people and news

GARY BAKER has been appointed Assistant Superintendent of Parks with the Fox River Valley Pleasure Driveway and Park District, Aurora, Illinois. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Baker was employed by the Champaign Park District as a Maintenance Supervisor. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois where he earned a Master and Bachelor degree in Park and Recreation Administration.

Mr. Baker is a professional member of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and serves on the Park and Natural Resources Section Board. He is a member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the I.P.R.A. Ways and Means Committee.

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MICHAEL J. MULDOON of Des Plaines, Illinois has been appointed the Executive Director of the Maine-Niles Association of Special Recreation. Muldoon, 29 years of age, and Campus Recreation Director for the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, will assume responsibilities for the Maine-Niles Association in March.

The new Executive Director, a graduate of North Central College and the University of Illinois, will be replacing the position left vacant when Ms. Barbara Sternfeld resigned to assume a position with the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association.

Muldoon earned a Bachelor's Degree at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, in Physical Education with a minor in Biology and received a Masters of Science from the University of Illinois, Champaign.

His experiences have included Assistant Intramural Director and coach at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and Intramural Supervisor and Football Coach at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois. Most recently Muldoon has been the Campus Recreation Director responsible for recreational programs and facilities, personnel management, program and facility development at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. During the past year he has also been program coordinator for the Cardiac Program for the Maine-Niles Association.

Mr. Muldoon, in his new capacities, will be working in cooperation with the park districts of Des Plaines, Golf-Maine, Morton Grove, Niles, Park Ridge, Skokie and the Lincolnwood Recreation Department.

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HELEN FRASER has been promoted by the Naperville Park District to the post of curator of the Martin-Mitchell Museum. She has worked as assistant curator since 1975. With B.A. and M.A. degree credentials from the University of Wisconsin and teaching experience in three levels of education. Ms. Fraser is well-qualified to tackle her responsibilities.

A six-year resident of Naperville, she believes her job provides a means to bring a knowledge of Naperville heritage to the community. Her job includes research, tours, in-class teaching, lectures, publicity and more. One of Ms. Eraser's recently completed projects involved converting one of the Museum rooms into a Victorian childrens' exhibit room. She is currently working on a military exhibit of artifacts from the Civil War and other wars in which Naperville residents have been involved.

Plans for the future involve a long-term research project to record personal Naperville history as told by elderly long-time Naperville residents. She is currently looking for a sponsor to provide an internship for the oral history program.

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DENNIS G. HERRITY has been hired to fill the newly developed position of Naperville Park District business manager. His responsibilities will include overseeing the district's finances and business matters.

The business manager position is a relatively new concept in the parks and recreation field, and there are presently only 17 such jobs in the State. The District sees Herrity's position as involving financial analysis on a daily basis, cash flow forecasting, overseeing investments, and supervision of business activities at various facilities as well as the obvious personnel administration and budget preparation and control.

Herrity, 26, has a B.A. in economics from Marquette University. He is currently completing Masters degree in public service and urban cultural studies at Governors State University. Before coming to Naperville, he served as an accountant for the Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit District; as administrative assistant to the village manager in Flossmoor; and as administrative assistant in the Village of Barrington. Herrity was also employed as an administrative intern for the Department of Transportation in the City of Naperville.

Among some of her responsibilities will be the supervision of the summer recreation program, senior citizens, Special Olympics for mentally handicapped, adult recreation programs and clubs, interviewing for recreation programs, and much more.

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GAYLE MITCHELL has been named the Supervisor of Program Activities for the Decatur Park District Recreation Department. Miss Mitchell is a recent December graduate of the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation. She also received the 1976 "Outstanding Recreation Award" for the state of Iowa. She completed her field work training with the University of Iowa Recreation Services Department.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 24 May/June, 1977

MR. DON C. ROBERTS has been appointed Superintendent of Recreation for the Skokie Park District. Roberts, a native of Beardstown, Illinois, was formerly the Assistant to Director of Waukegan Park District.

He also served as both Program Supervisor and Assistant Superindendent of Recreation with Waukegan, responsible for budget planning and implementation of cultural arts, school and playground, athletic and preschool programs, plus operation of swimming pools and programs for the handicapped.

Roberts earned his Bachelor's Degree in Recreation and Park Administration at University of Illinois, Urbana. He was the 1972 recipient of the John Bruce Caple Memorial Scholarship and was on the Dean's List. He is affiliated with the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and the National Park Association. While in Waukegan, Roberts was a Board Member of the Little Fort Lions Club and The Lake County Youth Athletic Club. He has also served as Secretary of the Waukegan Cultural Center.

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General Attorney Joseph A. Power of the Chicago Park District (center) accepts an award of recognition from Circuit Court Judge Charles P. Horan (left), immediate past president of the Illinois Judges Association, "for his 20 years of service, with ability and integrity, while serving as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County." Judge Norman N. Eiger (right), convention chairman, looks on. The resolution citing Power was presented at a meeting of the Celtic Legal Society of Chicago at the Bismarck Hotel.

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From the office of the GOVERNOR...

Governor James R. Thompson announced the appointment of David Kenney, political science professor at Southern Illinois University, as director of the Department of Conservation.

Kenney, 54, Carbondale, served as a delegate to the state's sixth Constitutional Convention of 1970. He has been associated with SIU in both teaching and administrative capacities since 1951.

A Carbondale native whose ancestors settled in Illinois country before statehood in what became Randolph County, Kenney has been widely associated with the running of pointer dog trials. He is president of the Illinois Brittany Championship Assn., a member of Crab Orchard Field Trial Club and the author of numerous articles on the sport which have appeared in American Field magazine.

His chapters on the pre-history of Illinois in his widely used textbook, Basic Illinois Government, have established Kenney as an authority on the Indian inhabitants of pre-statehood Illinois.

Kenney joined the SIU faculty as an instructor in 1951, became an associate professor in 1952 and a professor in 1968. From 1951 to 1964 he served as assistant dean of the Graduate School and was acting dean in 1965. From 1967 to 1972 he was director of the Public Affairs Research Bureau at the university.

He has been a member of the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission since 1973 and has served on the Carbondale Library Board since 1973, currently as board president.

He received his bachelor's degree from SIU in 1947, his master's degree in education the next year at the institution and was awarded his doctorate by the University of Illinois in 1952.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 25 May/June, 1977