Claire Barker

Claire grew up in Toronto, and New Jersey.  She graduated from the University of Michigan’s 6-year integrated undergraduate- medical school program, and did her residency at Yale-affiliated Danbury hospital in Connecticut. Following a brief stint at Harvard Community Health plan, she came to Carle and worked there for 32 years until retiring in 2018. She became a Geriatrician in 1990. During her time at Carle, she was a practitioner and educator of residents in the divisions of Internal  Medicine and also fellows in Geriatric Medicine, and was the head of the Division of Adult Medicine, and  of Carle’s first subacute center. She rounded weekly for the last 16 years at Champaign County nursing home, Meadowbrook at Clark Lindsay and Amber Glen Memory Care Unit.

Through her life she has enjoyed gardening, singing, and Argentine tango dancing. She raised three boys, and most recently loves spending time with her two grandchildren.

Claire and her husband took care of her mother with Alzheimer’s in their home for five years, and mother- in-law with vascular dementia in assisted living and memory care for 3.5 years in town.   With her years of experience in Geriatrics, she is especially interested in how assistive technologies can be brought to bear to help the elderly and their caregivers cope and manage chronic diseases.

She is honored to be a new member of CHART Community Advisory Panel.

Bob Boucek

Bob grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UIUC, followed by an MD at UIC, followed by a 3-year pediatric residency in Ann Arbor, MI. He spent 2 years as a Medical Officer in the Navy in Newport, Rhode Island, and then returned to Champaign-Urbana as a pediatrician at Christie Clinic. Bob was diagnosed in 1996 with multiple sclerosis, which encouraged a retirement earlier than originally anticipated. Sue and Bob have been happily married for 52 years. We especially enjoy visits with our four adult children, their spouses, and our seven grandchildren. Bob enjoys time with friends and meeting other people. His woodworking shop is his favorite place to be, even as projects are smaller than the desks and tables, and rocking chairs he used to build.

Sue Boucek

Sue grew up on a farm southeast of Bement, IL, and attended Bement schools from kindergarten through high school. She graduated from Millikin University in Decatur, IL, earned a Diploma in Nursing from Decatur Macon County Hospital School of Nursing, and then worked as an RN in Decatur, Chicago, and finally Ann Arbor, MI. Bob and Sue married in 1970 after his sophomore year at UofI medical school in Chicago. They have four adult children, all graduates of the UofI. They lived in Ann Arbor, MI, during Bob’s medical residency, Newport, RI, for his two years of U.S. Navy duty, and moved to Urbana, IL, in 1976. Sue taught at Weekday Preschool and has enjoyed a variety of classes at Parkland College, especially in the Art Department. She was employed in First Presbyterian Church, Champaign’s office, before retirement and has served in various community volunteer roles for new learning experiences. Sue delights in the company of family, especially her seven grandchildren and friends. She also enjoys learning, reading, Wordle, light gardening, less cooking, and dining out.

Urias Betoel Escobar

Betoel Escobar is an Assistant Director & Coordinator of Student Support Services (SSS) at the Office of Minority Student Affairs (OMSA). He also serves as a pre-law adviser for OMSA and adviser for the Minority Association of Future Attorneys (MAFA). He serves on several Student Affairs committees and the Council of Academic Professionals (CAP) as a representative of District 7. Prior to joining OMSA, he was a music professor at the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and a trombone player with the National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts and the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, respectively. His doctoral degree in Music Education is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jim Fawcett

Jim grew up in central (rural) New Jersey, received a B.S.E.E from Rutgers in 1961, and joined the General Electric Company. After several assignments in Vermont, Virginia, and Maryland he started working at the Electronics Laboratory in Syracuse New York. While working there and another General Electric department in Syracuse Jim started graduate studies at Syracuse University, completing a doctoral program in 1981. He then joined the Department of Computer Engineering at Syracuse in 1991 and taught graduate courses until retiring in 2019. Jim has 3 children and 5 grandchildren. They enjoy hiking and skiing and visits to Cape Cod, Civil War battlefields, and several trips to Disney World. Jim’s hobbies now are reading, collaborating with a former student and friend on software projects, and maintaining a technical website. He is pleased to be a member of the CHART Community Advisory Panel.

Marge Moluf

Marge grew up in Palatine, IL and graduated from Palatine High School. She graduated from Illinois Commercial College in Champaign and retired after 31 years from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  Her positions at the university included working at the opening of the Assembly Hall in 1963, the College of Law, the University of Illinois Foundation, and the Division of Broadcasting.  She was married to Jim Moluf for almost 54 years and has three adult children who all graduated from the University of Illinois.  She enjoys spending family time with her children, their spouses, and grandchildren.  She enjoys lunches and spending time with former co-workers and friends.  She is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Champaign and enjoys volunteering for Minds in Motion as well as being a member of an Alzheimer’s support group. The CHART Panel is a wonderful opportunity to share one’s own experiences that may be of help to what is being researched for Older Adults and others.  Marge also enjoys gardening that includes lots of flowers, watching the birds and squirrels, and  enjoying the garden’s water features.

Lenny Pitt

Lenny grew up in Detroit, and went to the University of Michigan where he received an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Masters degree in Mathematics.  After a year writing software to read handwritten checks for banks, he returned to school and ultimately received a PhD in Computer Science at Yale University. This was followed with a research fellowship at Harvard University before he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois.  At Illinois he served as a Professor of Computer Science for 33 years, and held roles as Director of Undergraduate Programs and Associate Head.  He retired in 2019 with his wife, Claire Barker, of 43 years.  

Lenny has been involved in K-12 outreach education since the early 90s, and is currently building high school curricula for a broad introduction to applications of CS.  (“CS + X”).  He has volunteered as a UIUC extension money mentor, and as a mentor for the I-Promise program.

He enjoys visiting his two sons and two grandchildren, playing the flute, playing logical games and puzzles, and teaching kids how to program.    He is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the CHART Community Advisory Panel.

Kate Dyani Swan

Kate grew up near Champaign County and graduated with a Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois in Springfield. She worked full time as a researcher/instructor at  Southern Illinois Medical School before entering doctoral program in Educational Psychology and Counseling at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. While making the long commute from Springfield to Champaign she worked in full time and part-time roles while being a single mom. 

This led to her work with student groups coping with stress, e.g., working parents, mature students, single parents. Having full time parental responsibility she worked full-time in Instructional Development, teaching and research roles in medical schools and universities. After seven years she finished the doctoral program ‘all but dissertation’. She returned to work in office admin and eventually to library management and cataloging. She finished this with an MLS and began an advanced degree in library sciences. 

She retired from UI Library in 2014 earlier than expected after encountering a surprise illness in 2012.  Having rehabilitated she is now involved in learning how reading and support systems help in life losses due to aging, illness, stress, and grief.