News Bureau

A study of mouse reproductive tissues finds that exposure to isoliquiritigenin, a compound found in licorice, disrupts steroid sex hormone production in the ovary, researchers report.

The Secretariat honored Marlah Bonner McDuffie, an associate dean for advancement at the College of Media at Illinois, with the 2016 Boss of the Year Award. The Secretariat is comprised of Illinois employees in certain civil service classifications.  

Bonner McDuffie was honored at the Oct. 19 awards luncheon and was nominated by Colleen Hammel.  Kathleen Harleman, the acting dean in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, was nominated by Rebecca Nash. 

More information about The Secretariat may be found online.

The Illinois Art Education Association has named Anne Sautman of the Krannert Art Museum at Illinois the 2016 Museum Art Educator of the Year.  The award annually recognizes exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding IAEA member.  The award was presented at the IAEA conference in Normal, Illinois, on Nov. 4.  

Dinah Faye Derby ... Roy Lloyd Nugent ... Klaus Schulten ... Dorothy I. Tipton

University of Illinois physics professor Klaus Schulten, an innovator in the use of computational methods to study the chemical and biological processes driving living cells, died Monday, Oct. 31, at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. He was 69.

Money in U.S. politics will be the theme of a U. of I. symposium starting Friday, Nov. 11, with the director of the watchdog website OpenSecrets.org giving the keynote.

My students and I are standing at the edge of a 73-acre cornfield. Covered in mud and sweat, we are dreading the task ahead. We are hunting the western corn rootworm, a menace to corn growers everywhere. 

Medieval manuscripts will be displayed at Krannert Art Museum in an exhibition that will show how books were used and valued in the Middle Ages and since.

David Rosch, a professor of agriculture education and an expert on leadership, spoke recently about popular perceptions of good leadership and how those standards have changed.

A new book by geology professor Bruce Fouke and photographer Tom Murphy brings together art and science in the study of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

Dipanjan Pan, a professor of bioengineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Heart Association in the organization’s Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences.

Passes for the 19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or "Ebertfest," coming April 19-23, 2017, will go on sale Nov. 1. The passes cover all 12 or more screenings during the five-day event at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign.

Martin Camargo, a professor of English and associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois, has been appointed the college’s interim dean.

Four galleries at Krannert Art Museum that hadn’t changed in more than 50 years have been renovated.

The Illini Union Office of Volunteer Programs will sponsor the annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive starting Tuesday, Nov. 1. The drive provides families with a basket of nonperishable items and a $25 gift card, which can prepare a Thanksgiving meal. The entire Illinois campus is invited to participate.

Norman “Mac” MacGregor ... Patricia “Nanny” Pelmore ... Robert C. Reinhart

Living cells are miniature worlds bustling with activity. A new advanced imaging method can track cells over long periods of time using only light – no dye or chemicals required – to reveal dynamics and provide insight into how cells function, develop and interact.

In honor of the 96th anniversary of the dedication of the chimes played in the Altgeld Hall Tower, performers will replay the concert first performed in 1920, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. The date is also Sue Wood’s 45th anniversary as chimesmaster.

Two special Halloween concerts will be performed on Monday, Oct. 31: a Halloween concert preview at 4:50 p.m. and an extended concert at 8 p.m.

Leonard Abbeduto, an expert on language development in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois.

Giveaways to gambling interests in Illinois have robbed state coffers of billions of dollars, says John W. Kindt, an emeritus professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois.

Illinois Newsroom – the statewide, seven-station journalism collaborative, spearheaded by Illinois Public Media and funded through a $715,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as support from the public media partner newsrooms – launches with the appointment of a new leader.

Choreographer and Illinois dance professor Tere O’Connor will talk about his approach to choreography when he gives the Center for Advanced Study Annual Lecture on Oct. 25.

Many know Robert Zuppke (1879-1957) as Illinois’ longest-serving football coach, whose teams won or tied for four national championships and seven conference championships between 1913 and 1941. But he also was an in-demand motivational speaker, a syndicated sports writer, co-author of a popular sports comic strip and an accomplished and prolific artist.

The University of Illinois Wind Symphony will present its “Orange and Boo” concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, in Foellinger Great Hall in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Student groups offer camaraderie, opportunities to lead

Startup develops wearable systems for road safety

Underrepresented students make the most of fellowships in animal biology

Student group leads in membership, awards and enthusiasm

Resources await at the Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education

TED Talks have nothing on Illinois Athletic Director and Illinois alumnus Josh Whitman

U of I team designs “bark park”

By the time this issue of Postmarks is in your hands, we'll be well into the fall semester at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Paralympic medalist and U. of I. graduate Tatyana McFadden will serve as the grand marshal of the 2016 Homecoming Parade, which takes place Friday, Oct. 28 from 6 to 7 p.m.

Descriptions of the white working-class often paint a one-dimensional picture, whereas the reality is more complex, says Illinois sociology professor Monica McDermott, the author of “Working-Class White.”

John B. Claar ... Eileene E. Foil ... Willie V. Johnson ... Joseph Rotman

Armed with tape measures and sketch pads, University of Illinois architecture students are documenting a historic modernist home in the Chicago suburbs.

A U. of I. journalism alumnus who is now the newsroom attorney for The New York Times got some unexpected online attention last week. The focus of that attention was his response to an open letter from Donald Trump’s attorney, demanding the paper retract and apologize for a story. McCraw’s brief letter to the attorney, published on the Times site, went viral on social media and shot to the top of the paper's most-read content. In an interview, he talks about the letter, his job and what he learned at Illinois.

World War II in Europe was an assault on civilians even more than a clash of arms. Civilians were uprooted, enslaved and massacred under a long Nazi occupation. So how did these civilians come to grips with the cruelty and violence all around them? University of Illinois history professor Peter Fritzsche “listened in” on their wartime talk by way of diaries, letters and other first-person accounts and describes what he found in a new book.

About 90 local schools will welcome award-winning authors and book illustrators as part of the University of Illinois’ 2016 Youth Literature Festival.

James Canull ... Brenda Faul ... Dixie Nell (Mayol) Heath ... Richard P. "Dick" Kesler ... The Rev. Dr. Steven Robert Shoemaker

The University of Illinois’ family leave policy was revised recently to remove a teaching requirement for tenure-track faculty members after the birth or adoption of a child.

A new book by anthropology professor Jane Desmond explores humans’ complex relationships with other animals.

Chelsea Guillen, the early intervention ombudsman for the Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will serve as a statewide ambassador to spearhead use of newly recommended practices for the care and education of young children with disabilities. Guillen joins a group of 16 experts chosen by the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

Poet Janice Harrington found inspiration for her latest book of poetry in the life and art of Horace Pippin. Her book is a critique of the perception of African-American folk art as primitive and a reflection on how Pippin’s experiences shaped his art.

Poet Janice Harrington wrote her poem "Domino Players, 1943" based on a painting by African-American artist Horace Pippin.

Research from U. of I. agricultural economists Peter Goldsmith and Alex Winter-Nelson found that the direct donation of livestock to impoverished communities in rural Africa had numerous positive effects ranging from a reduction in poverty to an increase in gender empowerment.

The fifth annual Materials Research Laboratory Biological Conference will be held Nov. 2-3 at the laboratory on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

The annual All Employee Expo will take place Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, in rooms A, B and C.

A new research project led by University of Illinois recreation, sport and tourism professor Matthew Browning intends to explore how urban forestry affects health care spending, and then build a free online modeling tool city arborists can use to estimate their communities’ potential rate of return on their investments in parks and other natural elements.

William Patrick "Bill" Myers ... Guy E. Shumard