Draft:Jennie Whitten

Dr. Jennie Whitten was born on January 3rd, 1894 in La Prairie Center, Illinois to Henrietta and Charles Whitten, principal of the Dekalb Township High School. At 4 years old, she was enrolled in the Model School, now known as the Thomas Metcalf School, a laboratory school for ISNU students.{{Cite web |title=The Vidette 6 September 1919 — The Vidette Digital Archives |url=https://videttearchive.ilstu.edu/?a=d&d=vid19190906-01.1.1&srpos=51&e=-------en-20--41--txt-txIN%22jennie+whitten%22------- |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=videttearchive.ilstu.edu}} After Metcalf, Whitten enrolled at the University of Illinois, where she acquired her bachelor's and master's degrees, and the University of Wisconsin, where she got her doctorate.{{Cite web |title=Apr 28, 1989, page 18 - The Pantagraph at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/72860833/?article=7bbe3a3e-6654-4dfe-a03d-85256392e5a4&focus=0.66751736,0.6713847,0.9861352,0.9656067&xid=3355 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}} In 1918, Whitten taught Spanish at Champaign Central High School.

After her graduate study at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Whitten began her career at ISNU in the fall of 1919 as an instructor of Spanish.{{Cite web |date=1920 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1920illi/page/28/mode/2up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}} In the following year, she taught both Spanish and French, and another year later, exclusively French.{{Cite web |date=1921 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1921 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1921illi/page/16/mode/2up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}}{{Cite web |date=1922 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1922illi/page/30/mode/2up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}} During the 1922-1923 school year, Whitten and fellow ISNU foreign language instructor Ruby T. Scott traveled to Europe, sailing out of Toronto.{{Cite web |title=The Vidette 29 March 1922 — The Vidette Digital Archives |url=https://videttearchive.ilstu.edu/?a=d&d=vid19220329-01.1.1&srpos=10&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=videttearchive.ilstu.edu}} Upon her return in the Summer of 1923, Whitten taught at J. Sterling Morton Township Highschool in Cicero Illinois, and would not resume her position as French instructor at ISNU until the Fall of 1924.{{Cite web |title=The Vidette 9 June 1924 — The Vidette Digital Archives |url=https://videttearchive.ilstu.edu/?a=d&d=vid19240609-01.1.8&srpos=28&e=------ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=videttearchive.ilstu.edu}} Alongside fellow faculty member Wanda Neiswanger, Jennie assisted in the creation of the University alma mater, or school anthem, in 1926.{{Cite web |date=2016-01-01 |title=Redbird proud: Tracing traditions that speak to Illinois State's legacy - News - Illinois State |url=https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2016/01/redbird-proud-tracing-traditions-that-speak-to-illinois-states-legacy/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |language=en-US}} This Alma Mater is still sung at formal campus events today. Jennie Whitten also served this year as a sponsor for both the French club and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), and a year later, chairman.{{Cite web |title=The Vidette 3 November 1926 — The Vidette Digital Archives |url=https://videttearchive.ilstu.edu/?a=d&d=vid19261103-01.1.5&srpos=18&e=------ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=videttearchive.ilstu.edu}}{{Cite web |date=1927 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1927 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1927illi/page/114/mode/2up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}} In 1931, Whitten became an Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and in 1933, the head of the Department of Foreign Languages. In 1937, she joined the American Association of University Professors and began a short run as an Associate Professor of German. {{Cite web |date=1937 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1937 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1937illi/page/194/mode/2up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}} Whitten remained at ISNU as a Professor of Foreign Languages and the head of the department until her retirement in the spring of 1960.{{Cite web |date=1959 |title=Illinois State University: The Index 1959 |url=https://archive.org/details/index1959illi/page/214/mode/1up |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Internet Archive}}

Dr. Jennie Whitten was also an active member of her community outside of teaching at ISNU. She was a member of the Unitarian Church in Bloomington which was founded by Jesse W. Fell, founder of ISNU.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://uubn.org/wp/the-history-of-uubn/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=UUBN}} Whitten served as a secretary of the church board for six years, and president of the board for two. During her time at the church, she also spent six years as editor of the Church Parish News. Outside of the church, Whitten was a member of the Brokaw Service League, the McLean County Historical Society, the McLean County Annuitants Association, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and UNA-USA.

Dr. Whitten died on April 26th, 1989 at the Martin Health Care Center in Bloomington Illinois. Her funeral was held at the Unitarian Church, of which she was a member.

After her retirement in 1960, ISNU honored Whitten and alumni Alma Mary Hamilton by naming one of their newly constructed residence halls on South Campus after them. Architects Archie Schaeffer, Harold Wilson, and Joseph Orme Evans mark a significant change in the style of ISNU's campus, abandoning the "brick-and-ivy" look previously established and pushing the campus forward into modernism.{{Cite web |last=Kemp |first=Bill |date=2015-10-11|title=ISU's residence halls were modernist gems |url=https://pantagraph.com/news/local/isu-s-residence-halls-were-modernist-gems/article_96920b20-7f6b-550e-aff4-87dbb5f81987.html#tncms-source=signup&tncms-source=login |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=The Pantagraph}} Hamilton-Whitten Residence Hall housed nearly a thousand undergraduate students at ISNU annually, and continued to do so until it was decommissioned in 2012 and demolished in 2015. During the demolition of the residence halls, a time capsule was discovered containing various items, including a copy of the "Whittilton Newsletter" for its residents.{{Cite web |date=2016-04-20 |title=South Campus demolition unearths two time capsules |url=https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2016/04/south-campus-demolition-turns-time-capsule-1959/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |language=en-US}}

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