Optional COVID-19 Testing

Signups for optional COVID-19 testing are available each week. This is open to students, faculty and staff only, with a cap of 20 participants. The signup deadline is each Tuesday at noon for testing that Wednesday. Links for all signups throughout the semester are posted at www.iwu.edu/updates/coronavirus/cases.html#opt-in

Nominations for the 2021 Alumni Awards Now Open

Every year, Illinois Wesleyan University recognizes the outstanding achievements of our alumni with the announcement of the Alumni Awards. Winners of the Distinguished Alumni Award, Robert M. Montgomery Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and Loyalty Award will be celebrated during Homecoming Weekend (Oct. 1-3, 2021) at the Best of Illinois Wesleyan Awards Ceremony.

We need your help compiling a list of alumni candidates. Please nominate before March 1, 2021. Learn more.

Posse Plus Retreat

Saturday, Jan. 30 – This year's Posse Plus Retreat, The State of Leadership: Community, Conflict, & Change, will be a virtual event on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2-4:30 p.m. Sponsored by IWU and the Posse Foundation, Inc., the Posse Plus Retreat is a dynamic leadership development opportunity for all students, faculty and staff. In previous years, we have been limited to 100 participants, but this year's retreat will have no limits on participation. We encourage you to prioritize this event for this spring.  Register here!

An Update on Campus Snow and Ice Removal

At Physical Plant, it has always been our first and foremost priority to provide safe walking surfaces for the campus community. Given the extremes of conditions in a Midwestern winter, and the large number of variables in conditions and forecasts, the decision-making process can be complicated. Effective snow and ice removal is dependent on efficient and orderly utilization of a variety of personnel, equipment and materials. Since every snowfall is different the specifics will change each time. 

Clean, dry pavement is always our end goal, and over the years we have worked to be as efficient as possible in achieving that goal. Brine has been proven to be a useful tool in managing snow and ice. This year we will be using brine on our parking lots, sidewalks and steps. Prior to winter weather events, IWU Grounds and KCN Solutions crews will apply brine to parking lots, sidewalks and steps to assist with melting snow and ice. This de-icing solution is an economical and effective way to pretreat large areas of campus without harming the landscape. It speeds up the melting time and provides us a preferable option to granular salt when conditions allow. We will continue to use rock salt when weather conditions require its use. Regardless of what equipment and procedures we utilize, it still takes 5 employees several hours to cover the 16 miles of walks that connect our campus.

During the winter season, we would encourage a cautious mindset and appropriate footwear. We would also recommend a heightened awareness, not only of conditions, but also of the machines that are out clearing the walks.

Snow and Ice Procedures

With the snow and ice season upon us, the Physical Plant would like to review the procedures for getting those work orders to us. Please do not put those requests into School Dude. Please call us at the Physical Plant at 556-3067 during our regular hours:  Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After hours, please call Campus Safety at 556-1111 for an emergency and they will contact someone from Physical Plant.