Illinois Wesleyan University


Joseph Binder

Illinois Wesleyan Senior Named Lincoln Laureate

Nov. 3, 2003

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — An Illinois Wesleyan University senior is one of 49 college students to be recognized for excellence by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.

Joseph Binder of Decatur, Ill., is the recipient of the award, which honors an outstanding senior from each of the four-year degree granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, President of the Lincoln Academy, presented Binder with a Lincoln Academy Medallion and a check for $150 in recognition of his outstanding achievement at the Award ceremony in Springfield on Sat., Nov. 1. The events included the Student Laureate Presentation Ceremony in the House of Representatives Chamber of the Old State Capitol and a reception and luncheon in the Governor's Executive Mansion.

A 2000 graduate of Decatur, Ill., St. Teresa High School, Binder is majoring in chemistry and physics at Illinois Wesleyan. In April he was awarded one of 300 national scholarships from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

At the 2002 John Wesley Powell Research Conference at IWU, Binder won an award for his poster, “Derivatization of Keggin-Type Polyoxometalates.” He is a member of the national scholastic honoraries Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Eta Sigma.

He is also a member of the University’s chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Student Affiliates, serving as the group’s secretary this year and will be vice president next year. He has served as president of the IWU Quiz Bowl team for two years and is a member of the Society of Physics Students.

He is a Presidental Scholar, has earned the 2001 CRC Press Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award and the 2002 ACS Polymer Education Committee Award for Outstanding Organic Chemistry Student.

Binder has been a three-year varsity cross country runner, serving as the team’s captain in 2003, and has also participated in track for three seasons.

Student Laureates are honored for their overall excellence in curricular and co-curricular activities. The student must have a cumulative and major GPA of not less than 3.00.

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