Alison and Roy Bassford
Alison and Roy have lived in CU for about nine years, and they currently live in Urbana near Yankee Ridge. Alison works for the University of Illinois Press and Roy is a building engineer for Jones Lang LaSalle. Along with Emmeline (4) and Rhys (1) they love to spend time together as a family, especially spending time outside, exploring CU, and cooking together. They are excited to get to know the UUCUC community. Alison is especially excited about the feminist book club.
Erica Bellina
Erica, Alessandro, and Giovanni Bellina are happy to have found a welcoming faith community at UUCUC. They look forward to opportunities to make new friends and serve their community.
Erica grew up in Champaign-Urbana and is a Clinical Supervisor for Elementary and Early Childhood student teachers at the University of Illinois. She likes to read, bake, and spend time relaxing in her garden (rather than actually gardening). Alessandro is a triple citizen of Venezuela, Italy, and the United States. He grew up in Valencia, Venezuela. He is a software engineer at NVIDIA. He likes to grill and has recently discovered Zumba as a way to get exercise while enjoying Latin dancing. Giovanni is a 6th grader at Countryside School where he plays on the soccer and basketball teams. When he grows up he wants to be a paleontolgist, archeologist, or anthropologist- some kind of ologist. As a family, the Bellinas like to travel, spend time in nature, and go to Illini games. Their family is completed by two cats, Smudgie and Fonzie.
Dani & Ian Nutting
Texas natives Dani and Ian spent far too long brainstorming silly sentences to start this bio, and what they ultimately decided is that they really didn’t want to write in third person if we could help it. After passing the church nearly every day since we moved to Urbana in 2018 to pursue doctorates (Dani in playing music, Ian in thinking about it), we are thrilled to finally join! We are sincerely looking forward to getting to know everyone and building community through the amazing work UUCUC pursues.
We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in December ‘22, and while kids are likely in the cards somewhat soonish (hence finding a church with youth programs that fit our values), we are currently satisfied sharing our home with a spicysweet tortie cat named Sila (which means “strength” in Bulgarian). Speaking of Bulgaria, doctorates, and the third person, Dani is currently writing up her dissertation on Bulgarian flute traditions while working in the UIUC Writers Workshop and training to teach the Alexander Technique. In contrast, Ian will likely abandon his dissertation when he opens a restaurant/music venue/hot sauce shop in downtown Champaign next month (@thespacecu).
We’re general fans of good food, beer-flavored beer, and life-altering good times & conversation. Hit us up if you wanna talk earth-centered praxis or dialectical materialism, listen to Midwest emo and orchestral deep cuts, or show us pics of your cats (no dogs allowed, Sila’s orders).
Katie Goslin
Katie Goslin is a CU townie who took a brief break to do her undergrad degree in western Michigan before returning to get her Master’s from UIUC. She is a former teacher who still feels passionate about education, but made the decision to resign in 2021. She has participated in a Soul Matters group via UUCUC, watched virtual services throughout 2020, and finally felt ready to join. Katie has two young kids – Sawyer and Miles – and a wonderful husband named Brandon. They may join her at services from time to time. The last few years have taught Katie that community matters and she is looking to build her village here at UUCUC and get more involved in social justice issues.
Duncan Pettengill
Duncan grew up in Massachusetts, spent five years doing a Ph.D. in Madison, WI, likes making bread, science fiction, giant monster movies, and is generally a big goof.