Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2013 | Page 22

by Katherine Halberstadt Anderson ’90 During Homecoming Weekend, Coach Jonathan Lederhouse ’74 and Dr. Jillian Nerhus Lederhouse ’75 received the Alumni Association’s 2012 Distinguished Service to Alma Mater Awards for their contributions individually—Jon’s, to Wheaton’s swim program; and Jill’s, to teaching education—and together, as they have invested themselves in the lives of countless students. The couple have three children: Jamelyn ’04; Jeremy ’07, married to Natalie Rummel Lederhouse M.A. ’10; and Julia ’09. Dr. Jillian Nerhus Lederhouse ’75 “I knew Chicago because I was raised in Chicago,” says Dr. Jillian Nerhus Lederhouse ’75, whose toughest professional decision came when she was offered a full-time job at Wheaton after teaching in the city for eight years, just three miles south of her childhood home. “I loved teaching in the city, because I really felt like I could made a difference,” says Jill, who had also taught part-time at Wheaton. “At that time, I thought that anyone could teach Wheaton students, because they were so motivated to learn.” Though the transition was wrenching, Jill made the switch to fulltime at Wheaton in 1989, and after 34 years, she has developed a deep appreciation for her role of equipping young teachers—and for the students themselves. “I’ve learned how privileged I am to work with Wheaton students, who see the world as filled with richness, and see the children they teach as whole and complete human beings—that whole worldview enriches my job so much,” she says. Chair of the department of education since 2007, Dr. Lederhouse has made it one of her goals to teach Wheaton students to “accept every one of their students as Christ has accepted us, and to work hard to find strategies to help every student learn.” Passionate about bringing a more diverse learning environment to Wheaton’s education program, she helped the College develop the now 15-year partnership with Grover Cleveland Elementary School, providing more than 65 education majors like Amanda Wren ’09 with student teaching opportunities in an urban context. Now a kindergarten teacher at Cleveland School, Amanda says that her 20     W I N T E R   2 0 1 3 class of 28 children still benefits daily from lessons she learned in Dr. Lederhouse’s Math Methods class. The partnership began thanks to a conversation with a former student, Ruth Brazalovich Mischkot ’92, who was teaching at Grover Cleveland at the time, and encouraged Dr. Lederhouse to call her principal. After watching Dr. Lederhouse guide student teachers past many hurdles, Ruth says, “Her passion for all children—especially the students of inner-city Chicago—was so evident, it inspired not only her education students, but me as well.” The author of a book and many journal articles, Dr. Lederhouse earned her master’s in reading and learning disabilities at DePaul University, and her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At work on her second book, she currently serves on numerous boards, and as past-president of the Association for Independent Liberal Arts Colleges in Teacher Education. Dean of Natural and Social Sciences Dr. Dorothy F. Chappell calls Dr. Lederhouse “a master teacher, author, and exceptional department leader,” adding, “Her impact on students occurs through her direct His&Hers