DES MOINES, IA (12/03/2010)(readMedia)-- State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald's office awarded a $1,000 College Savings Iowa account in Pella today. Deputy State Treasurer Karen Austin was on hand to administer the award. The award, courtesy of the College Savings Iowa BABY 529 Giveaway, is given once a month to put one lucky baby on the right path toward saving for college. Baby Laurelei, born at Pella Regional Health Center, was this month's winner. The baby's parents, Lauretta MacCready and Shawn Melendrez, received information about the giveaway program before leaving the hospital after their child's birth.

"Little Laurelei may not be able to study yet, but she's already got a jump start on her college savings, and it will continue to grow right along-side her," stated Fitzgerald, plan administrator. "I encourage families with young children like Laurelei to put time on their side and start saving for college early. Anything they can put away today will offset what may need to be borrowed in the future."

Treasurer Fitzgerald and Deputy Treasurer Austin thank Pella Regional Health Center for helping them spread the message about the importance of saving for college. By participating in the College Savings Iowa BABY 529 Giveaway, the hospital provides new parents with information about saving early and a chance to win a $1,000 College Savings Iowa account for their baby. "We are pleased to have you as part of our team working to increase public awareness about the benefits of saving for college from day one," stated Fitzgerald.

Dr. Vande Zande, D.O., Marcia Schut, OB RN, Karen Westercamp, OB Manager, and Yvonne O'Brien, CNO were on hand to congratulate the family.

About the College Savings Iowa BABY 529 Giveaway

The BABY 529 Giveaway awards one $1,000 College Savings Iowa account each month to a randomly selected baby. All babies born in participating Iowa hospitals are eligible to win if they register for the monthly drawing. Seventy hospitals currently participate in the program and provide college savings materials to families before they leave the hospital. To learn more about the program, please visit www.iowababy529.com.

About College Savings Iowa

College Savings Iowa is a state-sponsored 529 plan designed to give families a tax-advantaged way to save money for college. Investors can choose from thirteen Vanguard investment options. Iowa taxpayers can deduct up to $2,811 in contributions per beneficiary account from their adjusted gross income in 2010,* and there are no income or residency restrictions. Withdrawals used to pay for qualified higher education expenses including tuition; books, supplies, and room and board are free of state and federal taxes. Funds can be used at any accredited college, university, community college or technical training school in the United States or abroad.** For more information on College Savings Iowa, visit www.collegesavingsiowa.com or call 1-888-672-9116.

*Adjusted annually for inflation. If withdrawals are not qualified, the deductions must be added back to Iowa taxable income.

** Earnings on non-qualified withdrawals may be subject to federal income tax and a 10% federal penalty tax, as well as state and local income taxes. The availability of tax or other benefits may be contingent on meeting other requirements.

About The Vanguard Group

The Vanguard Group, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is one of the nation's largest mutual fund firms and a leading provider of 529 college savings plans. Vanguard manages nearly $1.3 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets, including $25 billion in 529 plan assets invested in 25 plans in 23 states. Vanguard offers more than 150 funds to U.S. investors and more than 50 additional funds in foreign markets.

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Rock Island, Ill.-Selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States, Dr. Lendol Calder has been named the 2010 Illinois Professor of the Year. Sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the award is the only national initiative specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.

Calder, a 14-year veteran of the history department, is the second Augustana professor to receive this coveted award since the program began in 1981. Dr. Dorothy Parkander, professor emeritus of English, was named Illinois Professor of the Year in 1992.

"This is a very special day for Augustana College, and it's a great honor to join Dr. Calder's colleagues and students in offering congratulations on this outstanding recognition," said Augustana President Steve Bahls. "For almost half a century, Dr. Dorothy Parkander transformed the lives of our students by introducing them to the world's greatest literature. Dr. Calder has the same kind of impact as he leads students to a deeper, more effective understanding of history."

An accomplished historian, Calder also is a leader in the growing movement to bring scholarly inquiry to teaching and learning in higher education. In 1999, the Carnegie Foundation invited Calder to join other distinguished academicians from diverse fields to invent and share new models to enhance student learning.

Calder's research findings, published in the March 2006 issue of The Journal of American History, examine the problem of "coverage" in introductory history courses and is part of a larger effort to forge a new way of teaching and learning college history. It was the first time the flagship journal for American history had published an article on the scholarship of teaching and learning.

"The kind of professor I've worked to be is the kind who approaches teaching with both the trained eye of a scholar and the wild eye of a poet or mystic or comic," Calder said. "Teaching for me is both scholarly work and soul work. Studies tell us that professors are not all that comfortable with spiritual discourse and moral inquiry in the classroom. But Augustana has given me a green light for this kind of inquiry so I've been able to run with it. In my courses I work to help students develop both the language of their hearts and the language of their minds."

For example, Calder's American history class covering 1945 to the present has no exams and no 60-minute lectures. Instead of a single textbook, students read two competing histories and dozens of documents from the past. Grades are based on seven essays in which students demonstrate their ability to construct sound historical arguments on the basis of document analysis. Class time is filled with lively discussions where students do what historians do: formulate questions, analyze evidence, construct claims, dispute inferences, correct initial conclusions and recognize what can't be known. Most importantly, students debate what story best makes sense of the American past. "If you don't have a story that makes sense of the world," said Calder, "then you don't know what to do, or how to live."

Caroline Sallee, a 2002 Augustana graduate, says the most important skills she learned in college were from Calder's classes. "I learned how to  approach history, to think about it critically and to write about it clearly,"Sallee said. "Today, as a 30-year-old economic consultant, I use these skills every day."

A native of Texas, Calder received his bachelor's at the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980. He earned his master's and doctorate from the University of Chicago. Calder came to Augustana in 1996, after having taught at Colby-Sawyer College; the University of Washington, Seattle; and the University of Chicago. In 1999, Princeton University Press published Calder's book Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit, which continues to be the authority on the subject, even after a decade.

Ceremonies honoring the state and national winners of the U.S. Professors of the Year Awards Program include an awards luncheon at the W Washington D.C. Hotel and a reception at the Folger Shakespeare Library, also in Washington, D.C.

About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college enrolls 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers more than 70 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 287 faculty members and has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.

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Rivermont Collegiate is thrilled to announce tenth grade student Kelsey Qu has attained the highest individual honor available to Iowa high school musicians by being selected as a member of the 2010 All-State Orchestra!  Kelsey, a cellist, is the daughter of Xin Liu and Zhiming Qu of Bettendorf.  Auditions were held Saturday, October 23^rd, with only about 17% of students who auditioned being selected for the All-State ensembles.

All-State Festival participants will rehearse in Ames, IA on Friday and Saturday, November 19th and 20th.  The Festival Concert will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 20th in the Hilton Coliseum, located on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames.  The concert is open to the public - tickets are $15 and available through Ticketmaster. 

In addition, Iowa Public Television will record the concert for re-broadcast scheduled for Thursday, November 25th at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 28th at 5:30 p.m.  Tune in!

Additional Quad City high school students selected for the All-State Orchestra include :

Christine Kao - Bettendorf High School - Violin

Oliver Kao - Bettendorf High School - Violin

Adam Bengfort - Assumption High School - Viola

Jacob Warner - Davenport North - Cello

Noah Sund - Davenport North - String Bass

Kelvin Tran - Davenport North - Percussion

Michael Goodyear - Davenport Central - Oboe

Jennifer Keys - Davenport Central - Bassoon

2009 college grads carried an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6% from the previous year, according to The Project on Student Debt's report, Student Debt and the Class of 2009, released this month.  Statewide average debt levels for the Class of 2009 vary widely; Iowa makes the list as the fourth highest, with an average debt of $28,883 (behind the District of Columbia, New Hampshire, and Maine). In addition, 74% of Iowa graduates report having debt, which ranks Iowa second, only behind South Dakota (78% of grads with debt).  In the current economic climate, college grads face unique challenges in paying back student loans, and substantial debt can limit career options and make it difficult to save for a home, a family, a retirement, or their own children's educations.

Rivermont Collegiate, the Quad Cities' only private, independent, nonsectarian college-prep school, boasts 100% graduate acceptance to four-year colleges and universities.  Furthermore, over 90% of Rivermont grads earn four-year renewable merit scholarships (valued at $1.4 million in 2009).  The value of these scholarships is substantial, particularly given rising student debt and its potential consequences.  Over 35% of Rivermont students qualify for need-based tuition assistance while at Rivermont, proving that a private PS-12^th education can reap future benefits both academically and financially, while still being affordable.  In fact, Rivermont works hard at fundraising to keep itself affordable and is committed to a diverse population of students.

What are you waiting for?  Explore the Rivermont approach to learning!  Join us for Open Tours the first Tuesday of every month.  The next Open Tour will be held Tuesday, November 2nd from 8:30-10:00 a.m.  No appointment necessary!  Drop in to explore our philosophy and curriculum, take a tour of campus, see our teachers in action, and get answers to all your questions about Rivermont.

For additional information on The Project on Student Debt, including the full Student Debt and the Class of 2009 report, visit http://projectonstudentdebt.org

For additional information on Rivermont Collegiate or Tuesday's Open Tours, contact Cindy Murray at (563) 359-1366 ext. 302 or murray@rvmt.org

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