Committees and Organizations

INTRODUCTION The Gordon C. Kresheck papers were donated to the University Archives on June 6, 1997 upon the retirement of Dr. Kresheck.  Literary rights on all materials not under copyright are dedicated to the public.  There are no restrictions on access to the collection. SCOPE AND CONTENT The materials in this collection document the career of Gordon C. Kresheck from 1956 to 1997.  The collection is organized into five series: Research and Publications (1958-1997); Professional Associations and Organizations (1962-1996); Departmental and Administrative Business (1965-1997); Courses and Teaching (1964-1996); and Correspondence (1956- 1997).  The first folder in the collection contains vita information, and several other files contain photographs of Kresheck. Series one, Research and Publications, contains copies of most of Professor Kresheck’s publications, several unpublished papers, correspondence with the publishers, and in some cases relevant research notes.  In addition, this series contains a number of Kresheck’s research notebooks dating back to his Ph.D. research, other related research materials, Fellowship and Grant Requests. Committees and Organizations, the second series, documents Kresheck’s involvement with several professional organizations, including the Rock River Valley Subsection, Chicago Section, and Great Lakes Region of the American Chemical Society; and the Calorimetry Conference.  Included here are meeting programs, and correspondence, and copies of papers given by Dr. Kresheck at meetings and symposiums sponsored by these and other groups. Series three, Departmental and Administrative Business, contains NIU Chemistry Faculty Meeting Minutes from 1965 to 1997; Center for Biochemical and Biophysical Studies files; Minority High School Apprentice Program files; Graduate Colloquium Lecture Series programs and related correspondence; and information on the establishment of Sigma XI on campus.  A file on parking problems on campus is also included here. The fourth series, Courses and Teaching, relates to Professor Kresheck’s teaching career.  Included are files containing class notes and exams; examples of student notebooks and research papers; and various student files. Dr. Kresheck’s correspondence files make up the final series in this collection.  Nearly all of the correspondence is related to his work and research.  Also included are requests for references, evaluations, and reviews. For additional information on aspects of Dr. Kresheck’s career at NIU researchers should also consult these additional collections: Faculty Records, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Gordon Charles Kresheck was born in North Tonawanda, New York on September 3, 1933.  He received his B.S. (1955), M.S. (1959), and Ph.D. (1961) degrees in Dairy Technology from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.  Between the B.S. and M.S. degrees he spent two years aboard a U.S. Navy gasoline tanker operating out of Pearl Harbor.  His graduate work consisted of studies related to the milk acid phosphase system, under the direction of Prof. W.J. Harper, Dept. of Dairy Technology, and a light scattering study of the effect of elevated temperatures upon milk proteins and their interactions, under the direction of Prof. Q. Van Winkle, Dept. of Chemistry. Upon completion of his studies in 1961 he spent one year as a Research Assistant in the Nobel Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, Stockholm, Sweden, working on the mechanism of reactivation of heat inactivated milk alkaline phosphase and the conformation of casein in aqueous solution in Prof. H. Theorell’s laboratory.  From February thru August 1963 Kresheck was a Visiting Scientist in the Physical Measurements Section of the Proctor and Gamble Company, Miami Valley Laboratories, Cincinnati, Ohio.  This was followed by a two-year N.I.H. postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Harold A. Scheraga in the Department of Chemistry at Cornell University where he studied the hydrophobic bond, as applicable to proteins.  He joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University in 1965.  Kresheck was also a Resident Research Associate in the Chemistry Division of Argonne National Laboratory during the summer of 1966. In September of 1975 a Center for Biochemical and Biophysical Studies (CBBS) offering interdisciplinary study in the areas of biology, chemistry, psychology and nutrition was established at Northern Illinois University.  Dr. Kresheck was named as Director of the Center, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.  Over the years the most visible functions of CBBS have been the sponsoring of a weekly biochemistry seminar series and administration of BRSG and NSMRAP programs.  Although not a degree granting unit, the Center’s faculty members tailor programs to meet the individual needs of the students.  Students can earn a master’s and/or doctoral degree in the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, nutrition and dietetics, and psychology that includes a concentration in biochemistry or biophysics. An ardent researcher, Dr. Kresheck has written, or co-authored, more than 50 articles which have appeared in such publications as Biochemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and the Journal of Colloid Interface Science.  He has also presented numerous research papers in the area of physical biochemistry.  He has served as Associate Editor of the Transactions of the Illinois Academy of Science; was Assistant Editor of the Bulletin of Thermodynamics and Thermochemistry from 1971 to 1976; was a contributor to the first three editions of the Chemical Rubber Company’s HANDBOOK OF BIOCHEMISTRY, and prepared a chapter on Surfactants for Volume 4 of WATER: A COMPREHENSIVE TREATISE.  In December 1993 he received a patent for the “Method for Separating Hydrophilic Molecules from Hydrophobic Molecules via detergent Partitioning.”  Kresheck has served at the Chairperson of the Rock River Valley Subsection of the American Chemical Association; as President of the NIU Chapter of the Society of Sigma XI; on the Board of Directors for the Calorimetry Conference; and was a member of A.A.A.S.  As of 1997 he was a member of the American Chemical Society, the Biophysical Society, the American Society of Biological Chemists, and Sigma XI. Kresheck’s research interests include the application of thermochemical methods to the study of cell growth, micelle formation in aqueous and nonaqueous solvents, interaction of small ions and molecules with macromolecules, protein noncovalent interactions, biochemical thermodynamics, calorimetric studies of proteins, and lipid-lipid and lipid-protein interactions. Dr. Kresheck and his wife, Dr. Janet D. Kresheck (a member of the NIU Speech Dept. faculty from 1968 to 1995), had three children: a son Sten Edward, born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1962, and twin daughters, Carey and Aine, born in 1965 in Ithaca, New York. (Carey died at age 29 in 1994).  His recreational interests include sports, especially golf, current events, and travel.