I was fortunate to meet Curt Hieggelke almost 30 years ago when I was a research physicist looking to get hired as an adjunct. I eventually became Curt's full-time colleague at Joliet Junior College. In addition to his well-known national work that others will focus on, Curt cared deeply about Joliet Junior College and the local AAPT Sections (Illinois Section, Chicago Section). Curt made a huge difference at the college where among other things he served at various times as a department chair, president of the faculty union, and an influential voice on any committee that involved technology at the college. Curt also was very involved in the Illinois Section where he served as an officer, meeting host, and seemingly permanent member of the executive council. My talk will focus on Curt's local accomplishments.

Curt Hieggelke was a friend, a colleague, and a mentor to me. He approached me not long after I graduated to propose that we work together with David Maloney and Tom O’Kuma to develop PER-based curricular materials that could be blended into otherwise fairly traditional physics classes to improve students’ conceptual understanding. With NSF support, we developed three workbooks of TIPERs – Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research – that included physics questions in a variety of formats to be used as homework, as in-class exercises, or as evaluation materials. Over a period of about 16 years, we wrote, refined, edited, and tested these questions, and gave workshops to encourage their use. I will describe Curt’s leadership of these projects, and give examples of questions and question styles that Curt created.