2008 Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees

Wesley Habley

Wesley Habley has been a leader in the field of advising and student retention for over 20 years. Habley's enduring commitment to the field has helped to change the role of academic advisors in institutions of higher education from the people who help students sign up for classes to key players in student retention and graduation.

Habley earned his B.S. in Music Education in 1968 and M.S. of Education in 1970, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He went on to earn his Doctorate in Education from Illinois State in 1978.

Working most of his career in academic advising, Habley created his niche in advising at ACT, Inc., a national assessment company formally called the American College Testing Program. He is one of the most cited authors in the field of academic advising, has published over 50 individual and collaborative articles, and is the coeditor of the forthcoming second edition of Academic Advising: A Comprehensive Handbook.

Jill Lanier

Jill Lanier is the principal at Tri-Valley Middle School in Downs. Lanier is a true believer in the "middle-school concept," where schools are uniquely designed to meet both the academic and developmental needs of young adolescents. As a champion for the concepts and ideals promoted in the middle-level education program at Illinois State, many middle-level educators have benefited from her knowledge and experience.

Lanier received her B.S. in Middle Level Education in 1990 and her M.S. in Educational Administration in 2002 from Illinois State University. She began her career as a middle-level language arts and science teacher.

Her leadership at Tri-Valley Middle School has resulted in formal recognition by the Association for Middle-Level Schools and the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform for excellence in middle level education. Lanier is active in the community with the Downs United Methodist Church, the Tri-Valley Elementary School PTO, and the McLean County Diversity Project.

Sharon Litchfield

Sharon Litchfield is an assistant professor emerita of Special Education in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program in the College of Education. Her career at Illinois State spanned twenty years during which she served as a lecturer and later as a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Special Education. Prior to her work at Illinois State, she was an itinerant teacher and a self-contained classroom teacher in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program for 12
years at Peoria District 150. Litchfield earned her B.S. in 1973 and M.S. in 1982 in Special Education at Illinois State. She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2002.

Litchfield has published extensively in the field at local, state, and national levels and has served on several committees and organizations. She served as the president of the Illinois Teachers of Hard of Hearing Individuals and on the board of directors for the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID). Litchfield also served as chair of the Illinois State Board of Education’s committee to establish standards for teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Illinois.