December 22, 2022
Linda Blaser
Year in review: Top stories of 2022
President Jill M. Baren was inaugurated as the fourteenth president of the College on October 27.
As students and faculty enjoy winter break, we offer a look back at the College’s most-viewed stories of 2022.
1. Princeton Review ranks Lake Forest among top colleges for 2023. The most-viewed story of the year outlined The Princeton Review results released in August. In addition to being included on the “Best Colleges” list, The Princeton Review also ranked Lake Forest: #3 for Best Health Services, #4 for Best Science Lab Facilities, #12 for Best Student Support & Counseling Services, #14 for Best School for Internships, and #22 for Most Accessible Professors.
2. Humanities 2020 film screening: “Your Name is Juan Rivera.” The Humanities 2020 Mellon Grant sponsored the local premiere of a documentary about the life of Juan Rivera, who was wrongly imprisoned in the Illinois Department of Corrections for 20 years. The premiere at the Gorton Community Center included a Q&A with Rivera, the Lake County investigator who worked to clear Rivera’s name, and the documentary filmmaker. The College event listing and the preview of the event at the Gorton Community Center had thousands of page views.
3. Lake Forest College receives high marks in national rankings. The third most-viewed story of the year broke in September when U.S. News & World Report and Forbes recognized Lake Forest College as a top-tier college in their most recent rankings. U.S. News rated Lake Forest College #2 in the nation for Social Mobility and #16 on its Best Value ranking, while Forbes named Lake Forest among the Best Colleges in America.
4. College again sets record for largest incoming class. For the second consecutive year, Lake Forest College made history with a record largest incoming class in fall 2023 , welcoming 456 members of the Class of 2026 to the Forester family along with 84 new transfer students. Whiled hailed as an accomplishment, the record class brought to light student concerns about availability of services with such a growing student body. President Jill Baren set in motion a campuswide approach to addressing issues raised by students.
5. 2022 Richter Scholars devote summer to high-level research. In the 2022 summer Richter Scholar Program, 47 students conducted research with faculty mentors while developing valuable relationships and a deeper understanding of research. Unique to Lake Forest College, Richter is an opportunity for qualifying first-year students to research alongside professors.
6. Diane Sawyer interviews Ben Zeller for ABC’s “The Cult Next Door.” In March, Associate Professor of Religion Ben Zeller appeared in an ABC 20/20 retrospective on Heaven’s Gate and the largest mass suicide conducted on American soil. Zeller, an expert on the American UFO religious movement, was interviewed by anchor Diane Sawyer via Zoom for “The Cult Next Door: The Mystery and Madness of Heaven’s Gate.”
7. How to make the most of your summer as a college student. This top-read story outlined the wealth of options for summer enrichment available at Lake Forest College. Students can live and study in Chicago, go abroad, intern, complete high-level research, and more. The article included ACTIVATE, the summer residential Chicago program; summer study abroad; Richter Scholar Program research; summer classes; summer internships; Projects for Peace; and medical research through the RFU Summer Scholar Program.
8. President Jill Baren inaugurated as College’s fourteenth president. President Baren was inaugurated as the first woman president of Lake Forest College during a historic ceremony in October. Hundreds of guests joined students, faculty, and staff for the hour-long ceremony.
9. Media turns to Rob Baade for insight on true cost of the Olympics. The 2022 Winter Olympics held in February in Beijing prompted a deluge of media requests to interview Ernest A. Johnson Professor of Economics Robert Baade, a world-recognized expert on the economics of the Olympics.
10. David Castagnetti ’84 receives prestigious Business-Government Relations Award. Announcement of the Bryce Harlow Foundation award given to Castagnetti in May was the top alumni story of 2022. The Foundation is dedicated to advancing the integrity of government advocacy and increasing understanding of its important role in the development of sound public policy.
11. Lake Forest College launches Nursing Pathways Program (NPP). This reimagined pre-nursing education announced in July maximizes access and success in nursing preparation for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. Clinical partner sites include Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
12. Making sense of financial aid and the value of a college education. In this fall story, we offered a comprehensive guide to students and prospective students on funding their education so they feel confident as they explore education options.
13. Alumna publishes first children’s book launching full-time writing career. Natasa Zoubouridis ’12 is a writer whose career in television pivoted at the onset of the pandemic. In May, we showcased how her experience nannying her best friend’s children led her to write her first children’s book, “Mommy, Who is This Lady?” (A Love Letter from Your “Kind Of” Aunt).
14. A home for international students: Lake Forest College ranks second in the 2021-22 Davis Cup. Each year, the Davis United World College Scholars Program releases a report that combines each participating university’s updates and achievements in supporting Davis Scholars. In April, Lake Forest College was recognized as the first runner-up in the Davis Cup, underscoring the effort the College puts into supporting students matriculating from United World College institutions.
15. Meet the alumnae proud to be the next generation of visionaries in education. In September, we looked at Erin Simunovic ’08 and Jemia Cunningham-Elder ’09 who are helping break the barriers bureaucracy builds against students in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood with a school network at North Lawndale Preparatory School. The mission of these two alums is to support students to and through college.
16. Diversity in practice: Earl Barnes ’86 selected as Crain’s Notable Executive of Color in Health Care. Earl Barnes ’86 was recently recognized as a Crain’s Chicago Business Notable Executives of Color in Health Care. Crain’s selected 34 accomplished executives of color who have broken barriers as they rose to positions of influence in healthcare.
17. Students intern at top-ranked rehabilitation hospital. Pre-med, chemistry major Annie Ahern ’23 and psychology major, Chinese minor Autumn O’Reilly ’23 interned at the nationally-recognized Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Both participated in ACTIVATE, the College’s summer internship program in Chicago. These internships are part of the John Morgan Dolan Internship Program with the College. They are just one example of the growing pipeline of opportunties available to students.
18. Alumna to publish thrilling gothic debut. Angie Spoto ’12 set her speculative gothic novel—The Grief Nurse—in a world where the rich and powerful have their grief removed. Her bent toward surrealism stems from a creative writing class she took as a double major in English writing and business at the College. This alumna’s first novel will be released in February 2023.
19. Bidens mark Nowruz with Ahmad Sadri’s ‘Shahnameh’ translation. In March, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden included Professor Ahmad Sadri’s translation of Shahnameh in their Nowruz display at the White House. Sadri’s translation was featured in a photo of the Bidens posted on The US Department of State’s Persian social media accounts written in Farsi in celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which began on the spring equinox. The Instagram post received more than 74,000 likes.
20. Local History Center 50th anniversary features student-curated exhibit. A museum retrospective curated by Lake Forest College students was a central display during the History Center Lake Forest-Lake Bluff’s 50th birthday bash during the summer. Visiting Assistant Professor Jessica Criales provided her students with a real-life museum curating experience in her spring semester History 368: Museums and Exhibitions class.