It was during her sophomore year at Dominican University that Vicki Whooper ’11 found her calling as a stage manager.

“Krista Hansen, the current chair of the department, approached me and said, ‘I think you’d make a great stage manager,’” Whooper recalled. “I didn’t even know what that was! But once I learned about it, I thought, ‘This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my career.’”

Jovan Selakovic may be looking ahead to a career in accounting, but for now, thanks to an initiative he embarked upon at Dominican University, he’s embraced the world of podcasting.

“It’s something I see myself doing long-term,” the incoming senior remarked. “It’s not something that was just a school project.”

Marie Molde, RD, MBA ’11 has been recognized among the “rising stars of produce” by Produce Business, an international publication and website dedicated to the fruit, vegetable and floral industries.

Molde was named to Produce Business’ “40 Under 40” for 2022. The annual list, according to the publication, “spotlights rising entrepreneurs and leaders who have shaped the produce industry in a very short time and are paving the way for what comes next.”

Three Dominican University alumni were recently honored during the first on-campus, in-person Reunion event held since 2019.

The two-day celebration, held June 10-11, drew approximately 200 alumni and guests to tour the campus and its latest additions, view the Archives display, attend President Glena Temple’s Presidential Briefing, and reminisce with old friends. Special luncheons were held for the classes of 1971 and 1972, as well as for Rosarian alumni representing the class of 1970 and earlier.

(Photo: Dr. Irvin Hunt, an assistant professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, speaks on the history of emancipation and early celebrations among Black Americans during a Juneteenth event in the Center for Cultural Liberation).

Dominican University celebrated Juneteenth for the second consecutive year with an outdoor picnic and a guest speaker providing a history of the holiday commemorating the emancipation of slaves in America.

Turning typically meat or dairy-based foods into vegan dishes is a passion of Dominican University nutrition student Michelle Scott.

Scott, who started an online business called Thank God 4 Raw Vegan Treats, recently shared some of her recipes during a grab ’n go lunch in the Parmer nutrition lab hosted by Dominican’s Healthy Living Committee.

On the menu were free vegan hot tamales, vegan chickpea tacos and churros.

Dominican University alum Carlos Alberto Benitez Cruz ’21 was interviewed by WBEZ to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The program, aimed at protecting undocumented young people from deportation if they were brought to the United States as children, has not worked, Cruz believes.

“I do not call myself a dreamer,” Cruz said in the interview. “I’m just an undocumented person.”

Before becoming a Dominican University Schmitt Scholar, Angelica Moreno admits she wasn’t politically active. She’d even received a gentle reprimand from her mother after failing to vote in an election.

“She sat me down and said, ‘So many people don’t have a voice,’” Moreno recalled. “She said, ‘You have a voice; use it to help those who don’t.’”

A recent job shadowing event gave a group of students from Dominican University a behind-the-scenes look at automotive and engineering giant Bosch.

Nine students participated in the May 11 event, allowing them to spend time with Bosch employees, learn about their day-to-day tasks, sit in on business calls and hear from Dominican University alumni who were hired as full-time employees of the company following internships there.

The day was organized through the Brennan School of Business, which put out a call for interested students to apply.

With so many students from across the country applying, being accepted into JPMorgan Chase’s program for Latinx students was a long shot, Kiara Valenzuela believed.

But that didn’t stop the Dominican University sophomore from submitting her application late last year.

“I just decided to go for it,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is a great opportunity. Let me just see what happens.’”