ICEE president honored with Money$mart Award

Joanne Dempsey, executive director of the Illinois Council on Economic Education, has been recognized with the prestigious new "Money$mart Award" for outstanding work in promoting financial literacy in Illinois.

The council is part of NIU's Division of University Outreach.

Michael Moskow, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka presented Dempsey and seven others with the Money$mart Awards at a ceremony hosted by the Chicago Fed. Additionally, four Chicago schools were recognized for using curriculum from ICEE and the National Council on Economic Education to help students gain better money management skills.

ICEE and its centers provide a wide variety of professional development programs, curriculum-consulting services and student programs to promote economic and financial literacy among all citizens. Its efforts even extend beyond the United States.

The council recently hosted two educators from Lithuania and Ukraine. The educators visited NIU and other university campuses, observed economics lessons in Chicago elementary and high school classrooms and toured the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Mercantile Exchange and several Illinois businesses.

"Both Lithuania and Ukraine have active economic education programs that were developed out of U.S. training programs during the past 10 years," Dempsey said. "Through 'train the trainers' seminars, a core of qualified economic educators are now providing professional development seminars for K-12 teachers in their schools."

Twelve educators from the United States participated in a study tour in Lithuania and Ukraine during the same time period. The U.S. Department of Education sponsored the educational exchange through a grant to the National Council on Economic Education.

2-10-2003