Kishwaukee College Foundation program enhancements continue to serve as valuable resources

The Kishwaukee College Foundation awarded $123,461 in program enhancement funds to Kishwaukee College departments for the 2022-2023 academic year. The Foundation has a variety of program enhancement funds established by the generosity of donors for specific purposes. Funds support various needs, including educational support for instructors, new equipment, and testing services for students.

Faculty and staff share that the additional funds help departments meet their goals, provide necessary resources to students, and allow programs to remain competitive in the local community.

The following program enhancement funds have been awarded this year:

Evelina Jose Cichy Fund
Evelina Cichy started this fund in honor of her many years of service to Kishwaukee College. The fund is used to help pay for fees associated with the Illinois High School Diploma test.

John & Barbara Dant Memorial Fund
The fund provides financial support for the needs of the Math or English departments. This year, the fund has been used to purchase Math corequisite course materials and fund outstanding student awards for English. 

First Midwest Bank (former NB&T) BID Class
This fund was instituted to provide support to area nonprofit organizations. The College works with the DeKalb County Nonprofit Partnership to use training resources at no cost.

Jobe-Lewis Fund
Suzanne K. Lewis established this fund to honor her mother, Doris V. Lewis, who obtained a nursing degree. Suzanne wished to honor her mother by helping support others who chose the nursing field. This year, the fund provided support for the nursing program’s “Hearing Voices” simulation lab.

Jenkins Presidential Endowment
The fund provides support to Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society to further enhance its activities.

Yvonne A. Johnson Endowment for Community Education
This fund is used for programmatic needs for the Fine Arts, Communications, Science, and Horticulture programs. This year, the funds supported the purchase of an automated seeding and environmental scanner for the Horticulture program.

KishHealth System Endowment
This fund is provided to underwrite the cost of health field instructors.

Leifheit Literacy Endowment
The Leifheit Literacy Endowment supports the adult and family literacy programs at Kishwaukee College.

Library Endowment Fund
This fund was started to support the operations of the Kishwaukee College Library. This year, the funding helped update the nursing book collection.

Lifelong Learning Endowment
Honoring the retirement of Judy Krajewski, former Dean of Community Education & Services, this fund was established to ensure a legacy of lifelong learning for future generations by increasing access to community education opportunities through scholarships in non-credit courses.

Matteson Horticulture Fund
The fund is used to support the programmatic needs of the Horticulture Department. This year, funds helped purchase an automated seeding machine.

Terry & Sherrie Martin Health & Science Endowment
The fund was born out of a deep commitment to education and strong faith in the values of Kishwaukee College. The endowment supports program enhancements for the Allied Health or Science programs. This year, the endowment supported the Nursing Program ACEN accreditation process and the purchase of science lab kits for students taking online courses. 

Terry & Sherrie Martin PTK Endowment
The endowment supports the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Hallmark Award, which is a student scholarship. Terry Martin was a long-time advisor of the College’s PTK chapter.

Robert L. “Smitty” Smith Assistantship
The assistantship fund was established to honor Robert L. Smith, a highly regarded faculty member in the science department during Kishwaukee College’s early years from 1968 to 1975. The fund supports two student assistantships in science departments.

For more information on Program Enhancements, contact the Kishwaukee College Foundation at 815-825-9803 or visit www.kish.edu/foundationfunds.