was a volunteer West Peoria firefighter and interned for former Peoria Mayor Dave Ransburg. “I owe my diverse career path to my life at BU,” Ted said. “Bradley taught me the value of volunteerism and civic engagement. Those opportunities have guided my professional endeavors.”
You’re invited
New honors for grad
JEANNE CYRIAQUE ’72: Hunting for history in the South | Obama nominates JAMES SHADID ’79 for federal bench | DAVID BETEBENNER ’81: LAS Distinguished Alum | LISA FIELDING ’89: Chicago anchor | JONATHON ROMAIN ’90: Painting with a purpose | Bradley buddies BOB KNOTT ’91, JEFF HOFFMANN ’91, ELLIOT BARETZ ’91 run top Chicago company | TED BERGER ’03: Passion for public service | CARRIE SEBREE ’99: You’re invited | JACQUELYN KIMMEL ’09: New honors for grad
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JEANNE CYRIAQUE ’72 has a job that is less sitting behind a desk than it is conducting a scavenger hunt. As coordinator of African-American programs for Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division in the Department of Natural Resources, Cyriaque spends much of her time hunting for clues to help keep the state’s black history alive.
President Barack Obama nominated Peoria County Circuit Judge JAMES SHADID ’79 on May 27 to become a federal judge, replacing U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm. A Senate confirmation vote will follow. Jim was appointed to the 10th Circuit in Illinois in December 2001 to fill a vacancy and was elected to a full term in 2002. Most of his work has been in felony court, with time also spent in misdemeanor and civil law. Previously, Jim was a private practice attorney, and he also spent several years as a part-time public defender. He holds a law degree from John Marshall Law School. 
DAVID BETEBENNER ’81 received the 2009–10 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumnus Award in April. He is a senior scientist at Abbott Laboratories’ Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development Center, Antiviral Division, where he works on therapeutics for hepatitis C. David holds 11 patents and has several drugs on the market. He lives in Libertyville.
LISA FIELDING ’89 is a news anchor and reporter for WBBM Newsradio 780 in Chicago. She also teaches a graduate-level broadcast class at Northwestern. Previously, Lisa was the main anchor for Fox 47 News at Nine in Madison, Wis., which allowed her to travel to the Rose Bowl and the Final Four with the Wisconsin Badgers. She most recently served as main anchor of WVTV-WB 18 News at Nine in Milwaukee. Lisa also spent seven years as a public address announcer for minor league baseball. She began her career as an intern and reporter for WEEK-TV in Peoria, then worked for WROK-WZOK radio and as weekend anchor for WIFR-TV in Rockford.
At the same time, Lisa also did fill-in work as one of the first female voices on Chicago’s all-sports station “The Score.” She lives in Chicago.
JONATHON ROMAIN ’90 wanted something different. He wanted a life outside Chicago’s West Side, where he grew up. He wanted an education. “The fact that I even wanted to go to college was a testament that I wanted to do something different with my life,” he said. But with poor grades in high school, attending Bradley seemed unrealistic. Enrolling at Triton College was more practical. “To my surprise, I did very well,” Romain said of his experience at the two-year junior college. “Bradley accepted me the next year.”
CARRIE SEBREE ’99 has operated C.Bree Designs since April 2009. The business offers custom invitations and stationery. Carrie previously lived in Los Angeles for five years, where she was a personal assistant and created invitations for Hollywood events. After returning to Peoria, she taught in Bradley’s interactive media program. Carrie sings in a group called “The Mike and Carrie Show.” She lives in West Peoria.
JACQUELYN KIMMEL ’09 received the 2010 Institute of Industrial Engineers’ Student Award for Excellence on June 7 in Cancun, Mexico. The criteria for the national award include academic excellence, participation in industrial engineering activities and societies, work experience, and leadership. Jackie works for West Monroe Partners, an international business and technology consulting firm in Chicago, where she lives. While at Bradley, Jackie was named the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate, which is awarded to one graduating senior per university.