May 13, 2015
Dear IMSA Community,
This week I saw our young men outside the cafeteria picking up their tuxedos for Prom that will be held this Friday at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. They looked excited about wearing their best suits and stepping out in their finest! This happy scene reminded me to provide you with a couple of updates that showcase IMSA’s finest.
After an extensive search, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Marie Dillon Dahleh as Principal for the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy effective July 1, 2015. Dr. Dahleh currently serves as the Student Information System Advising and Degree Audit Lead at Harvard University. I think you’ll enjoy reading our featured article written about her, “Award-Winning Harvard Administrator and Educator Hired as IMSA’s Principal.” Please join me in offering a warm welcome to Dr. Dahleh as she begins her role as Principal of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy this July.
Our 2015 IMSAloquium lived up to its reputation as the “Academy’s finest day” with nearly 200 student research presentations! This culminating annual event of our Student Inquiry and Research (SIR) program serves to showcase our SIR students’ original investigations and provides them with an opportunity to share their scholarly work with the IMSA community. Dr. Judy Scheppler and colleagues are to be commended for the success of this year’s IMSAloquium, and our deep appreciation is extended to the experts and advisors who supported our students at their colleges, research institutions, businesses and museums. Truly, our mission “to ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition” is realized through the SIR Program and IMSAloquium.
One final update before I end this Personal Reflection. The “Presidential Committee: Standards of Significant Learning,” chaired by Dr. Janice Krouse, is making progress on fulfilling their charge to revise the SSLs and develop ways to engage the entire faculty and IMSA Professional Field Services staff with these standards. This week I selected the members to serve on the “Presidential Committee: Social Entrepreneurship.” This Committee’s charge is to develop and share ideas that will further integrate innovation, problem solving, and social entrepreneurship into the life of the Academy, as well as identify tools that will help each student develop his/her capacity in these areas. I’m pleased to announce that Jessica Droste Yagan ’95 has agreed to chair this newly formed Presidential Committee.
This is an exciting time for the IMSA community and I’m pleased that we’re putting on our “best suit” as a community—both in bringing outstanding talent to the Academy in Dr. Dahleh and showcasing the “Academy’s finest day” through IMSAloquium. I’m glad that we’re all a part of it!
Respectfully,
Dr. José M. Torres
