Call Redfield for political perspective

For an expert whose research has followed the money in Illinois politics, the long and highly charged election season of 2008 was probably not an optimum year for dialing back a bit.

After 29 years at UIS, political science professor Kent Redfield retired in September 2008. But apparently nobody told the political reporters from Springfield, Chicago and New York who continued to call looking for insight and the inside scoop on Illinois politics and politicians.

Through it all, Redfield remains perhaps that rarest of Illinois political animals, a perennial idealist and optimist, a prescient voice for change and reform, believing that the goals of politics are to act honorably and to make things better.

Two of Redfield's former students and interns, Seth Hosick and Donovan Pepper, are co-chairing the Kent Redfield Scholarship Committee. They were participants in the Legislative Internship Program that Redfield ran for 20 years.

The scholarship was Hosick's idea. The goal is to raise a $25,000 scholarship endowment so the annual earnings can go to future UIS political science students in Redfield's honor in perpetuity.

"Kent's more than your everyday teacher," Hosick said. "He's a wonderful person, inside and outside of the classroom, who touched lots of lives. 'Look at the small things,' he'd say. 'Where's the money coming from. Follow the money. Follow the power.'"

For Professor Emeritus Redfield, "retirement" is bound to be a relative term. He'll continue teaching one course per semester. He edited a book of essays, "Democratic Renewal: A Call to Action from America's Heartland," last year. He's the author of two more: "Cash Clout" and "Money Counts."

And he'll surely keep picking up the phone when reporters and former students call.

View all in the sampling of the articles in the 2008-09 Annual Report.