Campus News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2024

Rockford, IL – Rockford University is proud to announce the formal dedication of the “Zelenka Family Esports Center,” a state-of-the-art facility made possible by the generosity of the Janet Zelenka Family. This groundbreaking addition to campus solidifies the university’s commitment to fostering innovation, student engagement, and forward-thinking initiatives.

Esports is no longer a niche activity; it is a billion-dollar global industry transforming the landscape of entertainment, technology, and education. Competitive gaming has become an integral part of student culture across the country, and Rockford University is seizing the opportunity to embrace this dynamic trend.

“By investing in Esports, we are preparing our students for a growing market, fostering their success, and ensuring our university remains competitive in an ever-changing educational landscape,” said President Patricia Lynott. “This facility positions us as a leader in this space, attracting a new demographic of students who are passionate about gaming and eager to find a community where they can thrive.”

The Zelenka Family Esports Center boasts cutting-edge gaming equipment, dedicated spaces for training and competitions, and resources designed to support students’ academic and extracurricular pursuits. It is a hub for collaboration, creativity, and community, offering a unique space for students to excel both in and out of the virtual arena.

Ribbon-Cutting Event Highlights

The dedication ceremony, held on Tuesday. December 3rd, marked a historic moment for the university. The event featured a ribbon-cutting led by Janet Zelenka alongside university leaders and students. Attendees toured the impressive facility and met with members of the Esports team.

The Zelenka Family Esports Center is now officially open, welcoming students, faculty, and community members to experience firsthand the exciting potential of Esports at Rockford University.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Rockford University Marketing and Communications

communications@rockford.edu

Photos of the center and the dedication ceremony can be found here. 

About Rockford University
Rockford University, formerly Rockford College, is a four-year, co-educational institution founded in 1847 offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in traditional liberal arts and professional fields. The undergraduate program offers approximately 80 majors, minors and concentrations, including three 100% online majors through the RU Online program. Five master’s degrees are offered through the graduate program, including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Master of Arts in Sport Management & Leadership (MASM), and Masters of Science in Exercise Physiology (MSEP).

Rockford University is home to one of only 11 Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) chapters in Illinois, the most prestigious honor society in the United States. Rockford University is proud to hold the prestigious Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, an elective classification that highlights our dedication to meaningful and impactful partnerships within our local and regional communities. Named by The Princeton Review as a Best Midwestern College and a U.S. News & World Report Best Midwest Regional University, Rockford University currently serves approximately 1,200 full- and part-time students.

By Dr. Kelly Monson, Dr. Danielle Klein, & Dr. Beth Lipton

On May 14, 2024, sixteen students and three Rockford University faculty began a week-long transformational journey to serve a small rural community in the Dominican Republic.  Participants were immersed in the culture of the community through service and teaching.  

The team who led the students on this trip included Dr. Kelly Monson, Dr. Danielle Klein, and Dr. Beth Lipton, and had support on campus from Julie Griffith. Monsoon, Klein, and Lipton guided students through a cross-cultural experience that integrated their study abroad academic experience, combined with service.

Rockford University partnered with Kids Around the World, an outreach organization established in Rockford, to build a playground for a small community in the Dominican Republic.  This was the second Serve and Study Abroad trip for Rockford University in partnership with Kids Around the World, the first in 2022 serving in Ecuador.   

The team spent two rewarding and challenging days building a playground and one day teaching in a public school within the community.   

Student Daniella Torres Mandujano shared, “I am leaving feeling extremely grateful, grateful for the opportunity to have been able to go on such a remarkable trip. Grateful isn’t enough to express how it feels to have been able to be part of building a playground where children will be able to make lots of memories & be allowed to play, I hope to return and see the children playing, the impact it’s made on me is just as big as the impact it will be making on the children. The children there were the most welcoming and accepting, arriving at the school and feeling so loved and appreciated by the children made me so grateful to be there.”

Spanish is the primary language in the Dominican Republic and five of the Rockford University students were excited to act as translators throughout the trip. 

As student Naomi Cano Rodriguez shared, “To me the trip was astonishing. From seeing the kid’s faces light up to the parachute to having our final countdown as a team. Being able to speak Spanish was such an amazing possibility. I was able to make a deeper connection with the children and be able to help out the team by translating when it was needed. I was very excited to go out of the country for the first time because I knew that we were in good hands. As we landed and the days that we stayed I saw how the stories my mother used to tell me about how she lived when she was a child in Mexico and how the children’s lives were very similar.  

It brought tears to my eyes but I am beyond thankful to have built a playground in a location where all the children can enjoy and spend time with their families. This whole trip was very monumental because it made me realize all the stuff we take for granted that the families in the D.R. would love to have and it invokes change in me to be more appreciative for the stuff I have at home.  I am beyond thankful to the Kid Around the World team for all their effort in welcoming us and showing us the beauty that the Dominican Republic has to offer.”

The Rockford University students and faculty had the privilege of celebrating with the community and local government after the playground was complete. Students were appreciative of this opportunity.  

Student Savannah Turen shared, “Back home life is completely different. But not necessarily in a bad way. I will never forget the love the community gave us at the playground dedication. Back home playgrounds are so common they are often forgotten about. We forget to appreciate the simple things around us that not everyone has. This trip is a reminder to appreciate the little and simple things in life every day, not just sometimes.”

The majority of the students on this trip had never traveled out of the country and as future educators, the teaching opportunity had an impact on their future. 

Student Jennifer Pina shared, “I believe that there is truly no way to describe the impact of this trip besides actually living it. I have never flown out of the country, let alone be part of a project that would impact so many.  Being able to experience this trip allowed me to feel grateful for not only everything that I have back home but also the experience, culture, food, and community that we were surrounded by. 

As a future educator, I was grateful to work with children from a different population. As a person, I was grateful to work with and interact with people from a different Spanish-speaking culture who became like family. I am thankful for everyone who made this possible. I will forever remember this trip and can’t wait for the next one!”

Student Julissa Gutierrez shared that this was a life-changing experience.

“I am happy to say that going on this trip was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Gutirrez said. “Not only do I feel that we really made a difference in the lives of many, but I also feel that I am going back home a different person in the best way possible. I met so many new people, listened to all kinds of stories, and learned about a beautiful culture. Not only that, but I learned that my life’s purpose goes way beyond what I thought before. I hope to continue living my life seeking the same joy, peace, and fulfillment that I felt throughout this whole adventure.”

This was an impactful experience for everyone on the trip. Students were asked to provide an impact word and story that encompassed their experience.  The impact terms included: Life-changing, Wondrous, Joyful, Eternal, Grateful, Unforgettable, Monumental, Love, Community, Appreciative, Grateful, Interesting, Grateful and Growth, Roles, Blissful, and Risk-taker.  

Rockford University hopes to partner with Kids Around the World to create a third Serve and Learn opportunity in the future.

—

This article is part of the 2023-2024 issue of Catalyst. 

by Sara Myers-Hogshead, Digital Media & Communications Specialist 

For alumna Lisa Blakeley-Snyder (‘17), traveling far from home was not in the cards for college. She did not want to go too far from Rockford, her home since middle school. She looked at schools in Wisconsin and near Chicago, but she also knew she wanted to continue playing softball.

It was her Winnebago High School softball coach, Annie Getschel, who told her about Rockford University, where Getschel was coaching softball at the time. 

“She didn’t persuade me by any means, but it had the best financial aid package of any of the schools that I toured,” Blakeley-Snyder said. “Which was important because throughout my time at the university, I never took out any student loans and I just paid as I was going.”

Blakeley-Snyder received her B.S. in psychology and a minor in business from RU in 2017. She said that earlier in life, she wanted to “change the world” and help people, so she originally planned to pursue a career in counseling or social work. 

Some of her favorite classes at RU were taught by Dr. Joel Lynch in the Psychology Department. In those classes, she realized she could help people be happier in their careers if she worked in the human resources (HR) realm and decided to pursue a minor in business.

Though she did not live on campus, she made sure to be involved during her undergrad years. One of Blakeley-Snyder’s good friends was an RA (Resident Advisor) who hosted many dorm events that Blakeley-Snyder would attend and help coordinate. 

“One of my favorite ones was when she had a luau-themed spring event,” she said. “I helped her set up the punch bowl. Then we made sure to decorate a little gathering space in the dorm room with Hawaiian decorations, and we had our Hawaiian shirts on.”

She also participated in intramurals, like basketball and dodgeball, and attended student life events like Casino Night and Bingo. In addition, she played on the softball team while she pursued her bachelor’s degree. 

She decided to further her education and received her Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2020. During that time she worked in the RU’s Office of Admissions and coached softball. Blakeley-Snyder had multiple roles in the admissions office including Undergraduate Admissions Office Aide, Adult & Graduate Admission Specialist, and Adult & Graduate Admission Recruiter. 

She left RU in 2020 to pursue a career at Road Ranger where she still works today.

At Road Ranger, she started as an HR representative. She had known for a while that she wanted to get into the HR field, but she was having trouble finding a company that would hire her due to her lack of HR experience. She explained that Road Ranger was the company that gave her a chance.

Blakeley-Snyder soon moved into a recruiting manager role. She knew that with her recruiting background, it would be something that she could excel in.

“One of my favorite parts of my job is I have a lot of autonomy and I make a lot of important decisions for the company. I’m interested in doing that, and I travel almost once a month.”

She’s been able to meet and train people for in-person, entry-level jobs like a cashier for one of the local truck stops. She adds that her MBA program helped her grow confidence in herself for the position she’s in now.

“The MBA program helped me—not that I was super reserved— but it helped get me more elevated and out of my comfort zone,” she said. “To the point where I said, ‘We’re a bulk-hiring group, I have no problem doing group presentations in front of 40 people or directing different big top items, including partnering with people in a much higher position, and then also knowing my voice has a reason.’”

—

This article is part of the 2023-2024 issue of Catalyst. 

ROCKFORD, Ill. – [Aug. 29, 2024] – Rockford University and the International Women’s Baseball Center (IWBC) are proud to partner and host the traveling Women in Baseball Exhibit called: “Chasing a Dream,” The exhibit will be on display at the Howard Colman Library at Rockford University from August to December 2024.

The exhibit was curated by longtime women’s baseball and IWBC supporter, John Kovach. The exhibit has been displayed nationwide at Major League ballparks, museums, and libraries.

The grand opening celebration of the exhibit will be held on Sept. 8, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Howard Colman Library on Rockford University’s campus. RU’s campus is located at 5050 E. State St. in Rockford, Illinois. 

“Please join us as we celebrate the history of women’s baseball and show Rockford an example of what’s in store once the IWBC museum and educational center is complete,” said Kat Williams, IWBC CEO. 

The exhibit will be open during the Howard Colman Library hours. 

The library hours are as follows:

Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday: 1 – 5 p.m.

Sunday: 1 – 8 p.m.

For more information or to RSVP for the grand opening event please contact:

Sara Myers-Hogshead

RU Marketing & Communications 

SHogshead@rockford.edu

OR

Ryan Woodward

International Women’s Baseball Center 

rwoodward@iwbc.org 

By Sara Myers-Hogshead, Digital Media & Communications Specialist 

As part of his internship at Midway Village Museum, Rockford University student Rudy Vazquez recently helped put together an exhibit just in time for Black History Month called “Breaking Barriers: the 1950s Strike for Equality in Rockford.”

Vazquez’s internship started in September 2023, and his main task was doing research through the newspaper database at the museum.

The exhibit is about an incident in the early 1950s in Rockford. An African-American worker, Charles Wortham, was involved in a racial incident and about 600 workers walked out with the employee at the business Gunite in 1957, Vazquez said.

Employees who walked out also signed a paper with their support for Wortham. One issue at the time was that many of the newspapers that covered the story did not tell the whole truth and were owned by White men. Vazquez was able to find a Black-owned newspaper called The Rockford Crusader that told this story of solidarity between the man and his employees who walked out with him.

The exhibit in the museum is on four large panels. It shows the different elements of the story and who was involved in this walkout through photos and newspaper clippings, he said.

Vazquez will be working on another exhibit for the museum next month for Women’s History Month which will feature RU Alum Julia Lathrop and more. His internship at the museum will end in early March. 

The Black History Month exhibit at the museum was featured on  MyStateline.com on Feb. 1. 

Vazquez is very involved on campus here at RU. He is the V.P. of the Rockford Chapter of PSI CHI, and is team captain of the Esports team Rainbow 6 Siege. He will be graduating this May with a B.S. in Psychology, a B.S. in Criminal Justice, and a B.A. in History with a minor in Ancient and Medieval Studies and a minor in Religious Studies. 

He plans to continue his studies further upon graduation and will study Religion in graduate school.