For Immediate Release:
October 24, 2006
Luke Palermo is available for interviews.
On Friday, November 3rd the Television Department of Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will celebrate the endowment of the Sharon Palermo Scholarship Fundat the college's Hermann Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash Avenue.
This inaugural event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and light refreshments. At 7:30 p.m. mystery writer Barbara D'Amato will read from one of her award winning books. Tickets are $60 per person and may be purchased by calling 312.344.7410. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the day of the event. RSVP at www.colum.edu/alumni/palermo. For further information call 312.344.7410.
The need based scholarship is created in the memory of Sharon Palermo to provide tuition assistance for low income Columbia students majoring in television. The beloved wife of Television Department's long-time faculty member Luke Palermo, Sharon passed away in the fall of 2005.
Sharon and Luke dedicated their lives to educating young people, and they both enjoyed seeing the learning process unfold, as students began to ask questions and formulate their own ideas and interpretations of the world. "We had no children of our own, so we felt that each young person we worked with was in some small ours," says Luke.
Sharon always worked in education and was committed to the students she came in contact with far beyond her professional responsibilities. She spent more than 25 years providing administrative support at the middle and high school levels.
She was an office coordinator at Proviso West High School from 1991 to 2001. From 2001 to June 2003 she served as administrative assistant to the director of special education at Lyons Township High School. In June 2003 she accepted a position as administrative secretary at Burr Ridge Middle School, a position she held until August 2005.
Luke began his teaching career as a math teacher at Lyons Township High School in the early 1970s. In February 1973 he took a staff job in the school's audio-visual center at a time when television was just being introduced into school curriculums.
In 1973 he was offered a job at Riverside-Brookfield High School as supervisor of television and audio-visual services and is credited for building the school's video program and incorporating television into the school's curriculum.
When the time came for him to expand his knowledge in the area of audio-visual and photography, the school that was mentioned (even back then) was Columbia College. He attended an open house at Columbia College in the mid-1970s and then began is 30-year relationship with the college. In 1982 he began teaching part-time in the Television Department and in August of 1986 he became a full-time faculty member.
Luke's contributions to the college, academy and the community are many. Sharon was an integral part of those contributions. Luke and Sharon were married for more than 30 years. She lived life with great joy, whether absorbed in a mystery novel, a rousing game of Scrabble, a placid lake side vacation or cooking with Luke.
Luke is a resident of Woodridge, Illinois.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to access, opportunity, and excellence in higher education, provides innovative practice and education in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to 11,500 students in more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia was provisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the modern leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing its mission to bring a richness of vision and a multiplicity of voices to the creation of culture through the diversity of our students and graduates. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
Media contact: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.7805 or phunter@colum.edu