Zeller’s Heaven’s Gate podcast topped 4 million downloads.
In January, the Heaven’s Gate podcast that featured extensive interviews with Associate Professor of Religion Ben Zeller topped an extraordinary 4 million downloads since its debut in October 2017. Producers turned to Zeller, who wrote Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion, for his insight on the group’s 1997 mass suicide.  

$1.1 million Mellon grant awarded to support Humanities 2020. 
In February, the College announced a $1.1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to link faculty, students, and Chicago-area institutional partners in efforts to understand the history and current status of race relations in Chicago. Humanities 2020 will create positive change in the city and the lives of its residents.

Men’s basketball qualified for NCAA DIII Tourney for first time.
Also in February, the men’s basketball team headed to the NCAA Division III Tournament after achieving a 12-6 conference record and winning the conference championship. The DIII Tournament trip was a first for Forester men’s basketball. 

Heath Ogawa ’19 named four-time National Diver of the Year.
In March, Heath Ogawa ’19 and Coach Nathan Lightman were named Division III Diver and
Diving Coach of the Year after Ogawa added a fourth-place finish in 3-meter diving to the national title he captured off the 1-meter board. The awards were bestowed by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.

Two juniors named Goldwater Scholars.
In April, Niam Abeysiriwardena ’20 and Samuel Gascoigne ’20 learned they received prestigious Goldwater Scholarships, which are awarded annually to outstanding undergraduates interested in careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. This was only the second time the highly coveted scholarship was awarded to a Lake Forest College student.

Outstanding season for women’s tennis, softball, and men’s golf.
In May, Lake Forest College’s women’s tennis team defeated Grinnell College at the Midwest Conference Tournament final and qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in program history. Also, on the same day the softball team claimed victory over St. Norbert College in the championship round of the 2019 Midwest Conference Tournament, the men’s golf team secured victory of the 2019 Midwest Conference Championship Tournament.

Professor Jason Cody named Fulbright Scholar.
Also in May, Professor and Chair of Chemistry Jason Cody received a Fulbright US Scholar Program award in chemistry. Since August, Cody has been supervising research and teaching at Université Hasan II, Faculté de Science et Technologie, in Mohammedia, Morocco, as part of a project to explore applications of chemistry to renewable energy. Cody will return to campus in August.

Don Meyer and student musicians collaborated on unique take on Gibran’s The Prophet.
Professor Don Meyer spent his summer writing original music to accompany poet Khalil Gibran’s famed work, The Prophet, and recording a CD with the help of Forester student-musicians. In November, Meyer and his students offered a live performance of their work.

Students in Associate Professor of Anthropology Rebecca Graff’s Archaeological Field Methods course worked during the fall semester to unearth traces of a church on South Campus in the first archaeological dig on campus. An Open House and Media Day was held in November.