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Executive Committee (ExCom)

OFFICER BIOGRAPHIES

Kirstin Replogle, Chair
Kirstin is employed as a Research Specialist in Life Sciences at UIUC. A Life Member, Kirstin's been active in the Sierra Club for over 10 years. Beginning with activism surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park issues, her interests gradually shifted from public lands protection work to environmental justice and Right-to-Know issues. During this time, she held many leadership positions within the North Star Chapter (Minnesota), including Membership Chair, Delegate to the Chapter ExCom, and Chair -- all for the Minneapolis Group. In 1996, she was appointed Chair of the Sierra Club's National Environmental Justice Committee, where she's participated in the development of the Club's National Environmental Justice Grassroots Organizing Program and advocated for increased involvement by the Club in this exciting work. Kirstin moved to Urbana in 1996, and joined the Prairie Group ExCom in 2001. At year's end (Dec., 2005), Kirstin was still active on the National Environmental Justice Committee.

Alice Englebretsen, Treasurer and Chapter Delegate
Alice has been a member of the Sierra Club for over 20 years and has lived in Colorado, Quebec, Canada, and in Illinois for the past 21 years. Her interest in environmental issues has been strong for many years, and she was active in many events in all the places where she lived. Her favorite way to vacation is to go on Sierra Club Service Trips, and she is planning on taking her sixth service trip to the Coastal Wildlife Refuge in Florida Feb. 17-23. Since her retirement from the administrative information systems department at University of Illinois she has been able to devote more time to her passion in environmental issues. In Sept., 2001 she was elected to the Prairie Group ExCom and served as Editor of the Newsletter and Website. In Jan., 2003 she was elected as Chair of the Group. Alice has two children and four grandchildren living in Chicago and Montreal.

Margaret J. Flynn, Group Chair and Newsletter Editor
Peg Flynn has been a member of the Prairie Group since 2002 and has been active in the founding of Planning Advocates of Champaign County (PACC), which grew out of the group's "Building Better Communities" workshops in early 2003. While completing her doctoral studies in French literature at Indiana University she held numerous editorial positions at scholarly journals She is now employed as a freelance French/English translator and editor.

Don Davis, Environmental Education Chair, Conservation Chair, Outings Chair
Don first went on a solo hike in the mountains when he was 11 years old and has never wanted to leave the wilderness since. He has been active in outdoor and environmental work-both volunteer and paid-since college days. He has also taught mountaineering and outdoor skills to children, teenagers and adults, including downhill skiing, rock climbing, and backpacking. Don belongs to a number of environmental organizations, but chooses to work with the Sierra Club because of the impact this Club can have on world's environment with its focus on local issues through its chapters.

Jim Beauchamp, Membership Chair
Jim grew up in Michigan and has always enjoyed the outdoors which, as a youngster, he had a chance to do in summer because his parents often sent him to camp. Later he became a Boy Scout and Explorer Scout, earning an Eagle badge. He camped as an adult, but it wasn't until the late '70s on a Colorado backpacking trip that he recognized the fragility of mountain environments. Also, visits to parks in New York state in 1980 convinced him something needed to be done to counter routinely occurring water pollution. Visits to the seashore in California, where he lived in 1962-63 and 1968-69, impacted his awareness of the need for regulation of offshore oil rigs and oil tankers. Meanwhile, Jim joined the faculty of the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, first with the dept. of electrical and computer engineering, then on a joint appointment with the school of music and dept. of ECE. He retired in 1997, but is still active as a professor emeritus, attending several professional meetings a year, publishing, and giving talks on computer music, acoustics, and music perception and cognition. Jim joined the Sierra Club in 1981 and very soon after became a member of the Prairie Group ExCom in 1983. He's served in various positions over the years: 1983-84, treasurer; 1985-90, vice chair; 1991, membership; 1992, secretary and membership; 1993, chair; 1998- 2004, membership; 2001-2004, vice chair. Canoeing is a favorite activity and in the '80s he led several summer trips on the Current River in Missouri. However, his main role has been as a mainstay of the group's infrastructure. Also, lately (since 2005) he's been highly involved in a coalition to keep oil drilling out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Jim has three children in their 30s and 40s, four grandchildren, and, with his wife, Karen, a young son who shares his interests in baseball, swimming, chess, and the outdoors.

Richard L. Bishop, Vice-Chair and Alternate Chapter Delegate
Dick Bishop grew up on a farm in southwestern Michigan and attended college in Benton Harbor and Cleveland. In 1959 he was awarded a PhD in mathematics from MIT. Since then he has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois, as Emeritus Professor since 1997. He continues to pursue mathematical research and travels widely, mainly to mathematical conferences. He has 5 children and 9 grandchildren. His wife Dolores has gained considerable renown in Champaign County as a dog trainer and instructor of dog obedience and tracking. Dick joined the Sierra Club in 1998 and became a member of the Prairie Group Executive Committee in 2001. He commutes to the University mainly by bicycle, averaging about 50 miles per week in that way.

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