In 1998 the university opened its doors to the Polish Heritage celebration. This years was the 10th and with over 250 people attending, Marlene Gill is very proud to be Polish.
Gill, who’s maiden name is Wilczynski, while working on her Masters at NEIU proposed a plan to have NEIU celebrate the culture of Poland. Former University President, Salme H. Steinberg was, accord to Gill, very interested.
“I wanted to showcase the pride of the Polish community of Chicago,” Said Gill who with the help of Lisa Cooper and Penny Sawczek of Alumni Affairs at the time organized the event.
Also, at this current event Marlene Gill said that there are plans to name the Science Building after Lech Walesa. Walesa was the a former president of Poland and received the Nobel Peace Prize for abolishing Communism.
Though the Science Building has not been confirmed to be the building to be renamed, according to Marlene the naming needs only to be approved by the school.
Over the ten years Gill with her husband Kenneth has brought, “influential and important Polish people to the university.”
Marlene is pleased that there is a Polish language program, but she would like to see more courses on history and specifically see a course in the Women Studies department.